How to get your very own hyper key!
| Introduction
If you are trying to become a keyboard master, shortcuts can be a real pain in the buttocks. Trying to figure out if you are using a shortcut that isn’t used for a different purpose somewhere else can be kind of frustrating. Also, if you are trying to move fast to hit multiple modifiers at once, that can also suck.
The hyper key can help you with both of these problems.
| So what is this hyper key?
The hyper key is just one key that you can press that will act like you are holding the ⌃ (control), ⌥ (option), ⇧ (shift) and ⌘ (command) keys all down at the same time. This gives you a lot more shortcut choices because hardly anything uses this combo by default.
Also, if you set the key to when you hold your caps lock, then it’s easily accessible to you when typing. Most people don’t use their caps lock key all that often anyway. No worries, you can still set it up so if you tap caps lock, then you can turn caps lock on and off. To be honest though, I didn’t really miss caps lock at all after I set this up. As a matter of fact, I ended up changing from the tapping to caps lock, to tapping for esc.
| Setting up your keyboard to for use with Hyperkey
Hyperkey | Easy to use, no frills. Free.
If you are just getting started and still getting your roots in the water, the free app Hyperkey is a great way to get started. You can download Hyperkey from their website. If you are a Homebrew user (I love me some homebrew!), you can do a brew install —cask hyperkey (that’s two dashes).
Once you start installing, Hyperkey will want to be granted access to your system settings (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility), so that it can monitor your keyboard input which allows it to work.
To grant access to the app, just slip the switch for Hyperkey, enter your password, and you will be presented with the setup menu.
This is how I set it up for demo purposes.
- Remap physical key to the hyper key caps lock. My caps lock key is now the hyper key.
- Quick press caps lock to execute. This allows me to be able to just tap the caps lock and still get the caps lock functionality. You can also set this to the esc key, which is currently what I am doing in real life, but for this demo I just left to caps lock.
- Include shift in hyper key (click). I never use this to be honest, but it allows you to use your hyper key while clicking, dragging, moving, and scrolling.
- Launch on login. I always want the app to run when I login, so this is on.
And that’s it for setup! Easy peasy mushie squeezy make you queezy fo sheezy.
| My hyper key is ready to rock. What now?
There is no what now. You will leave town immediately and never come back*. Actually, now whenever you hold down your caps lock key, it will be the same as pressing ⌃⌥⇧⌘ at the same time. When you just tap caps lock, then it will turn caps lock on and off.
This opens up a bunch of new shortcut combinations. Just go to your favorite app and remap shortcuts to use your hyper key. This works very well with the Raycast app.
| Some examples of my shortcuts
A lot of these are Raycast shortcuts, but you get the idea!
Hyper + \ | Maximize my window
Hyper + ] | Window on 50% screen, right side
Hyper + [ | Window on 50% of screen, left side
Hyper + F | Open the finder
Hyper + V | Open Visual Studio Code
Hyper + C | Show my clipboard history
Hyper + = | Split window in Arc browser
| Other solutions
Karabiner Elements | Has a learning curve but can do a lot more! Free.
Karabiner Elements adds a lot of power. If you don’t have a programmable keyboard, or don’t like Hyperkey, and you decide to start going crazy with remapping, then it’s a great choice. Beyond the scope for this article, but check it out!
Programmable Keyboard
There are a wide range of keyboards, mostly mechanical, that you can program the keys to whatever you want, and also add layers. There are tons of cool ways to customize these keyboards.
Personally, this is how I roll. Along with layers — which is another dark pit down to time wasting hell. Also, I also have Superkey (Hyperkey’s paid big bruh) installed for when I am using my laptop keyboard.
You will probably know if your keyboard is programmable, or you can just checkout the website for your keyboard. There should be full instructions on how to get setup. There are different kinds of software/firmware, but the most common, by far, is QMK/VIA.
There might be other great ways out there to accomplish this, but these are the methods that I use. My order of preference is
- Programmable Keyboard
- Hyperkey
- Karabiner Elements
| Reminder about a MacOS hyper key default
There is one shortcut that is set to ⌃⌥⇧⌘ + C by default on MacOS to “Convert Text to Simplified Chinese”. It always gets me on a new mac because I set that key up for my clipboard history in Raycast.
If you want to change this or turn it off, you can find it at
System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services > Text > Convert Text to Simplified Chinese.
Make sure this option is unchecked if you plan to use HYPER + C.
| Final thoughts
As someone that loves the keyboard, this really is a must have for me. Combined with keyboard layers, it’s endless fun. I will probably write something up on layers at another time.
So get started with your very own hyper key today! It’ll make you feel like a keyboard boss. Thanks for reading. Stay mushie my friend.
*This just popped in my head when I was typing. No idea why. Sounded good to me, so I left it.
´•‿•` feel free to support zenmushie here. or don’t. either way I will keep calm and mush on. thanks!
