Elevate your productivity with these all-round Raycast extensions

If you’re a returning visitor of our blog you probably know by now: we 🫶ourselves some Raycast. But the passion for this big-things-come-in-small-packages tool isn’t limited to merely developers and designers. Raycast helps everyone on our team deliver projects better and faster.

Just like in many companies that don’t exist of hundreds of people, at Yummygum there are people who wear multiple hats. And people who wear multiple hats usually have a broad set of tools to do their jobs. Although Raycast has tons of amazing job specific extensions there are also numerous extensions that empower co-founders, all-rounders and universal team players. Here's my top 7:

1. Xecutor

Before moving to Raycast I used Alfred app and one thing I initially missed after switching to Raycast was the ability to create workflows that would let you launch multiple apps and/or webpages at once like I was used to in Alfred app. Well, Xecutor does that exact same thing. This comes in handy when you switch roles/hats. For instance, you could create an Xecutor preset for apps or websites all related to your finance tasks, or a preset to open websites for your marketing tasks.

2. Snippets

Although I’m crazy about Keyboard Maestro that – amongst many other things – has a snippet feature, Raycast’s very own snippet extension has a super power. And that is sharing snippets with an organization. This becomes even more useful as your company grows and you start to feel the need for sharing snippets across dedicated departments. Raycast’s free plan lets you share up to 30 snippets.

3. Slack

For any team that relies heavily on clear and fast communication over Slack like we do, the unofficial Slack Raycast extension is a must-have. If you map the search functionality of this extension to a shortcut (I use option + S), it allows you to search for team members’ name or channel names to subsequently open that channel in Slack. Saves a few seconds per search, but the time saved in total really adds up at the end of the day, week, month and year.

4. Slack Status

Another Slack related extension that can help you save a few steps and clicks is Slack Status. The name is pretty self explanatory but there’s one thing I find extremely useful about this particular extension compared to setting the status in Slack. And that is how you aren’t limited to the custom statuses that are shared with everyone on your Slack team. In other words, the Slack Status extension lets you add and use your own reusable custom Slack statuses.

5. Quick Calendar

If you’re anything like me, Quick Calendar is one of those extensions you will find yourself using time and again to look up dates and week numbers for example. Yes, there are like a thousand menu bar apps that show you a miniature calendar month view. But if you prefer using Raycast for as many things as possible you will enjoy not having to use your mouse or trackpad. 

6. Figma File Search 

As I’m not only the co-founder and CVO at Yummygum, but also Lead Visual Design and run our Minty Monday newsletter (which you should totally sign up for) I find myself looking for specific Figma files regularly. The Figma File Search extension helps you find whatever file you’re looking for and open it in Figma in a jiffy. Needless to say using project codes speeds up this process even further. Regarding the extension; it does take a minute to set it up properly but once you have it running you won’t be able to go a day without it.

7. Word Search

If you love writing copy just like me you’re lucky there are a few Raycast extensions that can help tremendously. For example whenever you find yourself in a creative block. Using Word Search’s ‘Synonym’ finder can help you escape your creative impasse. When rephrasing a sentence from a different angle I use the Antonym finder a lot.

These are my personal favorites as an agency co-founder who wears multiple hats. What are your favorite Raycast extensions for multifaceted jobs? Let me know, @ me on 𝕏 (or Twitter as we use to call it back in the day).