Bug: No keys are sending on Mac #1317

CampAsAChamp · 2024-11-01T06:11:11Z

Requirements

I've searched platform-specific issues, issues and discussions to see if this has been reported before.

Describe the bug

Keys are not being sent, but are being seen/heard by Kanata

Relevant kanata config

Using the minimal.kbd

(defcfg
  process-unmapped-keys yes
)

(defsrc
  caps grv         i
              j    k    l
  lsft rsft
)

(deflayer default
  @cap @grv        _ 
              _    _    _ 
  _    _   
)

(deflayer arrows
  _    _           up 
              left down rght 
  _    _   
)

(defalias
  cap (tap-hold-press 200 200 caps lctl)
  grv (tap-hold-press 200 200 grv (layer-toggle arrows))
)

To Reproduce

Run kanata with minimal.kbd (with sudo)
Press back tick
See the keys being picked up in the terminal
Key presses not being seen in the text editor (back tick, or arrows moving the cursor)

Video:

Screen.Recording.2024-10-31.at.10.57.58.PM.1.mov

Expected behavior

Keys would be sent. Pressing any other keys (A-Z) with process-unmapped-keys yes I expected them to also send, but I got neither.

Kanata version

kanata 1.70

Debug logs

No response

Operating system

MacOS 14.7

Additional context

No response

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

jtroo · 2024-11-01T06:31:17Z

Maybe this can help:
#1211

andreicorpo · 2024-11-01T13:25:47Z

I am also encoutering this issue. #1211 doesn't seem to help with this.

CampAsAChamp · 2024-11-01T16:34:15Z

I'll give #1211 a try and also get some more debug logs to see where it might be going wrong

EDIT: Already had both Kanata and iTerm in the input monitoring, so don't think it's that.

EDIT 2: I do see this PR for the driverkit to bump it to version 5.0.0, which is what I have when I run the below command. So hoping that is just my issue and when that gets merged this hopefully will resolve

defaults read /Applications/.Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleVersion
> 5.0.0

tissak · 2024-11-03T21:13:44Z

Confirming the last comment by @CampAsAChamp. I had this issue on MacOS 15.0.1 of key presses being detected but not being written. I repointed my local cargo.toml to the driverkit git repo mentioned in PR and rebuilt locally. Now works.

CampAsAChamp · 2024-11-04T17:15:11Z

@jtroo how should I resolve this? Close it and mention that this issue should be fixed when that above PR gets merged? Or how would you like?

The only reason why I have version 5.0.0 is because that's what Karabiner is shipping with currently.

jtroo · 2024-11-05T03:05:39Z

We can leave this open until we bump the dependency version in Kanata.

fearlessgeekmedia · 2024-11-05T05:40:46Z

I'm having trouble even with 5.0.0. On MacOS Sonoma 14.7. When I run kanata, my whole keyboard is unusable.

jtroo · 2024-11-05T05:44:05Z

@fearlessgeekmedia my understanding is that, having 5.0.0 is the problem (on kanata side) and kanata needs an updated dependency to work correctly.

fearlessgeekmedia · 2024-11-05T07:29:21Z

Oh, ok. So I just need to wait?

jtroo · 2024-11-05T07:48:11Z

You could:

wait
get an older karabiner driver version
compile Kanata yourself with modified dependencies
ask for a binary build from someone else doing the above

mattdw · 2024-11-05T08:15:19Z

Here's my build with updated driverkit dependency - it worked for me on 15.1, M1 Apple Silicon. (With the 5.0.0 Karabiner driver .pkg installed.)

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4bsz4a2qih35ui9gp1fhe/kanata_w_kdk_5.0.0.zip?rlkey=g6139xiug7zcr1b9ccie15xwd&dl=0

Took me a while to figure out I also needed to run the Karabiner daemon separately, e.g.

# in one tab
sudo '/Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice/Applications/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon'

# in another tab
sudo ./kanata --cfg ~/.config/kanata.kb

fearlessgeekmedia · 2024-11-05T08:22:24Z

I tried an older Karabiner driver and compiled Kanata myself already. Neither of those solved my problem. I ended up using claude.ai to convert my Kanata config to a Karabiner Elements mod. It works. :)

…

On Tue, Nov 5, 2024, 1:15 AM Matt Wilson ***@***.***> wrote: Here's my build with updated driverkit dependenciy - it worked for me on 15.1, M1 Apple Silicon. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/4bsz4a2qih35ui9gp1fhe/kanata_w_kdk_5.0.0.zip?rlkey=g6139xiug7zcr1b9ccie15xwd&dl=0 Took me a while to figure out I also needed to run the Karabiner daemon separately, e.g. # in one tab sudo '/Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice/Applications/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon' # in another tab sudo ./kanata --cfg ~/.config/kanata.kb — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1317 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A3HGA5VEYY4MZAKMVKVEVP3Z7B5C5AVCNFSM6AAAAABQ7W2HBGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDINJWGUYDMMRRGU> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

jcger · 2024-11-05T16:28:17Z

We can leave this open until we bump the dependency version in Kanata.

