Games
Games turns Raycast into a single launcher for the games installed on your PC. Raycast groups games with your apps and gives you actions to launch them. Game Mode pauses global hotkeys while you play, and Auto HDR can switch your displays to HDR while a game is running.
Getting Started
- Open Settings → Games. The extension is enabled by default. If you've disabled it previously, toggle it on in the top right.
- Type a game's name in Root Search to open it.
- Run the Game Launcher command to browse every installed game and launcher in one place.
- (Optional) On the Games settings page, turn on Game Mode to pause Raycast hotkeys while a game window is detected in the foreground.
- (Optional) On the Games settings page, turn on Auto HDR to switch supported displays to HDR while you play.
Discovery
When Raycast is open on your system, it will automatically scan your system for games installed through the following launchers:
- Steam
- Epic Games Launcher
- GOG Galaxy
- Battle.net
- Ubisoft Connect
- EA (EA app / Origin)
- itch.io
- Xbox app (Microsoft Store / MSIX titles)
- NVIDIA GeForce NOW
- Riot Games
- Rockstar Games
- Battlestate Games
- Roblox
In addition to these launchers, Raycast will treat any app as a game when registered with Windows' Game Config Store.
Game Mode
When Game Mode is enabled, Raycast monitors the active foreground window. If it detects a game (either from Raycast's classification, the Windows Game Config Store, or a full-screen exclusive Direct3D window), it temporarily pauses all Raycast hotkeys. As soon as you switch windows or the game loses focus, hotkeys are resumed.
Game Mode only pauses hotkeys for the active window. Running a game in the background won't pause the Raycast hotkeys.
Auto HDR
Auto HDR turns on HDR for your displays while you play, so you don't have to switch it on and off yourself. To use it, turn on Auto HDR in Settings → Games. It's off by default and works separately from Game Mode, so you can use either one without the other.
When Auto HDR is enabled and Raycast detects a game in the foreground the same way Game Mode does, it turns on HDR for every display where HDR is off. HDR stays on when you switch away from the game, for example with AltTab. Once all games that triggered Auto HDR have exited, Raycast turns HDR off on the displays it switched on. A display you already had in HDR stays in HDR. If you turn Auto HDR off, Raycast stops switching HDR.
Auto HDR only works with displays and graphics drivers that support HDR, and Raycast can't guarantee HDR on hardware that doesn't.
Tips
Search "Games" in Raycast to view all your games and game launchers. If a game is mistreated as an Application, press CtrlK and select Treat as Game to update the classification. You can also use this to reclassify Applications that are incorrectly marked as Games.