flash

Flash and Wooshy

Wooshy, by the author of kindaVim, “searches the whole macOS UI, including the Dock, the left menu bar and the right status bar, and clicks.” It is closed source Swift for macOS 14.6+, full-featured for free “but takes some random naps”, with a $3.88/month or $46.28/year subscription to remove them. Version 51 shipped on 2026-10-08, after about twenty releases since January 2025.

	Wooshy	Flash
License, price	Closed; free with naps, or subscription	MIT, free
Platforms	macOS 14.6+ (older builds for Ventura and Monterey)	macOS 14+
Permissions	Accessibility	Accessibility; Automation per browser for tab lists; Screen Recording only for `:screenshot`
Targets	Fuzzy search over the whole UI: windows, Dock, menu bar, status bar; role search; `*` lists all	Labels over the focused window; `--scope=screen` for every app; `mouse_dock`, `mouse_menubar`, `mouse_notifications`
Actions	Click, Ctrl-Return right-click, Fn-Return double-click, modifier clicks, move without clicking, ⌘C copies the target’s text	Click, right, double, move, drag, select, words, path, sticky, multi
Integration	Karabiner `WsInputStatus` variable, `wooshy://` URL scheme, distributed notifications	`flash <verb>` CLI, `[mode.apps]` per bundle
Beyond pointing	The Inspector shows which terms reach an element	NORMAL mode, flashlight, status bar, widgets, popups, window placement, plugins
Maintenance	Version 51, October 2026; monthly	1.0.0, October 2026

Where Wooshy is stronger

Search across the whole UI at once. Dock, menu bar, status items and every window are one search space; Flash labels one surface per command.
Role search and * list everything an app exposes, which is also a good debugging tool.
Yank the target’s text or metadata with ⌘C.
Designed for fast typists and for pairing with kindaVim, by the same author, so Vim keys drive the result list.
Karabiner integration through a shared variable.

Where Flash is stronger

Labels and a grid. Wooshy has neither (a label-mode request, #146, is open), so an unlabeled control or a canvas is out of reach.
Free, open source, no naps.
A file, a CLI and per-app tables; Wooshy configures through its GUI and Karabiner conditions.
A built-in modal layer rather than a separate Vim app.
Everything after the click.

Flash features you might like

mouse_target --search is Wooshy’s input over the focused window, and mouse_target --scope=screen labels every app on the screen.
:flashlight @menus finds menu items by name; @windows focuses by title; @system.actions lists system actions (flashlight).
mouse_target --words --select selects text between two words, where Wooshy would yank one element’s text.
NORMAL’s y copies immediately.

Moving from Wooshy

Wooshy	Flash
Open the input	`["flash", "mouse_target", "--search"]` in the focused window; `mouse_target --scope=screen` labels every app
Dock, menu bar, status bar targets	`mouse_dock`, `mouse_menubar`; status bar items through `mouse_menubar`
Ctrl-Return right-click	`mouse_bigram --secondary`, or `cf` in NORMAL
Shift-Cmd-Return move only	`mouse_target --move`
⌘C yank	`--words --select` then `y`
`wooshy://openTheInput`	`flash mouse_target --search`
kindaVim for Vim keys	NORMAL mode (normal mode)

[mode.all.mappings]
"cmd+shift+space" = ["flash", "mouse_target", "--search"]
"cmd+shift+alt+space" = ["flash", "mouse_target", "--scope=screen"]

Checked 2026-10-14 against wooshy.app, its docs and the release notes.

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