Almost everything Tinycast does happens in one floating panel. Each feature is either the launcher, which is the root screen, or a screen you open from it. esc walks back the way you came.

Moving around

Key	Does
`return`	The main action for what is selected
`⌘return`	The second action, usually Show in Finder or Copy
`⌘K`	Open the Actions menu for the selection
`↑` `↓`	Move the selection
`tab`	Move between the launcher, AI Chat and the clipboard
`esc`	Clear the search, then go back a screen, then close
`⌘esc`	Jump back to the root search from any screen
`delete`	In an empty search field, go back one screen
`⌘,`	Open Settings
`⌘W`	Close the window

⌘K is how you learn the app. Every screen lists all of its actions there, with each shortcut printed beside it. The full list is in Keyboard shortcuts.

Every screen except the launcher shows a back arrow in the top-left corner. Hover it to see whether a click goes back a step or closes the window.

⌘esc needs the Accessibility permission, because macOS keeps that chord for itself unless Tinycast catches it first.

Emacs chords

If your fingers know them, these work anywhere in the palette:

Chord	Same as
`⌃N`	`↓`
`⌃P`	`↑`
`⌃F`	`→`
`⌃B`	`←`

On the emoji grid, all four move the selection. Everywhere else, ⌃F and ⌃B move the text cursor, because that is what you usually want in a search field. A chord with an extra modifier, like ⌃⇧Q, is left alone.

Shortcuts follow key positions, not the characters your input source types. If you write in Japanese, Russian or another non-Latin layout, ⌘K is still ⌘K.

Tab moves between three screens

tab goes round a small loop: launcher → AI Chat → clipboard → launcher.

From the launcher, tab asks. Whatever you typed is sent to a fresh AI chat as a question, so one key turns a search into a question. The header shows an AI Chat hint beside a tab key when this will happen.
From the clipboard, your search text comes with you to the launcher.
esc walks back out the way tab came in.

AI Chat drops out of the loop while AI is off, and the clipboard drops out while clipboard history is off.

Everything else, like Calculator History or Search Quicklinks, stays out of the loop. Those are places you chose to go, not places to land in by accident.

The one exception: when the selected row takes arguments, like a quicklink or an extension command, tab walks through its fields first.

How screens stack

Open a screen by typing its name in the launcher and it stacks on top, so esc takes you back to the search that found it.

Open the same screen with its own global shortcut and it opens on its own, with nothing behind it. Press that shortcut again and it closes.

Settings → General → Escape Key Behavior changes what esc does once the search is empty:

Navigate back or close window (default): go back a screen, and close only at the root.
Close window and pop to root: close straight away, and start at the launcher next time.

Either way, the first press clears any text you typed.

Where it opens

Settings → General → Appearance holds both placement settings.

Follow the cursor across displays (on by default) opens the palette on the display your pointer is on. Turn it off to always use the display with the menu bar.

Drag to reposition (off by default) lets you move the panel. Grab the thin strip above the search field, the empty space in the header, or the search field itself while it is empty.

While you drag, dotted guides show the default position and light up when you are close enough to snap. Let go there and it snaps home. Let go anywhere else and Tinycast remembers that spot, even after a restart.

A remembered spot is only dropped when no screen can show the palette any more, say after you unplug a monitor. It is not included in backups, because window positions do not travel between Macs.

Appearance

Settings → General → Appearance has these:

Setting	Options	Default
Theme	System · Light · Dark	System
Interface size	Default · Large · Larger	Default
Background transparency	A slider from Less to More, with Reset	Middle
Compact mode	On · Off	Off
Show favorites in compact mode	On · Off	On

Theme. System follows macOS as it changes. Light is the same design with the colors inverted. The layout, type and motion are identical.

Interface size makes the palette and its floating windows 10% or 20% larger. Settings itself stays the same size.

Background transparency changes how much of the desktop shows through the glass. Reset puts it back to the original look.

Compact mode opens the launcher as a slim search bar that grows into the full list as you type. ↓ expands it and selects the first row. With Show favorites in compact mode on, your favorite apps sit at the right of the bar; see Favorites.

The Toggle System Appearance action changes macOS itself. Tinycast follows it only while its own theme is set to System.

Input source

Settings → General → Auto-switch input source picks a keyboard layout to use while the palette is open.

If you type Japanese or Chinese most of the day but your app names are in Latin letters, this saves a switch every time you open the launcher. Tinycast switches when the palette opens and switches back when it closes. If you changed the layout yourself while it was open, your choice stays.

Pop to root

Settings → General → Pop to Root Search decides how long after the window closes Tinycast goes back to the launcher: Immediately (default), or after 5, 15, 30, 60 or 90 seconds.

Raise it if you often close the palette and come straight back to the same screen.

AI Chat has its own rule for whether a conversation reopens; see AI Chat.

The Tinycast menu bar icon has Open Tinycast, Clipboard History, Settings…, Check for Updates…, Support Tinycast… and Quit Tinycast.

Settings → General → Show in menu bar hides the icon. Your shortcuts keep working without it.

The palette