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aresluna-org-hcpaiq.txt (73656B)

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 Marcin Wichary
 
 12 May 2026 / 9,400 words, but don’t even worry about it
 
 [my-setup-t]
 
 Key, in sight
 
 A guide, of sorts, to keyboard customization
 
 I like keyboards because they’re the most effective human-computer interface
 connection, but I also like keyboards because they are fun.
 
 It’s fun to slam big keys without thinking, and it’s fun to experience the
 mastery of precise combinations of meticulous keyboard shortcuts. It’s great to
 see things on the screen that react to what you’ve done, especially if those
 are things that really understand how you work. And it’s magical to watch your
 fingers do things seemingly on their own while you’re preoccupied with deeper
 things, just because you set up something that allowed motor memory to blossom.
 
 This is not only about efficiency. Sometimes it’s more about a connection with
 the tool, a feeling of customization or control, or simple appreciation of a
 well-made interaction – all these beautiful low-level moments that give their
 energy to the whole process.
 
 [icons]
 These four apps do very different things
 
 How do you get there, though? Sure, you can get a nice keyboard, and adopt
 shortcuts provided by the operating system and the apps you use. After that,
 however, the road gets pretty steep. Getting a “fancier” keyboard means endless
 options coated with infinite jargon. On the software front, so many apps come
 with similar names, confusing interfaces, and frightening dialog boxes asking
 you for all the permissions in the universe.
 
 So, I wanted to write a little guide, all the way from hardware to software,
 about how I approached and warmed up to some of the keyboard mastery myself.
 Maybe it will work for you, too?
 
 My goals for this essay are:
 
   • Actually do some useful things with modern keyboards and keypads.
   • Find some fun and enjoyment in it all.
   • Be a calm guide through a typically stormy port.
 
 If you were always curious but intimidated, or if you have a keypad or a bunch
 of extra keys on your keyboard, but don’t know what to do with them… read on.
 Two caveats before we start:
 
   • This will generally not cover command palettes, text expansion, and using
     keys to launch apps – those are all valuable, but I think generally not
     hard to accomplish. I want something different.
   • The software parts here are Mac only. Please [2]let me know if you’d like
     me to cover Windows as well.
 
 A key to toggle dark mode
 A little highlight reel of what’s to come in this essay
 
 How to have fun
 
 How to have fun with hardware
 
 My recommendation: Start with making room for yourself so it’s easy to
 experiment. In other words, start by adding keys. It’s no fun driving through
 the busy streets of an old European city, fighting for space with tons of
 shortcuts already out there, needing to shuffle existing conventions around. I
 was responsible for keyboard shortcut decisions at work for years, and it’s a
 real challenge.
 
 Instead – as awful as this analogy is – you need a brand-new parkway autobahn
 where you’re the only car, free to drive carelessly and without speed limits.
 
 There are two ways to get there: by carving out a not-yet-colonized space on
 your existing keyboard, or by literally buying new keys.
 
 Adding room by buying new keys
 
 If you have budget for an external macro pad, get one and put it on the side of
 the main keyboard, opposite the trackpad or mouse.
 
 I have tried a few different options, and I could recommend:
 
 Wooting also might be the only keyboard software of all of them that could be
 described as “actually nice to use.”
 I would not recommend Glorious GMMK Numpad in that it is costly, and you cannot
 reconfigure the sliders or the lights easily.
 
   • [3]Wooting UwU gives you three big keys and three small ones; the build
     quality is nice and the price is relatively low.
   • [4]Megadolon Triple Knob Macro Pad is knob-heavy, but it also gives you 16
     keys.
   • [5]Work Louder Creator series keypads are pricier and have their quirks,
     but overall it’s a nice layout and the mechanical feel is good, too.
   • You can also get any nice numeric keypad, and then reassign its keys to do
     non-calculatory things. [6]8BitDo’s is nice and relatively affordable, and 
     [7]Keychron offers a few different keypads – those are a bit more pricey,
     though. I also used [8]Eweadn NK20.
 
 1 more image
 
 1 more 
 1 
 Ulanzi D200 and Elgato Stream Deck Neo
 
 I would not recommend Stream Deck or its copycats from Ulanzi and Logitech,
 even if they are conceptually similar to the products above. Those look like
 keys, but they really are buttons: mushy, meant to be pressed occasionally
 rather than all the time, not great allies to motor memory. The rule would be:
 if you’re buying something new, it needs to be using mechanical keyboard
 switches. We will put those keys to actual pragmatic use, but they also need to
 be really nice to press for the magic to kick in; we want something good for
 the brain, but also good for the heart.
 
 If you buy a new macro pad or keypad, it will give you a new set of completely
 conflict-free keys. My recommendation is to map them to F1–F20 and resolve what
 that means later in software inside the computer, rather than inside the
 keyboard itself.
 
 Making room without buying new keys
 
 If you don’t have room, can’t afford a keypad, or have ergonomics or RSI
 concerns, here are some ideas on how to make room for yourself on your existing
 keyboard:
 
   • If you have a keyboard with a keypad you don’t use, you can take over those
     keys to behave like function keys. Particularly both numpad 0 and numpad 
     Return are bigger, and will be enjoyable to press in haste! (Each numpad
     key can also be modified by modifier keys: Numpad 0, ⇧Numpad 0, and ⌘Numpad
     0 can all do different things.)
   • If you already have F1–F12 function keys at the top, consider enrolling
     them in new tasks. If you are already using some of them for system control
     (for example volume or brightness or music pausing), you can split the
     function row into two halves and free up only some of it for use. But the
     goal would be never having to fiddle with the Fn key so the keys are as
     easy to use as possible.
 
 One idea on how to divide a function key row
 
   • You can create a completely new modifier key and assign it to Caps Lock. A
     user-made modifier is conventionally referred to as “Hyper.” This frees up 
     HyperA–Z, Hyper1–0, even HyperSpace (huh) or HyperEnter to do whatever you
     want. The key is also in a nice position and really fun to press, once you
     get past the trauma of years of trying to avoid pressing it.
   • Claim a few other keys on the keyboard you never press. Do some eminent
     domain on the little private Scroll Lock + Print Screen island? Reclaim 
     Insert and Delete or PgUp and PgDn? Or maybe your keyboard has a few weird
     extra keys that you never touched that could use a new job?
   • If you already have a gaming joystick or one of those gaming pads, and you
     feel good about their feel, they might be a good candidate, too. The tools
     we’ll talk about will allow to react to joystick and game button equally
     well as to key presses.
 
 Nlofin Leverless Arcade Controller and Razer Tartarus Pro. I’d avoid products
 by Razer, however, as their Mac software is absolutely horrendous.
 
 How to have fun with software
 
 Just one example of a scary keyboard software experience
 
 You can’t skip this part, and this is unfortunately a harder place to enjoy.
 With the physical keyboards you can at least be mesmerized by the lights,
 admire the build quality, enjoy the tacticility. But very little software for
 keyboard customization is… pleasant. It all comes with rough interfaces, scary
 permission windows, and impenetrable nomenclature. This can be inspiring in the
 “I will figure it out and show you who’s the boss” sense – but it will be
 intimidating first.
 
 You’ll often have to use more than one app to get going, too. Also, both of
 these things will be true: there is no one app that does everything, and a lot
 of apps have overlapping functionality.
 
 I will explain software in more details later, but first I just want to show
 you what I chose to do.
 
