A Python script to export, import, and reset macOS application hotkeys using the defaults system.

To easily transfer your custom keyboard shortcuts across macOS machines or back them up for safety.

• ✅ Export all user-defined hotkeys (menu item shortcuts) to a JSON file
• ✅ Import them on another machine or after a reinstall
• ✅ Intelligent conflict detection (with --force overwrite option)
• ✅ Full reset of all configured hotkeys (with user confirmation)
• ✅ Automatically refreshes cfprefsd to apply changes immediately
• ✅ Clean, type-annotated Python code

Make sure your system has Python 3 installed (pre-installed on macOS), then run:

chmod +x hotkeys_manager.py
./hotkeys_manager.py [option]

./hotkeys_manager.py --export my_hotkeys.json

This will create a JSON file with all current app-specific and global hotkeys.

./hotkeys_manager.py --import my_hotkeys.json

By default, the script does not overwrite any existing hotkey entries that differ. It skips them with a warning.

To forcefully overwrite all conflicting entries:

./hotkeys_manager.py --import my_hotkeys.json --force

./hotkeys_manager.py --reset

This deletes:

• All NSUserKeyEquivalents entries from every app listed
• The global com.apple.custommenu.apps tracker

✅ You will be asked for confirmation before the reset is applied.

macOS stores custom menu shortcuts in NSUserKeyEquivalents dictionaries in defaults for each app. These are tracked centrally via:

com.apple.universalaccess → com.apple.custommenu.apps

This tool:

• Reads from those domains using defaults
• Outputs valid JSON
• Imports them back while preserving existing entries (unless --force is used)
• Reloads the system preference daemon (cfprefsd) to apply changes immediately

• macOS 10.10 or newer
• Python 3.x
• No third-party packages needed

# On your main machine
./hotkeys_manager.py --export my_hotkeys.json

# Copy file to a second machine (e.g., via AirDrop, scp, email, usb stick, Git, etc.)
scp my_hotkeys.json user@newmac.local:~

# On the second machine
./hotkeys_manager.py --import my_hotkeys.json

• No system-level files are touched — only user preferences.
• killall cfprefsd is called automatically to refresh changes without requiring logout.

• 🔄 Dry-run mode to preview changes before importing
• 🌐 iCloud or dotfiles integration
• 🖼 GUI interface for visual editing
• 🧪 Unit tests for parsing and applying changes

MIT License. Feel free to use, modify, and share.

Issues and pull requests are welcome! If you improve the logic, add features, or build out tooling, feel free to contribute.

Enjoy your portable, controlled hotkey environment! 🍎⌨️