What does HackerNews think of skhd?

Simple hotkey daemon for macOS

Language: C

Ask HN: I've run Linux for 13 years. Is it time to switch to a Mac? | Apr 2023
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One caveat of M1 is when you run into tools/apps that aren't built for Apple Silicon yet and end up in a rabbit hole of dealing with Rosetta. But otherwise the battery life and how quiet they are is incredible.

For window management, check out Yabai[0] - it's an actual tiling window manager that can be customized in conjunction with skhd[1] for hotkeys.

[0] https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai

[1] https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd
Keyboard tricks from a macOS app dev | Apr 2023
I use NixOS+GNOME+pop-shell for tiling windows on Linux, and I love it!

I am quite frequently on MacOS, and I use Yabai[0] and skhd[1], managed with Nix-Darwin[2] for tiling windows and custom keyboard shortcuts. With how I make my Linux and MacOS builds look and feel identical it's pretty easy for me to forget when I'm on one vs the other.

For anyone curious, here's my repository for deploying my configs[3]. It's awesome to have one source of truth for managing NixOS servers and workstations, MacOS workstations, and other Linux workstations with Nix installed.

[0] https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai

[1] https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd

[2] http://daiderd.com/nix-darwin/

[3] https://github.com/heywoodlh/nixos-configs

KDE and GNOME seeks $100k to turn Flathub into a Store for the Linux desktop | Feb 2023
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Yeah - i make do with yabai and skhd. I'm curious how people use the Mac without having to use a touchpad/mouse for everything without third party additions (that in the case of proper desktop management / multiple monitors needs to disable system integrity protection to work...).

Ed: one minor (but somewhat understandable annoyance) is the lack of a free/reserved for users modifier key. Macos with the adoption of bsd uses both command, option and control (even though it uses command for core things like copy/paste). The windows/super key is a blessing on Linux pcs - as it generally can be used for just that - window management).

I know some rebind caps lock as a super (ed2: I mean "hyper", I think) (aka ALL THE MODIFIERS) key on Mac - but that leaves control in the wrong place :/

Maybe there's no RSI in Palo Alto?

https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai

https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd
Hacking Your Keyboard with Karabiner | Feb 2023
I was also using Karabiner to launch/switch apps instantly but I got tired of editing large configs to add/remap keys to apps.

Eventually I wrote rcmd (https://lowtechguys.com/rcmd) to streamline this workflow of switching/launching an app by the first letter of its name.

It will dynamically map Right Command + first letter of app name to already running apps, and you can map your own letters by just pressing Right Command + Right Option + letter to assign.

I eventually replaced everything I was using Karabiner for with specialized apps like rcmd, HyperKey (https://hyperkey.app/) and skhd (https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd).

I'm still missing the left/right Shift press once for parentheses, but I can live without it.

Hacking Your Keyboard with Karabiner | Feb 2023
After some time using Karabiner (still use it), I moved most of the remappings to skhd[0]. I find karabiner a bit too complex for just remapping a few combinations. The main reason I keep karabiner is because it lets you have a different behavior on key-tap vs. key-hold, and to remap Caps Lock to a combination of keys, i.e: map Caps Lock to "Ctrl + Option + CMD" instead of just a 1:1 mapping.

[0]: https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd

Ask HN: Are Any of You Tired from macOS and Want to Go Back to Linux? | Dec 2022
I recently had to start using MacOS for work after never using an Apple product ever.

Between MacPorts packages, Yabai[1], and skhd [2] I've found myself able to achieve a close enough setup in terms of tiling WM + system keybindings to make the desktop experience close enough to what I have using i3 or whatever else on Linux.

I still don't love using MacOS and would probably never buy a Macbook for personal use, but it's not really that bad and sure beats using Windows + WSL for development since at least MacOS is a UNIX

[1] https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai [2] https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd

Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results | Oct 2022
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> The thing that annoys me most is that there's no global shortcut for new terminal windows.

Did you look at skhd?

https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd

I found it through the yabai window manager - but I'm starting to think I might be better off with something less ambitious - as macos apis are restricted and yabai needs a lot of privileges to work with screen/desktops :'(

But skhd is very simple and powerful - it can run commands and also insert text (I rebind some keys for brackets and tilde which are annoying on Mac intl layouts).

Eg:

    # open terminal, blazingly fast compared to iTerm/Hyper
    cmd - return : /Applications/kitty.app/Contents/MacOS/kitty --single-instance -d ~

    alt - k : skhd --text "~"
Available Today: Windows Dev Kit 2023 a.k.a. Project Volterra | Oct 2022
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Try this: https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd

If it’s customizable, global, keyboard shortcuts you’re after, skhd should do the job.