 My setup
 
 Here is what specifically worked for me.
 
 Hardware
 
 I know my keyboard looks weird, but stripped of its strange moments, it’s a
 pretty standard QWERTY.
 
 I have a little numpad on the left side. I customized it via its software so
 that the keys are mapped to F1–F20. I split the keys into two halves –
 shortcuts for the system, and shortcuts for the current app – and installed
 different keycaps that helped me remember that division.
 
 Many keyboard lights are very rainbowy and fast-moving out of the box. I’m too
 old for that. I’d argue most people are.
 
 I told the lights to chill and just use a stationary orange color so that it
 matches my whole theme and makes me happy.
 
 I also have one big arcade button in a big box. It’s a long story, but I [9]
 commissioned it hoping it’d be fun to press, and guess what: It’s really fun to
 press. It’s technically a joystick button, not a key, but it connects via USB
 as a keyboard would, and to the software I use there is no difference. And,
 speaking of software…
 
 Speaking of software
 
 My main go-to is [10]Keyboard Maestro. It is old-fashioned in both good and
 sometimes bad ways. It has a quirky, occasionally intimidating, but otherwise
 thoughtful user interface. It’s capable, and I feel it grows on you and grows
 with you – I started with simple things that I will show you below, and then
 worked on figuring out more and more. (Also, the app is still being updated,
 and it has a small, but invested community.)
 
 This is the command center that’ll decide what F1–F20 really mean depending on
 all the context. The key press will mean F1 when the keyboard spits it out, but
 Keyboard Maestro will change it to something more relevant before it reaches a
 given application.
 
 I occasionally use other tools – often, you do not really have a choice! – but
 I try to centralize all my logic in here and treat it as a main “dispatcher.”
 If it’s possible to do something both in Keyboard Maestro and elsewhere, I put
 it in Keyboard Maestro. But of other tools:
 
   • I installed [11]Karabiner Elements, which is free, and useful for some
     lower-level stuff. It also has a useful key event tester.
   • I occasionally use Shortcuts and other built-in macOS functionality, for
     light text expansion and for disabling some built-in shortcuts (like ⌘⌥D
     for dock hiding).
 
 Outside of attractiveness, the Keyboard Maestro app switcher has a few
 interaction issues, as well.
 
 Keyboard Maestro should be safe to install, with one exception: it changes your
 ⌘Tab app switcher. Unfortunately, it’s not a positive change. While Keyboard
 Maestro is great at wiring keystroke logic together behind the scenes, most of
 its visible UI is not very attractive, and this is no exception. So, after
 installation, click on Switcher Group and then uncheck Enable Macro Group.
 
 The native macOS app switcher and its Keyboard Maestro equivalent
 
 Keyboard Maestro is free to try for 30 days. After that, at the time of
 writing, it’s a one-time $36 purchase, which feels very reasonable. I do not
 know of other apps that offer similar functionality cheaper (or for free) that
 do not make me want to rip my hair out using them.
 
 Continue reading by choosing your own adventure
 
 I learn best from examples ↓ I would love to see examples first, then (maybe)
 catch up with theory
 I learn best from theory ↓ I would love to understand the theory first, then
 see your examples
 
 The best keyboard incantations I made
 
 This is what I found the most useful and enjoyable with my setup. Some of this
 stuff might not be relevant to your work, but perhaps will offer inspiration or
 a good jumping off point.
 
 Once you get started with some concepts, it gets easier! Each of the 25
 examples below tries to show a new idea that you can put to use.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 
 I fixed shortcuts that disagreed with one another.
 
 Motor memory is beautiful. It can offload menial actions to other parts of your
 brain so you can focus on what matters. It can make you fly through things. It
 can help achieve flow.
 
 But motor memory requires consistency. I do a lot of writing in various apps,
 and specific things behaving slightly differently bother my fingers. Bold and
 italic always work the same way, but when it comes to stuff like strikethrough,
 quotations, headlines, separators, and to-do items, the shortcuts are all over
 the place.
 
 For example, I am used to pressing ⌘⇧X for strikethrough, but Bear (a
 notetaking app) has it under ⌘⇧U, and Apple Notes doesn’t provide a shortcut.
 In both cases, the command is in the menu, so the simple way to fix this is to
 go to the Settings and reassign based on the menu name. Or, you can also use
 the [14]CustomShortcuts app, which offers a tighter UI and autocomplete.
 
 [notes-buil] [notes-cust]
 The native macOS function and CustomShortcuts
 
 But I like unifying everything in Keyboard Maestro (and avoiding Settings [15]
 like a plague), and so I did it there instead:
 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 The benefit of doing it in Keyboard Maestro is that I can also fix Medium’s
 shortcuts. Medium lives inside Chrome, which complicates things – I don’t want
 to change the shortcut for every single web app in Chrome! – but Keyboard
 Maestro allows to target specific tabs, so I can unify the quoting shortcut
 from ⌥⌘5 to ⌘':
 
 Keyboard Maestro macro group and macro setup
 
 How does one choose the correct shortcut, though? My advice is: Listen to your
 fingers. If you’re already used to some combination of keys, just make it work
 in other apps.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 
 I deleted some shortcuts I truly hated.
 
 I use a lot of Slack, and in Slack I constantly press ⌘T to search for a person
 or a conversation. But the challenge with ⌘T is that it is right next to ⌘R,
 and occasionally my fingers would also press that shortcut on the way, and
 initiate a reload – not the end of the world, but frustrating to happen a few
 times a day.
 
 Settings does not obviously allow you to remove a shortcut, but you can always
 assign a new shortcut that you will just never press, for example something
 heinous like ⇧⌃⌥⌘F10.
 
 [slack-relo]
 I did a similar thing for Show Spelling And Grammar. The shortcut was ⌘⇧; and
 sometimes I would press it alongside ⌘⇧L that I use a lot. So, I disabled that
 wholesale.
 
 But the shortcut showing up in a menu like this feels inelegant to me. So, in
 Keyboard Maestro, I just made a category for Slack, added an action that’s
 triggered by ⌘R, and… that’s it. I didn’t wire anything to it, so the action
 doesn’t actually do anything, but its very presence ensures the key press never
 makes it to Slack.
 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I added some shortcuts to help my motor memory.
 
 At some point, I made Gmail a web app in its own window, rather than using it
 in the browser as yet another tab. But I still occasionally press ⌘N or ⌘T in
 Gmail, out of habit.
 
 It was really easy to change it so those keys switch to Chrome and open new
 stuff there, like they did before.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 
 Okay, so we made some shortcuts consistent, and removed stuff. But this is kind
 of boring.
 
 Generally, unless you know exactly what you want and have existing pet peeves,
 I would initially avoid the business of micromanaging existing shortcuts in
 apps, and optimizing them ad nauseam – it’s just not as much fun, and we didn’t
 get all these new keys for no reason.
 
 So, let’s do some things with those keys.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I had fun with a big button.
 
 I give talks sometimes, but Keynote’s “show presentation” shortcut that I use
 for previewing and practice is a thoroughly disappointing, puny ⌥⌘P.
 
 On the other (well, same) hand, it’s just a lot of fun to slam a big arcade
 button without thinking – it feels extremely satisfying to press it and then
 see the slides blow up on the screen. I want to think of my presentations as
 appearing in a movie theatre, with people quieting down as [16]the THX logo
 scares the hell out of them.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 Actually, even more fun.
 