When do you expect this to happen?

fearlessgeekmedia · 2024-11-05T17:04:08Z

I didn't specify earlier. I'm using one of the Intel Macs.

jtroo · 2024-11-05T22:48:46Z

We can leave this open until we bump the dependency version in Kanata.

When do you expect this to happen?

You're asking for a time estimate from a free, donations-not-accepted, open source project 😂. Within [0, ∞) seconds.

jcger · 2024-11-06T10:04:26Z

We can leave this open until we bump the dependency version in Kanata.

When do you expect this to happen?

You're asking for a time estimate from a free, donations-not-accepted, open source project 😂. Within [0, ∞) seconds.

Sorry, my intention wasn't to create any pressure or push. Just wanted to check if this is something you're planning to implement soon, so I can wait for it, or if not, I will try to do so locally. My bad for not taking enough time to write this properly 🙏

jtroo · 2024-11-06T16:03:02Z

There's not much work to do in the Kanata repo. The blocker is having the updated dependency consumable via crates.io for use with cargo install. I'm not sure how active @psych3r is so it might be a while to get the pr merged and crate published. It may be desirable to: have a new maintainer for the dependency or vendor and maintain the dependency within the Kanata repo.

psych3r · 2024-11-06T16:18:34Z

I've been quite busy for the last month.
I'll work on merging the PR and uploading a new version of the crate by this weekend if not sooner.

newsve · 2024-11-12T19:32:53Z

I must have missed something but I couldn't get it to work. I git pulled and cargo build the latest kanata, installed Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice-5.0.0.pkg, activated latter and still have given Terminal permission for Input Monitoring. But it is still not working, before my installation worked.

Edit:
I get continuous connect_failed asio.system:2
I am on macOS 14.6.1 (updating now, maybe it is related...)

fearlessgeekmedia · 2024-11-12T20:32:55Z

I don't think you missed anything. We're essentially waiting.Or you could do what I did and use Karabiner Elements.

…

On Tue, Nov 12, 2024, 12:33 PM newsve ***@***.***> wrote: I must have missed something but I couldn't get it to work. I git pulled and cargo build the latest kanata, installed Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice-5.0.0.pkg, activated latter and still have given Terminal permission for Input Monitoring. But it is still not working, before my installation worked. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1317 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A3HGA5WSOJZVNA5HX5ZKLPL2AJJXZAVCNFSM6AAAAABQ7W2HBGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDINZRGQYDAMJRGU> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

Lawrence-of-AnKing · 2024-11-13T02:59:17Z

While I run kanata, my keyboard and mouse not work anymore, I can only exit by Ctrl + Space + Esc. I tried Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager 3.1 and 5.0, nothing changed. I do real not want turn back to karabiner, the terrible config...

fearlessgeekmedia · 2024-11-13T03:07:58Z

Yeah, pretty much what was happening to me too. Granted I am only using it for keyboard shortcuts and not anything with the mouse. So I didn't have the mouse issues.

…

On Tue, Nov 12, 2024 at 7:59 PM Lawrence Liu ***@***.***> wrote: While I run kanata, my keyboard and mouse not work anymore, I can only exit by Ctrl + Space + Esc. I tried Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager 3.1 and 5.0, nothing changed. I do real not want turn back to karabiner, the terrible config... — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1317 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A3HGA5QF74V2EGARDCD36KL2AK6BZAVCNFSM6AAAAABQ7W2HBGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDINZSGI3DQMJUGI> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

jtroo · 2024-11-13T05:19:14Z

If you're compiling the latest main then the assumption is it should work now. The dependency bump was merged. But something else might be broken; perhaps something specific to intel mac

Lawrence-of-AnKing · 2024-11-18T01:54:38Z

Is there a hero write a applescript to run all of them? I try to run kanata by applescript, faild.

newsve · 2024-11-19T03:44:02Z

start up the daemon

This options would be actually pretty nice and would remove some friction in the UX.

