Building a Keyboard-Driven Mac Workflow: From Dock to Desktop
How to set up a Mac workflow where keyboard does 90% of the work. Covers Dock shortcuts with Otterdock, app launching, window management, and text navigation.
Key takeaway: A keyboard-driven Mac workflow means the keyboard handles 90% of your actions — launching apps, switching Dock groups, managing windows, and navigating text. Here is how to set it up from scratch.
The goal: minimize hand travel
The mouse is not slow — but reaching for it is. Each context switch from keyboard to mouse costs a fraction of a second and a slice of focus. Over a workday, these micro-interruptions compound. A keyboard-driven workflow keeps your hands in one place and your mind on the task.
Layer 1: App launching with Raycast or Spotlight
Start with how you open apps. Cmd+Space opens Spotlight — type the app name and press Enter. For more power, install Raycast: it adds clipboard history, snippets, window management commands, and extensible workflows. Either way, you should never need to click a Dock icon to launch an app.
Layer 2: Dock organization with Otterdock
Launching is one thing; accessing grouped resources is another. Otterdock lets you create workflow-based Dock groups — a Development group with your IDE, terminal, and Git client; a Communication group with Slack, email, and calendar. Press Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+6 to open any group, then arrow keys + Enter to launch. Three keystrokes from anywhere.
Layer 3: Window management with Rectangle
Once apps are open, you need to arrange windows. Rectangle maps positions to shortcuts: Ctrl+Option+← for left half, Ctrl+Option+→ for right half, Ctrl+Option+F for full screen. Build a muscle-memory layout: IDE on the left, browser on the right, terminal at the bottom.
Layer 4: App switching
macOS offers Cmd+Tab for switching between recent apps. For finer control, use Otterdock hotkeys to jump to a specific group context instead of cycling through all open apps. This is faster when you have 10+ apps running — you go directly to the right group instead of tabbing through a long list.
Layer 5: Text editing efficiency
Master macOS text shortcuts: Option+←/→ to move by word, Cmd+←/→ to move to line start/end, Option+Delete to delete a word, Cmd+Shift+←/→ to select to line boundaries. These work in almost every text field system-wide.
Layer 6: Browser keyboard shortcuts
In your browser: Cmd+L to focus the address bar, Cmd+T for a new tab, Cmd+W to close a tab, Cmd+Shift+T to reopen a closed tab, Cmd+[number] to jump to a specific tab. If you use Arc, its command bar (Cmd+T) acts like Raycast for browser actions.
Layer 7: Terminal workflow
If you work in the terminal, keyboard efficiency is already native. Add shell aliases for common commands, use Ctrl+R for reverse history search, and consider a tool like Warp that adds AI assistance and block-based editing to the terminal experience.
Putting it all together
A complete keyboard workflow: Raycast to launch → Otterdock to access grouped tools → Rectangle to arrange windows → system shortcuts to navigate text → browser shortcuts to manage tabs. Each layer removes one more reason to reach for the mouse. Start with one layer, build the habit, then add the next.
Setup checklist
- Install Raycast (or use Spotlight) for app launching.
- Install Otterdock and create 3–5 workflow groups with hotkeys.
- Install Rectangle and memorize left-half / right-half / maximize shortcuts.
- Practice macOS text editing shortcuts for one week.
- Learn your browser keyboard shortcuts.
- Optional: install Karabiner-Elements for custom key remapping.