 I also do [17]a lot of tech history document scanning. Scanning is even less
 glamorous than you might already think – instead of gently laying a piece of
 paper onto a scanner bed and pressing a button to Preserve History, you
 sometimes have to shove a heavy, half-opened book in there and hold it in the
 right position for 20 seconds or more.
 
 [scanning]
 My scanner software is good enough that it allows me to queue the next scan
 before the current one is finished, so I really do not have to worry about
 timing. If the software wasn’t as good, I am sure Keyboard Maestro would allow
 me to make it work, anyway.
 
 A contorted body and busy hands are not great conditions to carefully target an
 onscreen Scan button with a mouse, or even to press a shortcut more complex
 than one key. So, I also wired the same big button to start the scan process.
 Keyboard Maestro invokes that only if the scanning software is open, but
 regardless of whether the scanning app is currently focused or not. This is
 important, as I often jump to Finder to verify the results as I’m scanning and
 I want to be able to press the key anywhere.
 
 I also assigned the same function to the Fn key on my laptop keyboard. The Fn
 key is kind of [18]useless to me, and it is positioned in a corner, so it’s
 easy to press, too. (Tools like Keyboard Maestro allow you to have more than
 one key trigger for one function, and that can be very useful.)
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 2 images
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (2 images) 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (2 images) 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup for Zoom Keyboard Maestro macro group and macro
 setup for Google Meet
 
 Okay, quite a bit more fun.
 
 I also wired the same button to mute me on various calls.
 
 Google Meet, Zoom, and FigJam offer keyboard shortcuts for this – although each
 one is different – and FaceTime only has an onscreen button. Keyboard Maestro
 can unify all of these things, and just like before, choose the right action
 depending on which app is running. (For FaceTime, it’ll get there via the
 menu.) I just press the big arcade button.
 
 I can even wire it so that it if the app is in the background, the button press
 can switch to it quickly, do the muting, and go back where I was, effectively
 making my button slam a “global” shortcut. It’s a nice enhancement very few
 apps offer on their own.
 
 And now, it works so well, I can mute and contain even a very sudden sneeze.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I swear I am done with the big button… right after this.
 
 Lastly, I also wired the big button to take a screenshot of the main display.
 
 What’s cool about that is that [19]regular screenshot-taking shortcuts require
 you to hold a modifier key or two beforehand. But a modifier key is not truly
 inert – it could dismiss the very tooltip I wanted to screenshot, or change the
 cursor to look differently. A one-button operation doesn’t have these problems.
 
 To finish the big button story: In general, I wouldn’t maybe recommend
 overloading one key this way – that means I cannot scan while I’m on Zoom, or
 take screenshots this way while I’m practicing for my presentation, although
 these are not situations that happen anyway.
 
 But, let’s move away from the big button onto other things.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 2 images
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (2 images) 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (2 images) 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup for Preview Keyboard Maestro macro setup for
 DevonThink
 
 I made more things consistent, but also consistently pleasant.
 
 I read a lot of documents and PDFs and it’s a similar situation as before.
 Chrome, Internet Archive, Preview, and Google Books cannot agree on the keys to
 use here, and DevonThink doesn’t even have any keyboard shortcuts for flipping
 pages.
 
 Keyboard Maestro allowed me to unify the existing shortcuts, and for DevonThink
 I used one of its smarter features: searching for a button under the hood using
 the name of its tooltip.
 
 But the most important part? I assigned this to the two bottom-most keys on the
 keypad just so it feels really nice, too. I actually love keeping my left hand
 there when reading, just going through pages and enjoying the clicky keys,
 while my right hand is on the trackpad where I can zoom or do other things.
 
 Now, I can do this thousands of times a day with joy.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 3 images
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (3 images) 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (3 images) 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup for dark mode using Shortcuts Keyboard Maestro
 macro setup for dark mode using a built-in function Keyboard Maestro macro
 setup for toggling retina mode
 
 I took charge of time and space.
 
 When I do design or web work, I want it to look good in dark and light mode.
 But going to Settings to toggle it back and forth is really unpleasant. So I
 wrote a tiny Shortcuts script, and wired it via Keyboard Maestro, which can
 invoke any Shortcut. Now, one single slam of a key that’s always there switches
 dark mode wherever I am, and it honestly feels a bit magical.
 
 (By the way – later I discovered that Keyboard Maestro has its own “toggle dark
 mode” action, simplifying my situation even more, but I wanted to show you
 talking to Shortcuts was possible.)
 
 Then, I made it so Shift + the same key toggled the screen in and out of retina
 pixels, which is also useful for testing. I don’t do that nearly as often as
 dark mode, so I was okay with a modifier key here.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I built a slightly smarter escape hatch.
 
 I use Bear for notetaking and I have one main note, with all to do items in it
 – but I check out other notes all the time.
 
 I wanted a simple and reliable key that would always get me to that main note
 wherever I happen to be: an app launcher with a twist.
 
 [20]This short video might help visualize this.
 
 Bear doesn’t provide a smart way of controlling it or an API, but I could do it
 the “player piano” way by just replaying some keystrokes I would press: switch
 to Bear, simulate ⌘⇧O, fake type the name of the main note, press Enter, and
 then press down arrow a few times. It’s a little goofy because you can see it
 going through its motions, but it works really well.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Karabiner Elements setup
 
 Show me the Karabiner Elements setup 
 Show me the Karabiner Elements setup 
 Karabiner Elements setup
 
 I conflated brightness and volume in a way that probably breaks some laws, and
 cleaned up Apple’s strange conventions.
 
 For some reason, I love changing the brightness by hand. Maybe I don’t trust
 the auto brightness stuff, maybe I’m just power hungry, maybe my eyes are funny
 – likely all of the above.
 
 I was also fed up with default macOS modifier key combinations for [21]volume
 and brightness keys, so I put all of them on the same two keys my keyboard
 happens to have, behaving like this:
 
   • normal presses = volume
   • ⇧ presses = precise volume in smaller steps
   • ⌃ presses = brightness on the left screen
   • ⌘ presses = brightness on the right screen
 
 Why ⌃ and ⌘? Because ⌃ is on the left, and ⌘ is on the right. This way I made
 it easier for myself to remember, even if that set up is only true on my desk.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I added tag wrapping in my programming editor.
 
 This is the one that made me really happy. I write all of my stuff in HTML, but
 HTML with its angle brackets is not as much fun to type in.
 
 I noticed I was spending a lot of time typing the same tags over and over
 again, so I added a few expand-like features where I can select text and then
 press one key and it turns it into an <a> link. Another key makes it a specific
 style, and another makes it italicized.
 
 It works no matter how long the string is, and I find it really fun to use –
 again, left hand on the keypad row, and right hand to quickly select pieces of
 text using the trackpad.
 
 I know my programming text editor likely has that option… somewhere. But I am
 lightly afraid of interfaces of programming editors, and doing it like this
 allows me to cheaply reuse it elsewhere, too.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I set up universal record and playback.
 
 This is one of the truly unsung heroes of this area, and one I learned to love
 first in a text editor called Sublime Text. Today, Keyboard Maestro allows me
 to have it everywhere.
 
 The starting point is simple: you assign one key to be “record” and one key as
 “play.” Then, at any point you can record a sequence of keystrokes, and then
 play it back, as many times as you want.
 
