Features
Find which app is stealing your keyboard shortcuts
When a shortcut stops working, some app took it. HotkeyClash inventories every registered key combination on your Mac — from running apps, automation configs, and macOS itself — and shows you exactly where they collide.
What it scans
Three sources, one inventory
Conflicts hide between tools: a Karabiner rule fights a menu shortcut, a launcher fights Spotlight. Scanning a single source can’t see that — HotkeyClash reads all of them in one pass.
| Source | What it captures | How | Typical examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Running apps | Menu bar shortcuts of every running application | Accessibility API — walks each app’s menu tree live | Finder, Safari, Xcode, any app with a menu bar |
| Karabiner-Elements | Complex modification rules and remapped keys | Parses ~/.config/karabiner/karabiner.json | Hyper key setups, simultaneous keys, layer rules |
| skhd | Window manager and scripting hotkeys | Parses ~/.config/skhd/skhdrc line by line | yabai bindings, hyper/meh modifier combos |
| macOS system shortcuts | Built-in global shortcuts, including disabled state | Reads the symbolic hotkeys preference list | Mission Control, Spotlight, Screenshots, Dock hiding |
More parsers are on the roadmap: Keyboard Maestro, BetterTouchTool, Hammerspoon, Alfred, and Raycast configs. Each parser is a self-contained module — contributions welcome.
Conflict detection
Severity that tells you what actually breaks
Definite conflict
Two global hotkeys claim the same combination — a system shortcut against a config-file binding, or two launcher hotkeys. Only one can win, and which one is mostly an accident of registration order. These break every time.
Potential conflict
A global hotkey overlaps an app’s menu shortcut. The global hotkey wins whenever it’s registered — so the menu shortcut silently stops working, but only while that app has focus. The sneakiest kind to diagnose by hand.
Modifiers are normalized before grouping (Caps Lock and device-specific flags stripped), so equivalent combos always match. Results are sorted by severity first, then by simplicity of the combo — the conflicts most likely to bite you are at the top.
The app
Built like a native Mac utility, because it is one
Swift 6, SwiftUI and AppKit, ~2,300 lines of code you can read in an afternoon. No Electron, no embedded browser, no frameworks you didn’t ask for.
Master-detail split view
A sidebar lists every conflict with its key combo and severity; the detail pane shows all claimants with app icons, the action each one performs, and where the binding came from.
Menu bar badge
The menu bar icon carries a red badge with the count of definite conflicts. Glance up, see the damage, click to inspect.
Source badges
Every binding is tagged Menu bar, Config file, or System shortcut, so you immediately know which settings panel to open to fix it.
Global hotkey
Open HotkeyClash from anywhere with ⌘⇧H — customizable with a built-in shortcut recorder that warns if your chosen combo is itself taken.
Scan on launch
Optionally runs a full scan the moment the app starts, so the badge is accurate from login. Toggle it off if you prefer manual scans.
“Which app wins?” explanations
The detail view explains the precedence rules — global hotkeys beat menu shortcuts, and the last app to register a global hotkey usually wins.
Privacy by architecture
An Accessibility-permission app you can actually audit
Tools in this category need Accessibility access — which means they could read your screen. Most are closed-source binaries asking for blind trust. HotkeyClash is GPL-2.0: every line that touches the Accessibility API is public.
No network requests
The app makes zero connections. Nothing to phone home to.
No persistence
Scan results live in memory and vanish when you quit.
One permission
Accessibility access, used only to read menu shortcuts — and you can audit exactly how in the source.
No accounts, no telemetry
No sign-up, no analytics SDK, no crash reporter calling out.
What it deliberately doesn’t do
Scope is a feature
HotkeyClash detects conflicts. That’s the whole job, and it stays small so you can trust it:
- — Editing or reassigning shortcuts — each app owns its own settings, and we won’t fight them
- — Cheat-sheet overlays — KeyClu and KeyCue already do that well
- — Cloud sync, accounts, subscriptions, or AI features
On the roadmap instead: more config parsers (Keyboard Maestro, BetterTouchTool, Hammerspoon) and a live “test this shortcut” mode that shows which app intercepts a pressed combo — the feature ShortcutDetective users have been missing.
Stop guessing which app stole your shortcut
One scan shows every conflict across your running apps, Karabiner, skhd, and macOS system shortcuts. Free, open source, no telemetry.
macOS 14+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · Free DMG download