Ray Access 🚀: the missing accessibility for Raycast

Introduction

Ray Access is a Hammerspoon module which makes the Raycast launcher accessible for VoiceOver users by providing audio feedback for selection changes. Before this module existed a blind user would have to do the following

1. Open raycast
2. Type the query
3. Press return and hope for the best with no feedback or
4. Navigate to the results table, interact with it and see the results one by one.

Pretty tedious huh? Now you get feedback right when you type. You can also change the selection with the arrow keys and get audio feedback as well. Together with Raycast's incredible speed you can become a MacOS ninja, even if your eyes don't work.

Before you install

If you wish to support my work, please write an E-Mail to the developers of Raycast and ask them to include VoiceOver accessibility as a core feature, rendering this ugly hack obsolete. The reason for this is that raycast can change from version to version, and the day might come when I won't be able to perform my sorcery on its UI.

Installation

Step 1: Downloading & installing HammerSpoon

Before RayAccess can be used you need to download HammerSpoon. This program allows plugins like RayAccess to function. HammerSpoon can be downloaded either from its official page or via Homebrew like so

/opt/homebrew/bin/brew install --cask hammerspoon

After successful installation, please launch HammerSpoon from the Application's folder to grant it all the necessary permissions.

Step 2: Installing RayAccess

1. Clone this repository by executing git clone https://github.com/nuno69/rayaccess in the terminal
2. In the directory, find the file rayaccess.spoon and click on it.
3. In the HammerSpoon's menu extra, select "Open config" and paste the following lines at the bottom

hs.loadSpoon("rayaccess")
spoon.rayaccess:init()

1. From the same Menu Extra, reload config.
2. Raycast is now accessible.

TODO

The following is a non-exchaustive list of things I would like to add or change. Feel free to contribute if you have the patience and knowledge.

• Optimize script, remove old partially working hacks.
• Better install experience: make an one-click solution to deploy Rayaccess.
• Fix bugs: fix known, and unknown bugs.