{"slug": "synergy", "name": "Synergy", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 2, "commenters": 3, "warners": 1, "score": 0.899, "rising": 0.67, "first": "2026-05-18", "latest": "2026-10-04", "why": "", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "", "icon": false, "domain": "symless.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://symless.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Synergy"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 799021056, "item_id": 49938816, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49938816", "by": "Terretta", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But Synergy remains great.", "excerpt": "Fwiw, this has been helpful for a couple decades now: https://symless.com/synergy/features Given that even a corp Mac can now (policy permitting) allow a personal AppleID along with the corporate login, it's easy enough to do the same with just native OS controls even with 2 logins. Something magical about opening an iPad next to a MacBook and pushing the cursor across ... or, alternatively, wirelessly (or USB-C) mak", "context": "", "use_case": "share keyboard and mouse between computers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs"}, {"id": 770919728, "item_id": 48182483, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48182483", "by": "space_ghost", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Synergy as part of my desk setup already", "excerpt": "I did something similar last year with a monitor without built-in KVM but with good DCC support (Ultrasharp U3417W) and Synergy [0]. I use Synergy as part of my desk setup already, but needed a way to view the UI of a normally headless machine. The solution I built was a small shell script that terminated the active Synergy session and started a new one with a different config file (so keyboard/mouse input would map ", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard/mouse across machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 799303456, "item_id": 49956466, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49956466", "by": "cosmic_cheese", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "wireless (as is often needed with at least one machine being a laptop without an ethernet connection or dock) performance was always disappointing", "excerpt": "Years ago I used Synergy and derivatives, but at least back then wireless (as is often needed with at least one machine being a laptop without an ethernet connection or dock) performance was always disappointing, I think due to how it makes round trips through your network instead of using an ad-hoc P2P wifi connection like how Continuity built into macOS does.", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard and mouse across machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["sharing keyboard and mouse across machines", "share keyboard and mouse between computers", "sharing keyboard/mouse across machines"], "compared": [{"slug": "deskflow", "name": "Deskflow", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49935038", "title": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48156186", "title": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 799303456, "item_id": 49956466, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49956466", "by": "cosmic_cheese", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "wireless (as is often needed with at least one machine being a laptop without an ethernet connection or dock) performance was always disappointing", "excerpt": "Years ago I used Synergy and derivatives, but at least back then wireless (as is often needed with at least one machine being a laptop without an ethernet connection or dock) performance was always disappointing, I think due to how it makes round trips through your network instead of using an ad-hoc P2P wifi connection like how Continuity built into macOS does.", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard and mouse across machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs"}, {"id": 799021056, "item_id": 49938816, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49938816", "by": "Terretta", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "But Synergy remains great.", "excerpt": "Fwiw, this has been helpful for a couple decades now: https://symless.com/synergy/features Given that even a corp Mac can now (policy permitting) allow a personal AppleID along with the corporate login, it's easy enough to do the same with just native OS controls even with 2 logins. Something magical about opening an iPad next to a MacBook and pushing the cursor across ... or, alternatively, wirelessly (or USB-C) mak", "context": "", "use_case": "share keyboard and mouse between computers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Magic Switch: Share Apple Magic keyboard/track-pad/mouse between two Macs"}, {"id": 770919728, "item_id": 48182483, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48182483", "by": "space_ghost", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Synergy as part of my desk setup already", "excerpt": "I did something similar last year with a monitor without built-in KVM but with good DCC support (Ultrasharp U3417W) and Synergy [0]. I use Synergy as part of my desk setup already, but needed a way to view the UI of a normally headless machine. The solution I built was a small shell script that terminated the active Synergy session and started a new one with a different config file (so keyboard/mouse input would map ", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing keyboard/mouse across machines", "switched_from": "", "story": "Two computers, one monitor, zero fiddling \u2013 Alex Plescan"}]}