Don't struggle with unintuitive app shortcuts or tricky window layouts. Get Lackeys to do it for you.
Lackeys is a prototype keyboard accelerator for MacOS. Like all recent accessibility apps, it is inherently insecure (it must run un-sandboxed) and should be used with caution. Key actions are deliberately limited so that a compromised configuration file cannot invoke arbitrary commands. More configuration security features are planned.
This is an alpha version for a few interested colleagues.
Lackeys is released under the MIT license.
This is my first MacOS app. I have no idea what I'm doing.
Unzip Lackeys.zip in /Applications. Launch the app, grant accessibility rights, then use the
status bar menu (the icon should say "L?") to enable the app. The icon should change to "L+".
The next time it launches, granting rights should not be needed.
There is not a "reload config" yet. Exit and restart.
Moving and resizing windows only works with one display.
The first time you use the prompt action, the cursor is not in the text box. After typing a
response this works fine until the next time the app launches.
MacOS periodically disables the key event monitor and/or accessibility API without notice or error, making Lackeys unable to move / resize windows, or to process any key bindings at all. (If you are able to reproduce this reliably please let me know!) To fix, exit and restart the app. If that doesn't help, exit the app, type
tccutil reset Accessibility com.github.jonross.Lackeys
and follow the post-installation steps above. Do not type this while Lackeys is still running or you will temporarily disable your keyboard.
Lackeys reads ~/.lackeys on startup. This is a text file that maps key chords to simple actions
like opening other apps or sending a different key sequence. Key mappings can be global or
app-specific. A pound-sign (#) begins a comment. Example:
# shortcuts to open apps
bind Control Shift G to open Google Chrome
bind Control Shift S to open Slack
# bindings below this are for Slack
in Slack
# use other keys for Jump and Search
bind Command G to send Command K
bind Command S to send Command G
The target of a bind command or send action is an unshifted letter, number or symbol combined
with one or more of Shift Control Option Command. (Binding an unmodified key is insecure
and therefore disallowed.) Examples:
bind Control T ...
bind Shift Option J ...
bind Command Equals ...
All keys other than alphanumerics have one-word alphanumeric names. On a Macbook Pro:
- Top row:
Grave Minus Equals - Second row:
LeftBracket RightBracket Backslash - Third row:
Semicolon Quote - Fourth row:
Comma Period Slash - Directional:
UpArrow DownArrow LeftArrow RightArrow - Other:
Escape Delete Tab Return Space
Key names are not case sensitive.
Shifted key names are not required for bindings; use e.g. Command Shift 5 not Command Percent.
open APP
Launch the named application, or switch to it if already open. Note: application names may differ
from what they display in the menu bar; the correct name is the entry in /Applications. For
example, Google Chrome is called Google Chrome even though it displays Chrome in the menu bar.
send CHORD
Send a different key chord than what was typed. The syntax for sending KEYS is the same as for
binding to that for binding.
order TEXT ...
Issue an external commmand, like a shell script. Due to security constraints, Lackeys cannot
directly invoke shell scripts, as it could grant accessibility rights to arbitrary code. Instead,
the text is appended to ~/.lackeydo, which you can watch from a separately invoked script via tail -f and interpret as you please. You can use this script as the template for an interpreter:
touch ~/.lackeydo
tail -f -0 ~/.lackeydo | while read line; do
# interpret as desired; run a google search, shortcut to web pages, etc
done
prompt
The same as order but prompt interactively and then send the entered text as an order.
resize X Y WIDTH HEIGHT
Resize the current window. The values are either absolute pixel coordinates or width/height percentages of the nearest display, and can also be expressed as deltas from the current location, indicated by a dot. (A dot by itself means no change.) Examples:
# top half of screen
resize 0% 0% 100% 50%
# full screen
resize 0% 0% 100% 100%
# top right box of 4x4 grid
resize 75% 0% 25% 25%
# 500x400 window at 100,100
resize 100 100 500 400
# shift window to the right 50 pixels
resize .+50 . . .
# keep height but use full width
resize 0% . 100% .
# keep width but use full height
resize . 0% . 100%
Vim and Emacs users are familiar with the notion of leader keys and prefix keys, which allow keyboard shortcuts to use two keys instead of one. This opens up a wider range of shortcuts that are easier to remember, because fewer modifier keys are needed.
Lackeys has nine leader key slots labeled L1 through L9 that may be associated to any key chord
applicable to the bind command. Leader bindings may use two key chords, and the second key does
not require modifiers. You should select infrequently used chords as leaders since they will not be
available for single-key mappings. For example, in place of the example app shortcuts above:
bind Control Shift G to open Google Chrome
bind Control Shift S to open Slack
we can write
leader L1 Command Semicolon
bind L1 G to open Google Chrome
bind L1 S to open Slack
So, typing Command Semicolon then G would launch Chrome.
Fix the bugs, obviously.
I'd like to teach Lackeys to automatically restore window layouts when changing displays. For example, if you have three monitors at work and prefer specific apps on each monitor, Lackeys should recognize when you plug in at your desk, and reposition your apps . Syntatically, there are many ways to do that with a config file, and suggestions are welcome. Example:
when 3 displays
put Xcode on 1
put Slack on 2
put iTerm on 2
put * on 3