{"slug": "keyboard-maestro", "name": "Keyboard Maestro", "category": "productivity", "category_name": "Productivity", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 3.014, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-11-08", "latest": "2026-07-11", "why": "It takes some fiddling to get set up, but then it just becomes a part of how I use my Mac.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "It takes some fiddling to get set up, but then it just becomes a part of how I use my Mac.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.keyboardmaestro.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Keyboard Maestro"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 781944033, "item_id": 48871502, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48871502", "by": "adamtaylor_13", "date": "2026-07-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It takes some fiddling to get set up, but then it just becomes a part of how I use my Mac.", "excerpt": "Look, I'm sorry to be that guy. But if you're struggling to bulk edit text in vim, you're definitely holding it wrong. And emacs isn't even in the same category of tools, though I understand why one might think it is. My retraction aside, I agree that the BEST software is the one you never really think about. Raycast is a great, recent example for me. Or perhaps Keyboard Maestro. It takes some fiddling to get set up,", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "Mac automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Good Tools Are Invisible"}, {"id": 778734752, "item_id": 48670922, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48670922", "by": "HSO", "date": "2026-06-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use a 47 min timer to remind me of getting up and shaking out and a tiny Keyboard Maestro macro to set or cancel it with a hotkey.", "excerpt": "on macos, you can also just set a timer on the Clock app that comes for free on macos. i use a 47 min timer to remind me of getting up and shaking out and a tiny Keyboard Maestro macro to set or cancel it with a hotkey. once it runs, there is a timer in the menu bar. totally sufficient", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "timer hotkey macro", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 778411617, "item_id": 48650726, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48650726", "by": "treetalker", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Keyboard Maestro (automation)", "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": "automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "adamtaylor_13", "context": "Mac user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48871502", "date": "2026-07-11"}, {"by": "HSO", "context": "macOS user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48670922", "date": "2026-06-25"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["mac automation", "timer hotkey macro", "automation", "macos automation"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48858121", "title": "Good Tools Are Invisible", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48659483", "title": "item 48659483", "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=45854703", "title": "Ask HN: Windows/Linux software that has no real equivalent on macOS?", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 781944033, "item_id": 48871502, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48871502", "by": "adamtaylor_13", "date": "2026-07-11", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It takes some fiddling to get set up, but then it just becomes a part of how I use my Mac.", "excerpt": "Look, I'm sorry to be that guy. But if you're struggling to bulk edit text in vim, you're definitely holding it wrong. And emacs isn't even in the same category of tools, though I understand why one might think it is. My retraction aside, I agree that the BEST software is the one you never really think about. Raycast is a great, recent example for me. Or perhaps Keyboard Maestro. It takes some fiddling to get set up,", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "Mac automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Good Tools Are Invisible"}, {"id": 778734752, "item_id": 48670922, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48670922", "by": "HSO", "date": "2026-06-25", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i use a 47 min timer to remind me of getting up and shaking out and a tiny Keyboard Maestro macro to set or cancel it with a hotkey.", "excerpt": "on macos, you can also just set a timer on the Clock app that comes for free on macos. i use a 47 min timer to remind me of getting up and shaking out and a tiny Keyboard Maestro macro to set or cancel it with a hotkey. once it runs, there is a timer in the menu bar. totally sufficient", "context": "macOS user", "use_case": "timer hotkey macro", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 778411617, "item_id": 48650726, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48650726", "by": "treetalker", "date": "2026-06-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Keyboard Maestro (automation)", "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": "automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: New clean macOS install. Must-have apps? Best browser?"}, {"id": 733773440, "item_id": 45860840, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45860840", "by": "al_borland", "date": "2025-11-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I should probably give it a closer look, but need to check to see if the security team at work denied it or not", "excerpt": "I haven\u2019t. I should probably give it a closer look, but need to check to see if the security team at work denied it or not before I invest any money in something. I thought it used to be more expensive, but maybe I was just making less at the time and that anchor remained in my head.", "context": "", "use_case": "macOS automation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Windows/Linux software that has no real equivalent on macOS?"}]}