macOS 14 and later · menu bar app · one config file
True hotkeys for macOS.Nothing less, nothing more.
One plain‑text file. Any key becomes a command: a shell script, Python, AppleScript, a menu item, a keystroke. And it fires only when the app or window you named is in front.
Built for people who live in a terminal, an IDE and a browser and want the keyboard to do the walking.
Config as code
YAML with comments and macros. Lives in Application Support, so it goes into git and travels with your dotfiles. Reload from the menu or from a hotkey. No settings UI, ever.
Context aware
currentApp("com.apple.dt.Xcode"), currentWindowContains("Emulator"), currentProcessEquals("mc"). The same key, a different job in every app, and an else branch for the rest.
Run anything
Shell commands run in your login shell, so your PATH, brew and virtualenvs just work. AppleScript inline or as a block. open an app, a file, a URL.
Send keystrokes
sendKeys("control-comma"). Give a Mac app the shortcut it never had, remap Home and End per app, chain keys after a script.
Menu items by name
openMenuItem("Google Chrome", "View", "Reload This Page"). Any menu, any app, no screen coordinates, no recording of clicks.
Modifier‑only hotkeys
⌥⇧ alone switches the keyboard layout, the way it does on Windows. A hotkey with no letter in it at all.
Forward or consume
forward: true runs your action and still lets the key through to the app. forward: false swallows it. Per hotkey, no surprises.
Keyboard layouts
switchKeyboardLayout(us, ru) flips between any two input sources. displayAvailableKeyboardInputSources() lists their ids so you never guess.
Developer contexts
Android Emulator, iOS Simulator, Xcode, JetBrains, Chrome, Terminal, mc recognised out of the box. displayActiveWindowInfo() prints 14 facts about the front window, bundle id, process, pid, both title readings, memory and bounds, ready to paste into the config.
Native and light
Swift and a CGEvent tap, not Electron. The key is handled before the app in front even sees it. No polling loop, no dock icon, nothing to notice until you press a key.
Private
No account, no telemetry, no cloud. Your config never leaves the Mac. A free copy never calls the licence server at all, and the update check sends no system profile.
Free to start
Ten hotkeys free, no clock. A license unlocks the rest on three Macs, and updates arrive in‑app or through Homebrew.
ExamplesReal lines from real configs. Copy, paste, change the app name.
What people actually put in the file.
Four corners of one config. The full reference lives in the docs.
hotkeys:
#2: runApp("Xcode")
#3: runApp("AppCode")
#p: runApp("PyCharm")
# previous and next tab, the way every other IDE does it^!left:
currentApp("com.apple.dt.Xcode"): sendKeys("control-comma")
^!right:
currentApp("com.apple.dt.Xcode"): sendKeys("control-dot")
# which app is this, what is its bundle id, what is the window called^!#\: displayActiveWindowInfo()
Put the IDEs on ⌘2, ⌘3, ⌘P and stop hunting the dock.
hotkeys:
f5:
currentAppChrome(): openMenuItem("Google Chrome", "View", "Reload This Page")
# Home and End that behave like everywhere else, only in the browserhome:
currentAppChrome(): sendKeys("command-up")
end:
currentAppChrome(): sendKeys("command-down")
#l: runApp("Telegram")
#semicolon: runApp("Discord")
^#o: runApp("System Settings")
Keys without a matching context pass straight through, so Home keeps doing its normal thing in every other app.
macros:
ADB: ~/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools/adb
hotkeys:
# hardware keys for the emulator, no mouse trip to the side baresc:
currentWindowAndroidEmulator: ADB -e shell input keyevent KEYCODE_BACK
f1:
currentWindowAndroidEmulator: ADB -e shell input keyevent KEYCODE_HOME
f2:
currentWindowAndroidEmulator: ADB -e shell input keyevent KEYCODE_APP_SWITCH
# the simulator gets its own branch of the same key#esc:
currentAppSimulatorIos(): sendKeys("command-shift-h")
else: runApp("Android Studio")
Context by window title needs Screen Recording, macOS hides titles otherwise. Hotkeys asks once, only if your config uses it.
hotkeys:
# shell, in your login shell, so ~/bin and the venv are on PATH^!#t: ~/bin/timesheet.py start
#f11: ~/bin/textshot.sh
# AppleScript, one line or a blockf4: osascript -e 'display dialog "Hello world"'f9:
currentApp("com.apple.dt.Xcode"):
appleScript: |
tell application id "com.jetbrains.fleet"activateend tell# the file that edits itselff10: openConfig()
#f10: reloadConfig()
Anything that works in Terminal works here. Same shell, same PATH, same profile.