 It seems simple, but the power lies exactly in its simplicity. Having it always
 there, ready to use and then ready to throw away, allows for a refreshing new
 casual kind of automation.
 
 One example: As you can see in the video above, I wanted to make a little grid
 in Keynote. So I recorded pasting one line, and then moving it the right
 amount. Then, playing back the same interaction a few times got me what I
 wanted really quickly.
 
 Another one: Sometimes when you paste a big block of text, it comes with extra
 lines between paragraphs, or not enough spacing between paragraphs.
 
 There are many ways to deal with this. If you’re good with the command line,
 you can put together a script. If you’re good at regexps, you can use Find &
 Replace. But for me, I don’t do either enough to be good, so I would normally
 just do it manually one paragraph at a time. This allows me to automate this
 part in an incredibly light way – I record myself doing it once (⌥↓, →, Return
 ), then repeat a few more dozen times.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I concocted a fun reloading chain.
 
 When working on a Chrome plugin, it is cumbersome to see its effects
 immediately, since you have to reload a few things in the right order. So, I
 installed a Chrome extension to reload my extension-in-writing, and wired one
 of my macro pad keys to do this sequence of events:
 
   • save the current work in the programming editor
   • jump to Chrome and press the “reload extensions” button in the background,
     reloading my extension
   • then, press ⌘R to reload the website, to see the extension’s effect
   • and then, go back to the editor
 
 The beauty is that even though this is very “player piano,” it’s so fast it
 just feels magical – I press my button, immediately see its results on the
 right, and no context is changed or lost. I can continue writing as if nothing
 happened.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 2 images
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (2 images) 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (2 images) 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup for arbitrary image rotation Keyboard Maestro
 macro setup for resizing the image window
 
 I added some fun Photoshop flows that… flowed great together.
 
 What follows scanning is long and often tedious processing: making the scans
 brighter, straightening them, cleaning up the edges.
 
 [scan-befor] [scan-after]
 
 When I started looking at how I do this – in batches of sometimes hundreds of
 pages in one go – I noticed a few patterns:
 
   • I often go to the Brightness/Contrast window via the menu, and then fiddle
     around with different numbers. So I made an action to increase brightness
     and contrast by 10%, and assigned it to a key. Now I press it once, twice,
     three times, until it looks good. If I overshoot, I can always undo.
   • I always resize the window with the mouse to leave some room at the edges.
     That made it easier to draw around them and clean them up. So I added a key
     to resize the window to be slightly larger, without ever touching the
     mouse.
   • I noticed that when straightening an image, I have to click a button on the
     screen with the mouse, because there is no keyboard shortcut, or way to
     assign one. But Keyboard Maestro allows you to automatically click on
     buttons, too.
 
 Then – and this is important – I assigned these to keys that are side by side.
 
 I know this sounds kind of silly, but now I can just rest my left hand on those
 keys, right hand on the trackpad, put on a podcast, and absolutely breeze
 through the scans, and feel kind of strangely amazing in the process? The
 side-by-side keys mean motor memory starts to develop really quickly, and soon
 I just watch my fingers do things.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I made keystrokes replace some bookmarklets.
 
 I use Web Archive to get to older versions of pages, and previously had a [22]
 bookmarklet I would press in my browser’s toolbar.
 
 You could probably assign a keystroke to a bookmarklet, but I went a different
 way to simplify: I had Keyboard Maestro press ⌘L (go to the URL bar), then type
 web.archive.org/ in front, and then press Enter.
 
 It’s easy and fun, and I also wanted to show it to you because this is an
 interesting way to approach some things previously only bookmarklets could do.
 Bonus: This will work in all the browsers without having to set up each one by
 hand!
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 4 images
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (4 images) 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (4 images) 
 Initial setup within Chrome Keyboard Maestro macro setup Keyboard Maestro macro
 setup Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I added a deterministic set of shortcuts for testing speed.
 
 This is similar to dark mode and retina stuff. When designing for the web, I
 sometimes need to fake a slow connection or going offline to make sure my
 website behaves well under conditions worse than wired, flawless home internet.
 Moreover, I really want tight, immediate control over this – for example,
 switching to “fast” for initial load of the page and “offline” immediately
 afterwards. Having a great keyboard UI here isn’t the difference between using
 it fast or slow. It’s about using it or not using it at all.
 
 Chrome web inspector offers a little UI for this, but it’s buried inside a menu
 inside a tab inside a drawer. To their credit, they offer to also wire some
 shortcuts to those options, but the shortcut options are limited to modifier
 keys.
 
 Keyboard Maestro gave me a nicer solution:
 
   • start by opening a web inspector if it’s not open
   • use my macro pad keys without any modifier keys, so it’s very fast and
     convenient
   • even display a little message to confirm what I’ve done (using Raycast,
     since Keyboard Maestro’s visual messaging feels ugly to me)
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 2 images
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (2 images) 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (2 images) 
 Keyboard Maestro setup for adding a label in Finder Keyboard Maestro setup for
 removing all labels in Finder
 
 I made Finder better, too.
 
 When I process files in Finder, I sometimes want to tag them with a specific
 color label. However, Finder’s UI for this is very mouse-oriented, and fiddly
 when it comes to complex selections.
 
 On my keypad, I set up four keys side by side so that when I am in Finder the
 first three add red, yellow, and green labels to whatever my selection is
 (could be one file, could be a hundred), and the last one just [23]
 deterministically removes all the labels.
 
 Since Finder’s interface for labeling is kind of a mess, this needed to be
 wired on a deeper layer than just “player piano,” and used more advanced
 Keyboard Maestro features such as looping and variables.
 
 I really enjoy using it, because it’s easy to remember, and moving my left hand
 to those keys and then back to Shift and Command to control Finder’s selection
 feels easy, while my right hand can stay on the trackpad.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 2 images
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (2 images) 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (2 images) 
 Initial setup in macOS Settings Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 I learned you can control your smart home in a strange way.
 
 There are ways to control your smart home by using different apps or proper API
 events. But there is also a much simpler way that can be a fun way to get
 started: talking to Siri by typing to it. This way, anything you can say to
 Siri could be put under any key, which you can do in macOS out of the box. For
 example, I can just put “kitchen lights 10%” under F5 or “decrease room
 temperature” under F6.
 
 It also works a lot faster than saying the same thing to Siri via voice, which
 is a very interesting discovery.
 
 (Unfortunately, this approach has limitations, because Mac’s Siri cannot do
 everything. But it is a very simple starting point.)
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Karabiner + Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 4 images
 
 Show me the Karabiner + Keyboard Maestro setup (4 images) 
 Show me the Karabiner + Keyboard Maestro setup (4 images) 
 Karabiner Elements setup Keyboard Maestro macro setup Keyboard Maestro macro
 setup Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I invented a completely new keyboard shortcut convention I use all the time
 now.
 
 All that stuff just whetted my appetite to try something new, something
 different, something unusual. And this one is perhaps my absolute favourite.
 
 [macos-text] My previous attempt to make key symbols easily accessible
 
 In my design and writing, I often want to use symbols like ⌘ or ⇧ to refer to
 keys, so I had this idea: What if I press a new “Print the legend” key like a
 sort of modifier key, in combination with another modifier key or keys like ↓, 
 Esc, or Return. That combination makes their symbol appear on screen.
 
 This feels so much more fun than the standard way of setting text replacements,
 and avoids you having to remember all of these strange writing incantations
 that need to be close, but not quite correct strings, since you still want to
 write “Command” and “Shift,” too!
 
