{"slug": "karabiner-elements", "name": "Karabiner-Elements", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 3, "warners": 0, "score": 2.773, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2026-04-12", "latest": "2026-09-16", "why": "Karabiner: MacOS's keyboard mapping is incredibly underpowered.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Karabiner: MacOS's keyboard mapping is incredibly underpowered.", "icon": true, "domain": "pqrs.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Karabiner-Elements"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 795748455, "item_id": 49734278, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49734278", "by": "SmasherEpilepti", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Karabiner: MacOS's keyboard mapping is incredibly underpowered.", "excerpt": "Homebrew/nix: The most obvious one. MacOS just has no good package manager. It's even worse than Windows, which is also pretty bad, but at least on Windows you can install an app and manage it in a central \"Add and Remove Programs\" view, and they've standardized an installer format that cares about and manages versions and upgrades. Middle Click: This is a galling one. Rectangle: Far better than the MacOS's native sn", "context": "uses macOS at work, prefers KDE/Gnome", "use_case": "keyboard remapping", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS 27 Golden Gate \u2013 Review"}, {"id": 778411626, "item_id": 48650726, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48650726", "by": "treetalker", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Karabiner Elements (to turn Caps Lock into a hyper key", "excerpt": "- Alfred (launch bar extraordinaire) - Keyboard Maestro (automation) - TextSoap (clean text with various cleaners [regex etc] that can be saved and invoked on selected text, entire files, or batches of files throughout the system) - Klack is fun to add typing sounds (helps me stay in the zone) - Dark Noise for background noise (stay in the zone) \u2014 although MacOS has some background noise generation built in now - 1Bl", "context": "", "use_case": "keyboard remapping", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 763900144, "item_id": 47743759, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47743759", "by": "mwit2023", "date": "2026-04-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've always setup my macbooks with a custom json config using https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ to avoid the dock", "excerpt": "I've always setup my macbooks with a custom json config using https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ to avoid the dock, but couldnt convince any friends to give it a try since its high effort, i guess so i hacked together https://dockshortcut.com really quick and that kinda made the difference in how some people use their macbooks these days, but tough market, nobody likes paying for something that should come out of t", "context": "", "use_case": "avoiding the macOS dock", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: boringBar \u2013 a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "SmasherEpilepti", "context": "uses macOS at work, prefers KDE/Gnome", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49734278", "date": "2026-09-16"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["keyboard remapping", "avoiding the macos dock"], "compared": [{"slug": "aerospace", "name": "AeroSpace", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "alttab", "name": "AltTab", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "rectangle", "name": "Rectangle", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49732036", "title": "macOS 27 Golden Gate \u2013 Review", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48643848", "title": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47742200", "title": "Show HN: boringBar \u2013 a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 795748455, "item_id": 49734278, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49734278", "by": "SmasherEpilepti", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Karabiner: MacOS's keyboard mapping is incredibly underpowered.", "excerpt": "Homebrew/nix: The most obvious one. MacOS just has no good package manager. 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Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 763900144, "item_id": 47743759, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47743759", "by": "mwit2023", "date": "2026-04-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've always setup my macbooks with a custom json config using https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ to avoid the dock", "excerpt": "I've always setup my macbooks with a custom json config using https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ to avoid the dock, but couldnt convince any friends to give it a try since its high effort, i guess so i hacked together https://dockshortcut.com really quick and that kinda made the difference in how some people use their macbooks these days, but tough market, nobody likes paying for something that should come out of t", "context": "", "use_case": "avoiding the macOS dock", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: boringBar \u2013 a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS"}]}