Edit: Or display an error if the daemon isn't installed.

thomastthai · 2024-11-19T17:55:25Z

I experienced the issue with the keyboard not working when using the Kanata v1.7.0 release. I can confirm the fix:

Compiling from source (as of two days ago at commit fc1b95d)

Installing Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice v5.0.5

Running Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager with the command:

/Applications/.Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager activate

Running Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon: with the command:

sudo '/Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice/Applications/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon'

newsve · 2024-11-23T19:39:25Z

I asked ChatGPT to write a shell script kanata.sh (advantage is that you have to run and terminate only one thing):

#!/bin/zsh

# Quick help/full install process:
#   - Install Rust from rustup.rs 
#   - `git clone https://github.com/jtroo/kanata.git` in home (`~/`), then `cd kanata` and `cargo build`
#   - Install https://github.com/pqrs-org/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice version: ^5.0.0
#   - Allow Input Monitoring for latter somewhere in macOS' settings
#   - `chmod +x kanata.sh` this file after creation!

# Checking if a parameter was provided
if [ "$#" -ne 1 ]; then
    echo "Usage: $0 <path_to_kbd_file>"
    exit 1
fi

# Activate Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager (actually needs to be done only once but yeah)
sudo /Applications/.Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager activate

# Run Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon
sudo '/Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice/Applications/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon' &

# Execute kanata with the provided parameter
sudo ~/kanata/target/debug/kanata -nc "$1"

Then, once...

chmod +x kanata.sh

...and execute with...

./kanata.sh <path_to_kbd_file>

Edit: Check ofc if your kanata install folder is the same as in the script! It is just the one when you do a git clone of the kanata repo in your home folder ~.

Edit2, Alternative: You could also just cram the last two lines into one, have a hard-coded kbd-file and run that super long line every time (and since in the shell history you can easily access it with the arrow up or ctrl-r too, actually not much worse solution but this script is a bit cleaner and in case the history is not accessible nor available also much easier to remember).

jussapaavo · 2024-11-27T10:38:24Z

I experienced the issue with the keyboard not working when using the Kanata v1.7.0 release. I can confirm the fix: (...)

I can also confirm this worked for me.

I was previously running kanata (more specifically kanata-tray) via a MacOS LaunchDaemon that runs automatically on login in the background. I modified my install script to create a similar LaunchDaemon for the Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon as well. Now both of them run at login and things work as intended.

You can see my installation script here: https://github.com/jussapaavo/kanata-service/blob/main/daemon-service (feel free to fork or contribute)

CampAsAChamp · 2024-12-09T05:26:16Z

Also confirming that building locally (I did cargo install) has fixed the issue for me (the OP).

@jtroo any plans for generating a new release/tag or other things in the pipeline for Kanata? (latest I see is 1.7.0 from October)

We can close this issue after a new version is published I think, but I'll let you make that call if you want to close it now

MaskRay · 2024-12-26T00:52:40Z

I asked ChatGPT to write a shell script kanata.sh (advantage is that you have to run and terminate only one thing):
#!/bin/zsh

# Quick help/full install process:
#   - Install Rust from rustup.rs 
#   - `git clone https://github.com/jtroo/kanata.git` in home (`~/`), then `cd kanata` and `cargo build`
#   - Install https://github.com/pqrs-org/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice version: ^5.0.0
#   - Allow Input Monitoring for latter somewhere in macOS' settings
#   - `chmod +x kanata.sh` this file after creation!

# Checking if a parameter was provided
if [ "$#" -ne 1 ]; then
    echo "Usage: $0 <path_to_kbd_file>"
    exit 1
fi

# Activate Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager (actually needs to be done only once but yeah)
sudo /Applications/.Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager activate

# Run Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon
sudo '/Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice/Applications/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon' &

# Execute kanata with the provided parameter
sudo ~/kanata/target/debug/kanata -nc "$1"
Then, once...
chmod +x kanata.sh
...and execute with...
./kanata.sh <path_to_kbd_file>
Edit: Check ofc if your kanata install folder is the same as in the script! It is just the one when you do a git clone of the kanata repo in your home folder ~.

Edit2, Alternative: You could also just cram the last two lines into one, have a hard-coded kbd-file and run that super long line every time (and since in the shell history you can easily access it with the arrow up or ctrl-r too, actually not much worse solution but this script is a bit cleaner and in case the history is not accessible nor available also much easier to remember).

Thanks. This works with a cargo build --release built kanata.

https://github.com/jtroo/kanata/releases/tag/v1.8.0-prerelease-1 needs to mention Run Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon.

isometricmax · 2024-12-30T13:42:11Z

Is this fixed? or should we still keep running the daemon in another terminal?

Is this something broken that needs to be "fixed" in the first place? I would guess running the daemon is the intended use case for working with the new karabiner. Seems there might be some improvements here though.

Any further updates required to docs?

I think adding a step to the installation instructions (right after the step on activating the driver) on future releases would 100% help. This is taken from https://github.com/pqrs-org/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice. Copying this verbatim would work fine in my opinion.

Run Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon:

sudo '/Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice/Applications/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon'

This was the missing step for me, it solved the issue entirely of kanata not detecting/sending keys on Mac (I'm on an M4). It's the same solution that @mattdw gave. You can optionally add a short note about having the Daemon launch on startup by creating a new LaunchDaemon plist file, and loading it using launchctl load.