 It also has the added benefit that it works in more places than the normal
 macOS text expansion, and feels little a magical because… keyboards are not
 really meant to work that way. But mine does. It looks like the small keypad is
 a “boss” of the huge one – a true Ratatouille situation.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I talked to YouTube via JavaScript to simplify a complex flow.
 
 Text transcript in YouTube is very useful if I want to quote something from a
 YouTube video into [24]my blog.
 
 [youtube-tr]
 
 If you didn’t know that YouTube had a transcript, you weren’t alone! It’s not
 only buried behind a few clicks and scrolls, but also resets the moment you
 zoom in the video.
 
 Instead of a “player piano” action, I used Keyboard Maestro’s JavaScript
 integration to find the right button and click it under the hood. And then I
 assigned it to a key.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 5 images
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (5 images) 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup (5 images) 
 Keyboard Maestro helper macro setup Keyboard Maestro helper macro setup
 Keyboard Maestro helper macro setup Keyboard Maestro helper macro setup
 Keyboard Maestro main macro setup
 
 I made a super weird shortcut I am very proud of.
 
 And now, we can go back where we started, armed with more ideas.
 
 Do you have a favorite shortcut? Something that you just enjoy pressing? My
 suggestion to get an external keypad was to automatically get some fun-to-press
 keys. But you can get those on the main keyboard, too.
 
 The fav recent one I “invented” was ⇧Space to insert a divider. It made sense
 both conceptually (divider is a long pause), and mnemonically (both the Shift
 key and the spacebar are long, like a divider). I wired it up in Bear and
 Medium – in Notes, which doesn’t seem to have a divider function, I just made
 it output a bunch of hyphens – I excitedly started using it, and then… I
 discovered a big problem.
 
 Turns out I press ⇧Space all the time when typing. Fingers are extremely
 precise and rather careless at the same time, and it turns out that I often
 pressed ⇧ too early, on the way to a capital latter, which caught the space in
 the crossfire. It didn’t have any effect before, but the new shortcut meant my
 documents would now be littered with random dividers.
 
 I didn’t want to give up on my idea, though. Then, I realized something: There
 are two Shifts on my keyboard. What if I required ⇧⇧Space – actually holding
 both Shift keys?
 
 No designer would ever allow such a shortcut in any app because it has multiple
 problems: it’s not ergonomic, it’s not accessible, and it requires two hands.
 But I didn’t have to think about everyone, only me. I knew what I was doing.
 When typing, both my hands are on the keyboard already, and dividers don’t
 happen often anyway. And there was even something poetic about it feeling a bit
 “heavier” – a divider feeling like ripping the page out of the typewriter and
 inserting a new one. And the three keys in succession looked like one long
 line, so it was a nice visual mnemonic.
 
 The same line of thinking allows you to have something seemingly impossible: 
 Hyper with modifier keys, as long as you’re using modifier keys on one side
 only. Simply make Hyper mean the modifier keys you’re not touching, and detect
 the other set. This way you could have HyperV do one thing, and HyperLeft Shift
 V so another.
 
 It all required a bit of a deeper surgery, because Keyboard Maestro bundles 
 Shifts together by default, but I made it happen.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I solved clipboard history in a light way that made me happy.
 
 Sometimes I accidentally write over my clipboard, but it doesn’t happen often
 enough for me to invest in learning a clipboard manager; those things feel
 overbuilt and scary to me.
 
 How did I approach this problem? To me, the most important thing was a
 shortcut, and I came up with Caps LockV (a.k.a. HyperV, which means ⇧⌃⌥⌘V). I
 thought this would ensure that in a moment of panic, I will remember it,
 because it’s very similar to ⌘V.
 
 But what did I plug into it? Keyboard Maestro has a clipboard manager, but it’s
 not very pretty. I happened to have a license for Raycast, so I plugged that
 one instead:
 
 [clipboard-] [clipboard-]
 Clipboard history in Keyboard Maestro and in Raycast
 
 I know macOS Tahoe has a clipboard manager, but I don’t want to update to Tahoe
 – but once I do, and if I like what it offers, I should be able to just rewire
 the shortcut to go there instead. That’s another benefit of taking ownership
 here – over time, you can keep the shortcut, but switch what’s underneath.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Karabiner + Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 2 images
 
 Show me the Karabiner + Keyboard Maestro setup (2 images) 
 Show me the Karabiner + Keyboard Maestro setup (2 images) 
 Karabiner Elements setup Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 Wait, no, this is an even better solution.
 
 But even that above didn’t feel great. So I thought a bit more.
 
 And I had a realization: what’s a pretty natural interaction I know from my
 phone, or Apple TV? It’s “long press to reveal more advanced options.” Why
 couldn’t ⌘V work the same way? Press it normally to paste, but press and hold
 it for a clipboard menu. Holding means repeat elsewhere in keyboarding, but I
 never want a repeated paste.
 
 This required some delicate surgery:
 
   • It all had to start on the Karabiner side because it was pretty invasive.
   • Preventing ⌘V repeating was as easy as adding "repeat": false in the right
     place.
   • Instead of communicating through a throwaway key like F20, Karabiner talks
     directly to Keyboard Maestro behind the scenes, and asks it to run a
     command.
   • That can invoke Raycast’s clipboard as above, but since the first press of 
     ⌘V pastes immediately and I didn’t want to change that, it also has to run
     an undo first.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup
 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Show me the Keyboard Maestro setup 
 Keyboard Maestro macro setup
 
 I made another big button do something silly.
 
 I haven’t really figured out what to do with knobs yet. They are fashionable,
 but my imagination doesn’t reach further than volume, brightness, and/or video
 scrubbing – pretty basic stuff.
 
 But a lot of knobs are also buttons, so I just wired mine to [25]Raycast’s
 confetti canon.
 
 And I just press it from time to time, for no reason at all.
 
 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
 
 Choose your own adventure
 
 Okay, we are done with examples! And now…
 
 [26]Continue with the theory ↓
 [27]Skip theory, go to the ending ↓
 
 This concludes the “choose your own adventure” portion of the essay!
 
 The life of a keystroke
 
 There is a lot of keyboard software, and it all exists on different planes.
 This is my mental model of how a keystroke travels through the system:
 
 Event/App
 Function
 [28](*) Most common apps [29]( ) Example tasks
 Key press
 Keyboard firmware apps
 Basic configuration of keys and knobs, modifier keys, keyboard lighting,
 layers.
 
   • VIA
   • 8BitDo Ultimate Software
   • Chrysalis
   • Wootility
 
   • Make top left key be equivalent to Enter
   • Turning knob turns volume up or down
   • F1 key outputs “on my way”
 
 USB side apps
 Rewriting keys and changing them depending on which keyboard they came from.
 Handling volume and other system keys.
 
   • [30]Karabiner Elements
   • [31]Kanata
   • [32]KMonad
 
   • Holding CtrlShift on any keyboard makes HJKL become cursor keys everywhere
   • Ctrl from one specific keyboard becomes ⌘
   • Prevent ⌘Q from working any keyboard from doing anything in any app
 
 Apps assigning shortcuts to commands
 Changing shortcuts, mostly in app menus.
 
