Dockstep is a quick fun project which came out of the annoyance that the tab switcher put the most recent app up in front. I wanted to have a consistent and predefined order. While there are many apps which extend or replace the Mac OS X switcher like AltTab, Witch, Contexts, Command-Tab Plus or rcmd, surprisingly I wasn't able to find any that does exactly what I wanted. The requirements were: lean, small program, open source, no extended system permissions. You can find it on Github, it is published under GPL 3 license. So feel free to modify it to your needs. Pull requests and feedback are more than welcome.
So what does it do?
Download the app as zip first (please note that the first release is not signed yet, we have to get an Apple developer account first). Please check the readme for the exact procedure how to install. After installing the app it will add a menu icon which allows you to customize the app a bit and replace the default app switcher you normally call with command tab. The first ten apps will receive a shortcut, so you will be able to jump to them directly by pressing command 0-9. So if you don't change the order in the system dock e.g. your Mail program will always stay at the same place and have the same shortcut. Shortcuts will only work if switcher is visible.
The Dockstep switcher in light mode: apps in Dock order, each with its ⌘1–⌘0 shortcut badge.
The same switcher in dark mode.