Free for ten hotkeys. Cheap for all of them.
The free tier has every feature, a license key lifts the ten hotkeys limit on up to three Macs. No account, the key arrives by email.
Hotkeys checks for updates about once a day and installs them in place. Homebrew users can also run brew upgrade --cask hotkeys, and brew uninstall --zap --cask hotkeys removes the app and everything it wrote.
It needs the Accessibility permission, that is what lets it see and send keystrokes. Screen Recording is asked only if your config uses window‑title contexts or a screenshot method.
Hotkeys Lite is the App Store edition. Sandboxed and permission‑free, it fires apps, files and scripts from a key. Sending keystrokes, opening menu items, screenshots, mouse actions, forward and modifier‑only hotkeys need the app above, and its first launch carries your Lite config over for you.
QuestionsEverything else is in the docs or one email away.
Why does it need Accessibility?
That permission is what lets an app see keystrokes meant for other apps and send its own. Every hotkey tool asks for it. Screen Recording is asked for separately and only if your config uses a window‑title context, because macOS hides other apps' window titles without it.
Can one key do a different job in every app?
That is what contexts are for. A context is a built‑in method that answers yes or no about the app in front. Put it under the key and the branch below it runs only when the answer is yes, with else for everywhere else.
Hotkeys reads the file when it starts and when you choose Reload in the menu bar. Saving alone changes nothing, there is no file watcher. Give both a key and you never touch the menu again: f10: openConfig() to open it, #f10: reloadConfig() to reload it.
How do I find out what an app is called?
Bind displayActiveWindowInfo() to a key and press it while the app is in front. A selectable panel prints 14 facts about the window in front, and the first three, bundle id, process name and window title, are exactly the strings a context takes, as in currentApp("com.apple.dt.Xcode"). Twelve of the fourteen need no permission.
Does the app in front still receive the key?
Usually not: a matched hotkey is consumed and the app never sees it. Two exceptions, a mapping that is only an appleScript: block lets the key through as well, and a key carrying several contexts decides from the branch that ran last. If the key has contexts and none of them match, it passes through untouched. forward overrides both, so you can let the key through after your action, or swallow it even when nothing matched.
Does Hotkeys work in password fields?
Yes. While a password field, Terminal's Secure Keyboard Entry or a password manager holds secure input, macOS keeps keystrokes away from every watching app and most hotkey tools go quiet. Hotkeys keeps firing: every combination with command or control, option combos included, plus modifier‑only keys. The menu bar icon turns into a lock and names the app holding it. Switch on the optional password field helper and F‑keys, esc, tab, delete and the arrows work there too. The one exception is a key that types a character pressed without command or control, macOS gives those to nothing but a keyboard driver.
Does it phone home?
No accounts, no analytics, no crash reporters. A free copy never contacts the licence server at all. An activated one validates with Polar on activation and about once a week afterwards, sending four fields and no hardware fingerprint, and keeps working for thirty days offline. The update check fetches a 778 byte file and sends no system profile.
Can I move my license to another Mac?
A key activates on three Macs. Open About on the old Mac and choose Deactivate, and the slot is free again. Lost the email? Your keys and invoices are in the customer portal.
Where is the config file?
~/Library/Application Support/hotkeys/hotkeys.yml. The Edit config menu item opens it, and a commented template is written on first run.
Is there a trial?
The free tier is the trial: ten hotkeys with every feature, methods and contexts included, no clock. Buy when you run out of keys.
Something is broken, or I want a refund.
Write to [email protected] or open an issue on GitHub. Most problems are a one‑line config fix and get answered the same day. Refunds go through Polar, just ask.
Nothing less, nothing more.
Ten hotkeys free, the rest for the price of a coffee.
Hotkeys