   • Keyboard Shortcuts (macOS)
   • [33]CustomShortcuts
 
   • File > Print is now ⌘⇧P instead of ⌘P
   • Format > Italic is now ⌘⌥I instead of ⌘I
   • Disable ⌘⌥D from showing/hiding dock
 
 Player piano apps
 Automation by creating fake key presses and clicks.
 
   • [34]Keyboard Maestro
   • [35]BetterTouchTool
 
   • F1 key outputs “on my way”
   • Pressing F2 clicks a Close button on screen
   • Prevent ⌘Q from working any keyboard from doing anything in any app, with
     exception of Notes
 
 Commands and logic apps
 Automation by talking to other apps.
 
   • [36]Keyboard Maestro
   • [37]Keyboard Cowboy
   • [38]BetterTouchTool
   • [39]Hammerspoon
   • Shortcuts (macOS)
   • Automator (macOS)
   • [40]Alfred Workflows
 
   • if FaceTime is running, ⇧Esc mutes it even if you are not inside the app
   • Pressing F3 turns dark mode on and off
   • Pressing ⌘⌥V pastes selected text into previously opened application
 
 Command palettes
 Visual command lines that offer app launching and automation.
 
   • Spotlight (macOS)
   • [41]Alfred
   • [42]
   • [43]Quicksilver
   • [44]Raycast
 
   • Pressing ⌘Space opens a command palette
   • Pressing ⌘⌥C shows clipboard history
 
 Keyboard control inside specific apps
 Keyboard customization functionality living inside individual apps.
 
   • Photoshop
   • DaVinci Resolve
   • VS Code
   • Nova
   • Chrome
 
   • F1 can be configured to open a custom action in Photoshop
   • ⌥M can be configured to mute in Zoom
   • ⌘/ opens a command palette in Figma
 
 Text expansion apps
 Stuff that helps specifically with typing text, including access to symbols and
 emoji.
 
   • Text Replacements (macOS)
   • [45]Espanso
   • [46]TextExpander
   • [47]Typinator
   • [48]Rocket (emoji selector)
 
   • Typing “omw” outputs “on my way”
   • Typing “$today” outputs today’s date in a nice format
   • Typing “$add” outputs shipping address
 
 Output/Action
 
 Technically, each one of these has two parts: the “engine” and the
 “configurator.” The keyboard firmware running on the keyboard and the firmware
 configurator app running on the web are two different things, and that is true
 for most that follows. In practice, however, you don’t often deal with this
 dichotomy directly.
 
 Keyboard firmware apps
 
 These apps control software that lives inside your keyboard (a.k.a.
 “firmware”).
 
 [wooting] [tex] [via]
 Wooting app, Tex Shinobi app, and VIA firmware configurator (used by many
 keyboards)
 
 These days, those are typically web apps or specialized desktop apps. On some
 keyboards, there is no visible UI and you talk to the keyboards only by
 mystical combinations of the Fn key. On other keyboards, the only UI is
 mechanical DIP switches. Almost none of these are particularly pleasant in use.
 
 [dip-switch] DIP switches on my keyboard
 
 What you can usually do here:
 
   • Swap modifier keys around. Or, at the very least, allow to change the PC
     ordering with the Mac ordering, which are lightly incompatible with each
     other.
   • Assign key presses to the keys. E.g. the top left key is Q or F1, and so
     on.
   • Allow one key to output more characters than one. These sequences are
     usually called “macros.”
   • Decide what should the knobs do. Knobs are usually also keys in disguise –
     they typically emit a flurry of identical key presses whenever turned left
     or right.
 
 This is the only place where you will be able to control:
 
   • Any lights on your keyboard.
   • “Layers” of the keyboard – functionality that toggles between different key
     assignments. I would not worry too much about it first.
   • Specific features unique to your keyboard: optical switches, low-latency
     gaming functions, support for stenotyping, and so on.
 
 A few function keys above F20 are also available, but get a teensy bit trickier
 in use. Buyer beware!
 
 The one thing that’s important: there is a limited number of keys that can
 exist. Look at a regular desktop keyboard, and you can already see most of
 them. There are a few more function keys than you might think of – F13 to F20 –
 and some random stray keys like Switch to Kana. But this is all you get. You
 cannot invent a new key, and you cannot send an ASCII or emoji or a Unicode
 character because those don’t like to fly in economy over USB.
 
 But! You can always send an F20 key and then decide what it does on the other
 side. You’ll also be able to tell an F20 key on one keyboard from one on
 another keyboard. So that gives you a lot of options, but just feels weird –
 like a secret strange key alias that exists only to travel across the USB
 cable.
 
 Admit your fingers just ached a bit even just even imagining [49]this kind of a
 shortcut.
 And below I’ll show you how you can even make it work with other modifier keys
 for more options, even though it seems impossible given its nature.
 
 Wait, you might ask: didn’t you just say above to create a new modifier key
 called Hyper? Yes and no. It’s another kind of trickery. You know how you can
 combine regular modifier keys as much as you want, and for example assign
 something to the extreme combination of ⇧⌃⌥⌘? Neither people nor applications
 do that often, because those shortcuts are incredibly unpleasant to press. But
 you can easily – via software – make Caps Lock behave the same as holding all
 the other modifier keys together. Then, pressing Caps LockD would be the same
 as pressing ⇧⌃⌥⌘D, but infinitely more pleasant on your fingers. This is the
 convention of a “hyper” key – in the background, it really is pressing all four
 of the other modifier keys for you!
 
 [raycast-hy] [raycast-hy]
 Some apps, like Raycast, will allow you to show Hyper in a nice visual way
 (enabled in the second screenshot), but this is relatively rare.
 
 USB side apps
 
 It’s a bit hard to describe this category; my go-to metaphor is “an app that
 lives inside the USB port on your computer.” The inner workings are similar to
 keyboard’s firmware, operating on roughly the same terms, but now living inside
 your computer.
 
 Apps in this category:
 
   • macOS has a built-in small section of settings called Modifier Keys
   • [50]Karabiner Elements (my recommendation), [51]Kanata, and [52]KMonad
 
 This is the only place you can:
 
   • Do something with “media” or “system” keys – for example, if you want to
     control volume in new ways. Those shortcuts get routed to the system right
     after this juncture, and keyboard apps later in the process simply don’t
     even see them.
   • Do things depending on which keyboard did the key come from. (For apps
     later in the chain, all the keystrokes will be unattributed.) For example, 
     F1 key from one keypad can be changed to quietly become ShiftF1 onward, but
     F1 from the main keyboard can be left alone.
 
 My recommendation: Karabiner is free, and generally harmless. You don’t need it
 for most things, but if you want to start messing with modifier keys
 (especially on more than one keyboard), or do something with function keys,
 this is the way. It is interesting to install if only because it has a very
 useful event viewer, but its UI can feel a bit rough and intimidating.
 
 This is where you would split function keys into two halves, if that’s what you
 wanted.
 
 Karabiner will also allow you to do things that firmware allows you to do:
 swapping modifier keys, reassigning keys, and adding macros to keys. But my
 recommendation is not to do these things here unless absolutely necessary,
 because the UI either in firmware apps or in Keyboard Maestro is nicer.
 
 Beware: Just like Keyboard Maestro feels a bit too at home by immediately
 enabling its ⌘Tab alternative, Karabiner might immediately change the meaning
 of your function keys.
 
 Assigning shortcuts to commands
 
 These apps exist solely to add, change, or remove keyboard shortcuts for
 existing app actions. Unfortunately, typically it only means commands you see
 in the menus, because macOS doesn’t have a more generalized command system.
 
