keyd
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 5 keyboard remappers by recommenders
Recommended as an easy-to-configure Linux key remapper that works on the virtual terminal, for Caps Lock tricks and macOS-style layouts. Caveat: a broad device mask can grab the touchpad too.
Recommended as an easy-to-configure Linux key remapper that works on the virtual terminal, for Caps Lock tricks and macOS-style layouts. Caveat: a broad device mask can grab the touchpad too.
21 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 9.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Easy to configure and get going
“it seems to do everything I need and is easy to get going without any fuss”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “A key remapping daemon for Linux” “finding keyd was a godsend on Linux”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “A key remapping daemon for Linux” Reclaims the Copilot key
“There are also reports of people having decent results using keyd to remap the synthetic keystrokes from the copilot button.”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Dell's CES 2026 chat was the most pleasingly un-AI briefing I've had in 5 years” “I have been able to reclaim my Copilot key with keyd”
Comment from 27 Sep 2026 in “The Copilot+ PC brand is dead” Mac-style bindings on Linux
“I now remap all Linux (using keyd) to actually use the Mac layout.”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux” “I use it to have mac-style bindings”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “A key remapping daemon for Linux” Caps Lock as Esc or Ctrl
“Caps Lock acting as Esc if used on its own or as Ctrl if it's held down.”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: Where to begin with "modern" Emacs?” “To turn it back into a ctrl key”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Dell's CES 2026 chat was the most pleasingly un-AI briefing I've had in 5 years”
Other keyboard remappers people recommend
The four most recommended other keyboard remappers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karabiner-Elements | 55 | 4 | 93% | 11 | — | Approved |
| BetterTouchTool | 25 | 1 | 96% | 9 | — | Approved |
| keydThis page | 19 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Toshy | 6 | 2 | 75% | 7 | — | — |
| Kanata | 5 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
19 of the 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I have been able to reclaim my Copilot key with keyd”
“it uses uinput so it works on the vtty too”
“I have been using this for a while and it's great.”
“I use it to have mac-style bindings”
“This makes it very easy to add homerow mods”
“finding keyd was a godsend on Linux”
“it seems to do everything I need and is easy to get going without any fuss”
“You replaced a number of utterly shameful and janktacular python scripts.”
“keyd and wtype are what I settled on”
“keyd having a too broad device mask (0000:0000) so it grabs everything including the touchpad”
“works really well for me on Linux”
“Probably the best so far I've found has been keyd and custom configs for your most used apps.”
“A project that has a daemon run in the background as a root service”
“I now remap all Linux (using keyd) to actually use the Mac layout.”
“There are also reports of people having decent results using keyd to remap the synthetic keystrokes from the copilot button.”
“To turn it back into a ctrl key”
“the only way I could make keyd work with them was to choose a US keyboard layout”
“the available solutions were fragile and complicated”
“Caps Lock acting as Esc if used on its own or as Ctrl if it's held down.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.