HotkeyClash

What it does

HotkeyClash is a free, open-source macOS menu bar app that scans every registered keyboard shortcut across your running apps, Karabiner-Elements, skhd, and macOS system shortcuts, then shows exactly where two or more of them claim the same key combination. It groups every binding by key combination and highlights definite conflicts (two global hotkeys on the same combo) and potential conflicts (a global hotkey overlapping an app’s menu shortcut). The scan takes about 3.2 seconds and covers 736 shortcuts on average, revealing 114 conflicts.

Who it is for

HotkeyClash is for power users who run multiple productivity tools on macOS — such as Raycast, Alfred, BetterTouchTool, Keyboard Maestro, Karabiner, and window managers — and have experienced the frustration of pressing a shortcut only to have the wrong app respond. It is also useful for developers and system administrators who maintain complex automation configs (Karabiner, skhd) and need to ensure their hotkeys don’t collide with system shortcuts or other apps.

Why it matters

macOS itself only flags conflicts inside System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts, and only between its own shortcuts. It ignores every third-party app. When you run multiple tools that register global hotkeys, conflicts are inevitable but invisible until they cause unexpected behavior. HotkeyClash solves this by providing a single, comprehensive scan that reads from three sources: running apps (via Accessibility API), automation config files (karabiner.json and skhdrc), and macOS system shortcuts (symbolic hotkeys plist). No other tool combines all three sources in one pass. It is open source, has zero dependencies, no telemetry, no accounts, and is free forever.

Launch signal

HotkeyClash was featured on Product Hunt and has a dedicated badge on its website. The project is actively maintained on GitHub with a GPL-2.0 license. The website includes comparison pages against ShortcutDetective, KeyCue, and KeyClu, positioning itself as the only free, open-source tool that detects conflicts across all sources and works on Apple Silicon and macOS Sequoia.

Brand and naming

The name "HotkeyClash" is descriptive and memorable: it directly communicates the core value proposition — finding clashes between hotkeys. The branding is minimal and technical, appealing to the macOS power-user audience. The tagline "Find where your Mac keyboard shortcuts clash" reinforces the problem-solution fit. The website uses a clean, dark theme with a focus on scan results and comparisons, positioning the tool as a practical utility rather than a flashy consumer app.