Help

Keyboard and mouse as input

InputConfig is not only for game controllers. Your Mac's own keyboard, a second keyboard, the extra buttons on a mouse, the scroll wheel, and the trackpad's Force Touch pressure all work as inputs, captured per device. A spare numpad becomes a macro deck, a mouse's side button becomes a push-to-talk, and a key can be remapped for every app at once.

The permission

Reading keys and mouse buttons needs macOS Input Monitoring permission, separate from the Accessibility permission used for sending. The app asks the first time you scan a key and explains why. Nothing is logged; the events are read only to match them against your rows.

Binding a key or a mouse button

Add a row and press Scan.
Press the key or mouse button. Keyboard Key or Mouse is chosen automatically, and the device it came from is remembered.
Pick the output. The original key is swallowed while the preset runs, so a remapped key does only its new job.

Scan recognises modifier keys pressed on their own, including Shift, Control, Option, Command, right Command, F16 to F19, and the fn / Globe key, so any of them can be an input.

Per device

Each row remembers which keyboard or mouse it came from. A second keyboard can have a completely different layout from the built-in one: every key on a cheap numpad can run a shortcut while the main keyboard stays a keyboard. Clear the device on a row to make it fire from any keyboard.

Force Touch

The trackpad's pressure is an axis and its Force Click is a button. Pressure can scale an output the way a trigger does, and a Force Click can be a middle click, a modifier, or anything else.

Be careful with the keys you need

A preset that remaps Command or Escape takes those keys away from you while it runs. Keep the emergency stop in mind: Control Option Command period stops everything and gives the keyboard back, and it is checked before any remapping. Per-app auto-switch is the safer way to remap keys for one app only.

Questions

Can I remap keys without any controller?

Yes. A preset with only keyboard rows runs on its own.

Does this replace Karabiner-Elements?

For remapping keys to keys, macros, mouse actions, MIDI, and system functions, yes, and it does the same for controllers and MIDI gear. Karabiner's deep modification of the keyboard driver is a different tool for a different job.

Can a mouse button send a keyboard shortcut?

Yes. Side buttons, the middle button, and buttons four and five all bind to any output.