skhd

Overview

skhd is now used as a global key remapper rather than a yabai hotkey daemon. It provides per-app ctrl→cmd remapping (excluding kitty) so that Linux muscle memory works on macOS, vim-style navigation in non-terminal apps, and a few utility shortcuts.

Ctrl → Cmd Remapping

These rules remap common ctrl shortcuts to their cmd equivalents in all apps except kitty (where ctrl shortcuts are native):

# skhdrc
 
# ctrl-a → cmd-a (select all) — excluding kitty
ctrl - a [
  "kitty" ~
  * : skhd -k "cmd - a"
]
 
# ctrl-c → cmd-c (copy)
ctrl - c [
  "kitty" ~
  * : skhd -k "cmd - c"
]
 
# ctrl-v → cmd-v (paste)
ctrl - v [
  "kitty" ~
  * : skhd -k "cmd - v"
]
 
# ctrl-z → cmd-z (undo)
ctrl - z [
  "kitty" ~
  * : skhd -k "cmd - z"
]

Vim Navigation

Arrow key emulation in non-kitty apps:

# ctrl-j → down, ctrl-k → up
ctrl - j [
  "kitty" ~
  * : skhd -k "down"
]
 
ctrl - k [
  "kitty" ~
  * : skhd -k "up"
]
 
# alt-j → page down, alt-k → page up
alt - j [
  "kitty" ~
  * : skhd -k "pagedown"
]
 
alt - k [
  "kitty" ~
  * : skhd -k "pageup"
]

Word Delete

# ctrl-w → alt-backspace (delete word)
ctrl - w [
  "kitty" ~
  * : skhd -k "alt - backspace"
]

Utility

# Sleep: shift+alt+cmd-l
shift + alt + cmd - l : pmset displaysleepnow

Philosophy

The keybindings make macOS feel like Linux by translating ctrl-based shortcuts to cmd-based ones. Kitty is excluded from all remaps since it handles its own terminal shortcuts natively. This works in tandem with Karabiner (which handles hardware-level remaps) and AeroSpace (which handles window management).