diff --git a/shell/sk/bin/sk-apps b/shell/sk/bin/sk-apps
index bf619e41..6d4a74f6 100755
--- a/shell/sk/bin/sk-apps
+++ b/shell/sk/bin/sk-apps
@@ -8,8 +8,25 @@ _do_sk() { sk --prompt='open > '; }
 
 case $OSTYPE in
   darwin*)
-    cmd=$(find -L {,~}/Applications -iname '*.app' -maxdepth 2 -type d 2>/dev/null | sort -u | _do_sk)
-    [[ -n $cmd ]] && open "$cmd"
+    apps=$(find -L {,~}/Applications -iname '*.app' -maxdepth 2 -type d 2>/dev/null)
+    cmds=$(compgen -c 2>/dev/null)
+    cmd=$(printf '%s\n' "${apps[@]}" "${cmds[@]}" | sort -u | _do_sk)
+    if [[ -z $cmd ]]; then
+      exit
+    elif [[ $cmd == sk-* ]]; then
+      $cmd
+    else
+      if [[ $cmd == *.app ]]; then
+        open "$cmd"
+      elif ! command -v lnch >/dev/null; then
+        >&2 echo "lnch not installed, run 'go get github.com/oem/lnch'"
+        exit 1
+      else
+        # disowns the subprocess from the parent shell (i.e. if that shell
+        # gets closed, the subprocess will survive).
+        lnch "$cmd"
+      fi
+    fi
     ;;
   linux*)
     cmd=$(echo -n "$PATH" | xargs -d: -I{} -r -- find -L {} -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 -type f -executable -printf '%P\n' 2>/dev/null | sort -u | _do_sk)