 Apps here:
 
   • macOS has a relatively unpleasant-to-use system where you can disable or
     change many of its special system-wide shortcuts (like hiding dock via ⌘⌥D
     ), and assign or change shortcuts in other apps, based on their menus.
   • [53]CustomShortcuts is a nice free app that allows to assign or change
     shortcuts in other apps’ menus.
   • KeyClu and KeyCue show you cheat sheets of commands in other apps, in
     addition to allowing to change them. I did not have a lot of fun using
     them, and I wouldn’t recommend either.
 
 If you choose to do things the way I do it, you never have to touch this
 category except for disabling any system shortcuts – like hiding the dock –
 that bother you or that you want to reclaim. Unfortunately, other apps cannot
 intercept those before they get dispatched to the operating system, and
 rewriting them earlier in the pipeline also doesn’t make sense.
 
 However, apps in this category have an advantage: If you change a shortcut, it
 will show up changed in the menu, which might help you remember it.
 
 Controlling things like a player piano would
 
 Apps in this category think about computer operation solely as human interface
 events: keys going up and down, mouse cursor moving, trackpad clicks, and
 delays in between.
 
 [closed] [open]
 A closed and open player piano
 
 In response to you pressing the key, they can… pretend to press more keys or
 move a mouse to a specific place. They do it quickly and reliably. This simple
 automation can go very far, because what else do you do with the computer than
 pressing keys and clicking on things?
 
 You can teach an app to press 6 keys after pressing a key: now you have text
 expansion. You can wire an app to press ↓ 30 times after pressing another key:
 now you recreated a page down key even if the app doesn’t support it. You can
 have an app press ⌘ and Space for you, and then type an app name followed by 
 Enter – now you can launch anything you want.
 
 But this is also very limiting, because… what else do you do with the computer
 than typing keys and clicking on things? Well, you do a lot of seeing and
 thinking. Here, not a lot of seeing and thinking is allowed, or even possible.
 You can make the mouse go to a specific place on your screen and simulate
 clicking the mouse in order to press a specific button that should be there,
 but you will never be fully sure. You can press the keys for the user, but you
 won’t understand what happens once those keys are pressed. This category is
 “write, but not read.” It’s not as much “fire and forget” as it is “close your
 eyes and fire.”
 
 The apps in this category are:
 
   • [54]Keyboard Maestro – my recommendation
   • BetterTouchTool – I found the UI perplexing and I would not recommend it
 
 The apps in this category also typically cover the category below (but not vice
 versa), so let’s just jump in there.
 
 Controlling things with commands and logic
 
 The previous category was apps swatting at the system and its apps. This
 category is apps actually talking to them. The apps above were simple-minded;
 the apps in this category are multilingual. They know how to use the operating
 system’s internal language, they can chat to apps, and they have a rich
 internal language of their own.
 
 It helps me sometimes to think of the previous category as old-time’y “player
 pianos” – they will continue mindlessly swinging their hammers up and down to
 press the piano keys even if you were to remove the strings. Apps in this
 category are more like musicians facing a music sheet: they won’t mimick the
 movements and report back you if the piano is broken, if they sat down to the
 wrong instrument, if it’s too early or too late to play, or if they’re… missing
 their arms.
 
 In this command-and-logic category, instead of moving a cursor 20 pixels west
 and 40 pixels south to click a button, you can ask for a button by name and
 activate it; this will work even if the button moves, and you will be warned if
 the button is missing altogether. Instead of pressing ↓ 30 times, the app can
 invoke a scrollDown function. Instead of mimicking a human being and
 fake-pressing ⌘Space and then fake-typing the name of a program to launch it,
 an app in this category can ask the operating system to launch it,
 programo-a-programo.
 
 Since communication with the system goes both ways, the app will also get
 feedback, and it can relay it back to you. It can tell you if it can or cannot
 find the program you requested to launch, and your logic can react to that
 knowledge. This also allows you to make conditional decisions: do different
 things whether some software exists or doesn’t, if the system is in a certain
 state, if you pressed some other key just before this one, and so on.
 
 This is typically the right, smart way to do everything. So if we have this,
 why is the previous lizard-brain option even there? There are many reasons:
 
   • It’s sometimes simpler to do a dumb thing and just fake-press some keys
     instead of learning an app’s specific language and rules.
   • The “player piano” method works for all apps, even those that don’t have a
     way to talk to on a higher level.
   • Even in apps with very rich communication vocabulary, some verbs might be
     forgotten. But the player piano method can travel anywhere your key presses
     and mouse clicks do.
 
 There is a bit of an art of knowing which approach is better to take. Often,
 you will get to mix and match: for example, smart logic to determine which app
 is running, and then pretending to press ⌘T instead of asking to “open new tab”
 via official diplomatic channels.
 
 Apps in this category and the category above:
 
   • [55]Keyboard Maestro
   • [56]Keyboard Cowboy
   • BetterTouchTool
 
 Apps only in this category:
 
   • macOS has built in Shortcuts and Automator (an older version of the
     Shortcuts concept)
   • in macOS, you can also communicate with apps by writing scripts in
     AppleScript
 
 Other apps:
 
   • [57]Alfred (Workflows)
 
 Command palettes and other visible UI
 
 The apps in this category are somewhat similar to the apps above, but they
 approach the challenge from a slightly different viewpoint: they want to create
 the best command line for your computer. On your Mac, you already have a
 user-friendly Spotlight under ⌘Space, and the extremely unfriendly Terminal.
 There are many third-party apps that try to find a different take somewhere in
 between these two.
 
 [command-ba] LaunchBar, Alfred, Spotlight, and Raycast
 
 While the above command-and-logic apps allowed you to automate things quietly
 throughout the operating system, this category gives you one specific place you
 invoke via one perfect shortcut, and a lot of magical things happen only inside
 that place.
 
 The options here might be similar to the category above: building complex
 logic, communicating with the apps and the system, chaining many repetitive
 events. Some of these apps throw in nice sweeteners, like better clipboard
 control or window management options. Some will also cover other categories,
 for example assigning shortcuts to commands, as a bonus.
 
 Apps in this category:
 
   • Spotlight (built into macOS)
   • [58]Alfred, [59]LaunchBar, [60]Quicksilver, and [61]Raycast
 
 Some apps in the previous category, like Keyboard Maestro, also do things here
 – but with less success.
 
 Keyboard customization inside individual apps
 
 Some specific apps, especially large ones, offer built-in versions of
 functionality above. Typically, it’s these three categories:
 
   • assigning shortcuts to its own actions
   • control via commands and logic
   • command palettes
 
 Some examples:
 
   • many apps like Sublime Text, Figma, and Linear have their own command
     palettes
   • Chrome allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts to launch extensions (or
     specific actions extensions expose)
   • Sublime Text allows you to record and replay keystrokes
   • Zoom allows you to change its shortcuts and even make them “global” (it
     understands the app is often in the background).
 
 This might be the only reasonable option for single letter key and Shift
 shortcuts. These are always very context dependent – ShiftH in the app can flip
 horizontally, but ShiftH in a text field needs to output a letter – and much
 harder to program outside of the app where the context might be gone.
 
