Give your ten most-used apps a fixed place: ⌘1 to ⌘0. One key, you're there.
Download for Mac — freeVersion 1.0 · macOS 15.6 or later · no account, no subscription
Prefer the App Store? Get it on the Mac App Store ($9.99, 7-day trial; sandboxed, so no window cycling or hold-to-quit).

⌘1 … ⌘0 jump straight to a pinned app from anywhere. Not running yet? It launches.
Unlike ⌘Tab, your slots stay put. Muscle memory finally has something to hold on to.
Press the key again to cycle the app's windows. Hold it to quit. Both optional.
Hold ⌥ and press Tab for the grid: ten pinned slots on top, everything else running below.
Drag any running app onto a slot to pin it. Drag it back down to unpin. That's the whole setup.
Signed with an Apple Developer ID. No account, no license key. No Accessibility permission needed for the basics.
Drop Mail on 2, your terminal on 5, Music on 7. Pinned apps stay visible even when they're not running, so the same key always does the same thing.
Pick your shortcut, launch at login, hide the menu bar icon. Turn number hotkeys, window cycling or hold-to-quit off if you don't want them.
Open the disk image, drag to Applications, done. macOS 15.6 or later.
Also on the Mac App Store — $9.99 one-time after a 7-day trial.