keyswitch

Lightweight keyboard layout switcher and shortcut manager for MacOS.

• Switches keyboard layouts with a single keypress INSTANTLY

• Written in Rust - small and fast

• Optionally, allows to run custom commands with key combinations

Installation

Rustaceans

cargo install keyswitch

(you may still need a symlink to ~/.cargo/bin/keyswitch to see it in Finder for Input Monitoring permission)

Non-Rustaceans

Download a pre-built binary from Releases section and place it e.g. to ~/bin.

Setup

• Run keyswitch setup

• All instructions are printed in the terminal, but just in case:

• It will create a configuration file at ~/.config/keyswitch/config.toml

• Add the binary path in System Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> Input Monitoring

• Use keyswitch edit-config to open the configuration file in the default terminal editor. Or edit ~/.config/keyswitch/config.toml manually

• To get key codes and modifiers, run keyswitch sniff, important: the terminal app must also have Input Monitoring permission (at least until the setup is over)

• Start keyswitch in the terminal to ensure it works

• Run launchctl load /Users/gigabito/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.bma.keyswitch.plist to start it in background and have it started on login

Updating

• Replace the binary

• Remove and add again the Input Monitoring permission

Troubleshooting

• Some keys do not report scan codes via CGEventTap, use Karabiner Elements to remap them to something weird and never exists, e.g. F19

• Ensure there are no key combinations conflicting with other apps

If the app do not start at all

• add to ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.bma.keyswitch.plist:

<key>StandardOutPath</key>
<string>/tmp/keyswitch.out</string>
<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
<string>/tmp/keyswitch.err</string>

• Reload the LaunchAgent:

launchctl unload ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.bma.keyswitch.plist
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.bma.keyswitch.plist

• check /tmp/keyswitch.out and /tmp/keyswitch.err for errors