 These are usually better integrated than anything on the “outside,” as they can
 have more awareness of the conditions of the underlying app, can offer access
 to all the commands (even those not in the menus), and add unique features (for
 example, awareness of different modes). But of course, each one is a separate
 system with a unique interface you have to learn, and the UI quality varies a
 lot.
 
 [davinci-re] [nova] [vs-code] [sublime-te]
 Keyboard setting screens in DaVinci Resolve, Nova, Visual Studio Code, and
 Sublime Text
 
 Text expansion
 
 These apps are specifically for dealing with text and typing – e.g. any place
 where you see a blinking text cursor.
 
 Behind the scenes, smarter player pianos press ⌥Backspace to delete the entire
 word, and then put stuff in the clipboard and paste from there in one go, to
 avoid seeing all the little steps. But the challenges remain.
 
 Text expansion can exist on a lower “player piano” level, but it will be
 appropriately naïve: if you type “omw”, the app then has to fake press 
 Backspace to delete what you already typed, and then type “on my way” for you.
 
 Some text expansion apps do this, others integrate into the system on a higher
 level (with visible UI and more nuanced options). Either way specialized text
 expansion apps are typically simpler to use, just because, well, they are
 simpler.
 
 “Player piano” text expansion vs. integrated text expansion
 
 I don’t use this category as much, so I have no strong recommendations, but
 here are some apps I heard people like:
 
   • macOS has native text expansion (called Text Replacements). It’s also
     synced with iPhone and other devices.
   • [62]Espanso, [63]TextExpander, and [64]Typinator
 
 Some of these apps also throw in a nicer character/emoji selector, and there
 are even specific emoji selectors or expanders, like [65]Rocket.
 
 Choose your own adventure
 
 This concludes the “choose your own adventure” portion!
 
 Okay, we are done with theory! And now, onto examples…
 
 That’s it!
 
 This can all get pretty addictive, or at least it was that for me. I’ve been
 trying all sorts of interesting things, interactions I always wanted to try,
 and new combinations of things.
 
 Here is what I learned, summarized:
 
   • Don’t overthink the system. Start with just one or two things that seems
     fun to you.
   • Break all the rules. You’re designing for the audience of one.
   • Listen to your fingers. If they already like something, add more of that.
   • Optimize for what’s fun to press physically; don’t create complex
     incantations that contort your hands.
   • Don’t underestimate seemingly tiny improvements, as they can add up
     quickly.
   • Put related things side by side, or under modifier keys.
   • Use spatial mapping (things on the left in real life are on the left on
     your keyboard).
   • If you can, split the keys into “for the entire system” and “for the
     current app” to make it easier for yourself.
   • You can have more than one key for one action, and more than one action for
     one key.
   • Make shortcuts “global” so you can press them at any time you want.
   • Don’t overthink automation. Automation is not the be all end all, and
     sometimes you want to slow down on purpose, just to enjoy the ride.
   • Above all, have fun!
 
 Things can get more complex than above, of course. All of this is software
 running on your computer, and software talks. Karabiner actually has some
 system logic to do things depending on which app is in front. Karabiner can
 send things directly to Keyboard Maestro and Keyboard Maestro to Karabiner, in
 violation of the flow in the chart above. If you are so inspired, you can even
 quietly open an invisible (headless) Chrome to open your keyboard’s web page to
 change its lights or layers!
 
 My last recommendation would be to write yourself a little cheat sheet on paper
 somewhere before the shortcuts truly become second nature.
 
 I hope you enjoyed this guide. Please [66]let me know what you come up with or
 if you have any questions!
 
 Copyright © Marcin Wichary
 
 Published on 12 May 2026.
 
 [67][68][69][70]
 
 Thank you to Ezra Spier for support and feedback on earlier versions of this
 essay.
 
 Thank you to everyone working on keyboard-related tools in general.
 
 More keyboard stories:
 
   • [71]I don’t know what is Apple’s endgame for the Fn/Globe key, and I’m not
     sure Apple knows either
   • [72]The primitive tortureboard
   • [73]The day Return became Enter
 
 
 References:
 
 [2] https://aresluna.org/
 [3] https://wooting.io/uwu
 [4] https://www.keebmonkey.com/products/megalodon-triple-knob-macro-pad
 [5] https://worklouder.cc/creator-micro-2
 [6] https://www.8bitdo.com/retro-18-mechanical-numpad/
 [7] https://www.keychron.com/search?options%5Bprefix%5D=last&q=numpad
 [8] https://www.eweadn.com/products/eweadn-nk20-mechanical-macropad?variant=45446876496025
 [9] https://web.archive.org/web/20190124214556/https://www.bxfoundry.com/home/30-bx-10-cyclops-usb-controller.html
 [10] https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/
 [11] https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/
 [14] https://www.houdah.com/customShortcuts/
 [15] https://aresluna.org/frame-of-preference/
 [16] https://youtu.be/iUhu7sN474o
 [17] https://archive.org/details/wicharytypewriter?sort=title
 [18] https://aresluna.org/fn/
 [19] https://unsung.aresluna.org/how-to-shoot-a-screen-using-a-board-of-keys/
 [20] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKs_-uN6SSQ
 [21] https://unsung.aresluna.org/adjust-in-smaller-steps/
 [22] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookmarklet
 [23] https://unsung.aresluna.org/deterministic-vs-idempotent/
 [24] https://unsung.aresluna.org/
 [25] https://unsung.aresluna.org/raycasts-confetti-cannon/
 [26] https://aresluna.org/key-in-sight/#the-life-of-a-keystroke
 [27] https://aresluna.org/key-in-sight/#thats-it
 [30] https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/
 [31] https://github.com/jtroo/kanata
 [32] https://github.com/kmonad/kmonad
 [33] https://www.houdah.com/customShortcuts/
 [34] https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/
 [35] https://folivora.ai/
 [36] https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/
 [37] https://github.com/zenangst/KeyboardCowboy
 [38] https://folivora.ai/
 [39] https://www.hammerspoon.org/
 [40] https://www.alfredapp.com/
 [41] https://www.alfredapp.com/
 [42] https://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar
 [43] https://qsapp.com/
 [44] https://www.raycast.com/
 [45] https://espanso.org/
 [46] https://textexpander.com/
 [47] https://ergonis.com/en/typinator/features/
 [48] https://matthewpalmer.net/rocket/
 [49] https://unsung.aresluna.org/save-for-web-claws/
 [50] https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/
 [51] https://github.com/jtroo/kanata
 [52] https://github.com/kmonad/kmonad
 [53] https://www.houdah.com/customShortcuts/
 [54] https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/
 [55] https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/
 [56] https://github.com/zenangst/KeyboardCowboy
 [57] https://www.alfredapp.com/
 [58] https://www.alfredapp.com/
 [59] https://www.obdev.at/products/launchbar
 [60] https://qsapp.com/
 [61] https://www.raycast.com/
 [62] https://espanso.org/
 [63] https://textexpander.com/
 [64] https://ergonis.com/en/typinator/features/
 [65] https://matthewpalmer.net/rocket/
 [66] https://aresluna.org/
 [67] mailto:[email protected]
 [68] https://mastodon.online/@mwichary/116562952973195259
 [69] https://bsky.app/profile/aresluna.org/post/3mlofastzhc2u
 [70] https://aresluna.org/main.rss
 [71] https://aresluna.org/fn
 [72] https://aresluna.org/the-primitive-tortureboard/
 [73] https://aresluna.org/the-day-return-became-enter