Alter Ego - Per-User Hotkeys

One hotkey, a different result for each macOS user account.

Why

If you use more than one macOS account on the same Mac (say, work and personal) and sign in to Raycast with the same account on both, Cloud Sync gives you the same Quicklinks and hotkeys everywhere. That's usually what you want, but sometimes the same hotkey should do something different depending on who's signed in:

• ⌥B opens Arc on your work account and Safari on your personal one.
• ⌥V runs Raycast's Clipboard History on personal, but a company extension's command on work.
• ⌥D opens your work project folder on one account and ~/Downloads on the other.

Raycast has no built-in way to do this. A synced hotkey points at one fixed target, and if you give each account its own separate command, each one needs its own hotkey. Alter Ego adds a small switch in between: you press one hotkey, Alter Ego checks which macOS user is signed in, and runs that user's target.

Why a Quicklink?

The per-user mapping has to reach every account, and the only thing that reliably travels between accounts is data that Raycast Cloud Sync carries. An extension's own storage stays local to one account, so a mapping saved there would never reach your other accounts.

Quicklinks do sync. Alter Ego therefore stores the whole username → target mapping inside a Quicklink: the Quicklink's link runs Alter Ego's Run for Current User command and carries the mapping as its argument. That means:

• Set it up once, use it everywhere. Create the Quicklink and give it a hotkey on one account, and both show up on your other accounts through Cloud Sync.
• One source of truth. The Quicklink is the configuration. Alter Ego keeps no local copy that could go stale when another account edits the mapping.
• Nothing to host. No server, no account, no files: just a Quicklink.

The trade-off: Raycast doesn't let extensions read or update Quicklinks, so when you change a mapping, you paste the updated link into the Quicklink yourself (see Editing a mapping). It's one paste per change, and the hotkey stays assigned.

Requirements

• macOS only. Alter Ego matches targets against macOS user accounts and isn't available for Raycast on Windows.
• Raycast Pro with Cloud Sync enabled, signed in with the same Raycast account on every macOS account you want to cover. Without Cloud Sync, Alter Ego still works, but only on a single account.
• Alter Ego enabled on each macOS account. Cloud Sync syncs extensions, but they have to be enabled on each device.

Setup

First account

1. Run Manage Alter Ego and choose Add Mapping.
2. Give the Quicklink a name (e.g. Browser), then pick a target for the current macOS user.
3. Choose Create Quicklink, save it, and assign it a hotkey.

Each additional account

1. Sign in to the other macOS account and wait for Cloud Sync to bring over the Quicklink and its hotkey.
2. Press the hotkey. There's no mapping for this user yet, so Alter Ego opens Manage Alter Ego with the current mapping already loaded.
3. Add a mapping for this user and choose Save & Copy Updated Link.
4. Alter Ego opens Search Quicklinks. Select the Alter Ego: <name> Quicklink, press ⌘K → Edit, paste the link, and save.

From now on, the hotkey runs the right target on both accounts.

Editing a mapping

1. Search Quicklinks → select the Alter Ego: <name> Quicklink → ⌘K → Copy Link.
2. Run Manage Alter Ego. It detects the link on your clipboard and loads the mapping from it.
3. Add, edit, or remove rows, then choose Copy Updated Link.
4. Search Quicklinks → same Quicklink → ⌘K → Edit → paste → save.

Editing the Quicklink in place keeps its hotkey and the rows for your other accounts.

Target types

Type	Example	How to set it
Application	Arc, Safari, Slack	Pick from the list of installed apps
Raycast Command	Clipboard History, any extension or script command	Paste its deeplink: select the command in Raycast's root search and press ⇧⌘C
URL	https://calendar.google.com	Type or paste
File or Folder	~/Projects	Pick with the file picker

Good to know

• Multiple hotkeys: each Quicklink holds one mapping. For a second per-user hotkey (e.g. a browser one and a notes one), create a second Quicklink with a different name.
• Usernames are macOS short account names (the name of your home folder), not display names.
• Don't run Run for Current User directly. It only works when launched from its Quicklink. To set up or edit a mapping, run Manage Alter Ego.