ChatKey

ChatKey is a lightweight macOS menu bar app for keeping chat input habits consistent across apps (current release ZIP is about 453 KB, under 1 MB).

It focuses on one narrow problem:

• Return and related shortcuts behave differently in different chat apps
• ChatKey keeps those shortcuts aligned per app
• The app stays local, simple, and easy to understand

Translations

• English
• 简体中文

Pain Points

• Keep your input habit consistent across Codex, VS Code, and IM chat tools: Return always inserts a new line, and Command + Return always sends the message.
• Keyboard habits break when you switch between tools (WeChat, Slack, web chats, AI apps).
• Per-app shortcut setup is scattered and hard to maintain.
• Users want a local-only, lightweight helper instead of a heavy system remapper.

Download

• Latest release: GitHub Releases
• Install from terminal (GitHub CLI):

TAG=$(gh release list --repo Hyggetxc/chatkey --limit 1 --json tagName -q '.[0].tagName')
gh release download "$TAG" --repo Hyggetxc/chatkey --pattern "ChatKey-${TAG}.zip" --pattern "ChatKey-${TAG}.zip.sha256" --clobber
ditto -x -k "ChatKey-${TAG}.zip" .
rm -rf /Applications/ChatKey.app
mv ChatKey.app /Applications/ChatKey.app
open /Applications/ChatKey.app

Usage

1. Launch the app.
2. Grant Accessibility permission when prompted.
3. Enable ChatKey from the menu bar if needed.
4. Create or edit per-app rules in Settings.
5. Download releases from GitHub when you want to test a newer build.

Features

• Menu bar status and quick controls
• Accessibility permission guidance
• Frontmost app detection
• Per-app rules
• Preset chat key mappings
• Custom trigger/output mappings
• Local JSON persistence
• Launch at login
• Simplified Chinese / English UI support
• GitHub Releases update checks

Troubleshooting

Privacy Prompt Flow (First Launch)

1. If macOS shows “ChatKey can’t be opened”, click Done first (do not click “Move to Trash”).
2. Locate ChatKey.app in Finder, right-click, and choose Open.
3. In the second confirmation dialog, click Open again.
4. If it is still blocked, go to System Settings -> Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway.

Permission Flow (Accessibility)

1. On first launch, follow the in-app prompt to open Accessibility settings.
2. Go to System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Accessibility.
3. Enable ChatKey in the list.
4. Return to ChatKey and refresh status until it shows as authorized.

Privacy

• Rules and settings are stored locally on your machine.
• ChatKey does not upload your configuration.
• Release assets are only the packaged app and checksum files.

Support

If ChatKey helps you keep chat shortcuts consistent, please consider starring the repository:

• Web: Star ChatKey
• Terminal: gh repo star Hyggetxc/chatkey