0xSalman · 2024-12-30T21:34:15Z

I ran into some issues as well but got it to work after fixing driver kit extensions permissions and rebooting the system

ayyjohn · 2025-01-08T03:50:36Z

I experienced the issue with the keyboard not working when using the Kanata v1.7.0 release. I can confirm the fix:
Compiling from source (as of two days ago at commit fc1b95d)
Installing Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice v5.0.5
Running Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager with the command:
/Applications/.Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager activate
Running Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon: with the command:
sudo '/Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice/Applications/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon'

hell yeah, this did it! I had to re-install xcode tools to get kanata to build locally but once i did, this got it working. can't wait to try kanata out now!

edit: oh my god it's so good I could cry. even just the example from https://github.com/jtroo/kanata/blob/8ba531d0740f8e690f7d82d7611b28cf3643ef84/cfg_samples/home-row-mod-advanced.kbd works exactly how I want it to 😭

mayurankv · 2025-01-09T20:38:37Z

@thomastthai and @ayyjohn Did you find that the public release of kanata was not working but the self-compiled version did?

EDIT: I ask because I am running sudo '/Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice/Applications/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon' in one terminal tab, and sudo kanata -c $MYKANATACONFIG in another (in that order) and it doesn't work.

I have karabiner elements installed and fully working (all permissions satisfied) but all karabiner startup items are turned off and verified that after login only the karabiner driverkit is running (so no other karabiner processes). Then when I run the first command, that daemon appears as a process but still no keystrokes pass through.

EDIT 2: Silly me, I now realise that there hasn't been a new release since the dependency was updated. @jtroo looking at the commit history, I understand that a number of features are currently works in progress. Having said that, would it be possible to create a new minor version release with just the corresponding dependency updated so that those with macs can use this in the meantime without having to self-compile? Or would that actually be less simple than it sounds.

jtroo · 2025-01-09T21:52:51Z

Does the pre release build not have the dependency changes? I thought it did but don't remember well.

mayurankv · 2025-01-09T22:08:37Z

Hmmm, let me take a look sorry, I was just looking at the main release.

mayurankv · 2025-01-09T22:23:42Z

IT WORKS. Thanks so much, really looking forward to playing around with this! Hopefully this will point others to the pre-release as I was just looking at the most recent release via homebrew and its date from github. Thanks so much. If anyone is interested, I'm using kanata-tray and thus pointing the kanata-tray config at a different path temporarily until the next stable release is out!

EDIT: Feel I didn't thank you enough @jtroo so once agian, thank you very much :))

ayyjohn · 2025-01-14T20:06:39Z

@thomastthai and @ayyjohn Did you find that the public release of kanata was not working but the self-compiled version did?

EDIT: I ask because I am running sudo '/Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice/Applications/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon' in one terminal tab, and sudo kanata -c $MYKANATACONFIG in another (in that order) and it doesn't work.

I have karabiner elements installed and fully working (all permissions satisfied) but all karabiner startup items are turned off and verified that after login only the karabiner driverkit is running (so no other karabiner processes). Then when I run the first command, that daemon appears as a process but still no keystrokes pass through.

EDIT 2: Silly me, I now realise that there hasn't been a new release since the dependency was updated. @jtroo looking at the commit history, I understand that a number of features are currently works in progress. Having said that, would it be possible to create a new minor version release with just the corresponding dependency updated so that those with macs can use this in the meantime without having to self-compile? Or would that actually be less simple than it sounds.

Sorry for not seeing this sooner: correct, self compiled was the only one working, at least for me!

jrop · 2025-01-17T15:02:55Z

I finally found an automated way to get kanata to run smoothly on bootup. In my case, I have it setup so that I still have to run one command to get it running, but I prefer that for something that takes over the keyboard. That way, if something goes awry, I can force-reboot and have the stock behavior running by default.

Install the Karabiner VirutalHiDDevice Driver (I'm running an updated mac) and make sure it is enabled in the security settings. This is covered elsewhere.

For macOS version 11 and newer: Install the Karabiner VirtualHiDDevice Driver.

Create supporting system-level config:

├── /Library
│   └── LaunchDaemons
│       ├── com.github.jtroo-kanata.plist
│       ├── com.github.pqrs-org-Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice.plist
│       └── com.github.pqrs-org-Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager.plist
└── /etc
    └── kanata.kbd

com.github.pqrs-org-Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager.plist

<!-- See https://launchd.info/ for more info -->
<!-- https://github.com/jtroo/kanata/issues/1317 -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.github.pqrs-org-Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager</string>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true />
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/Applications/.Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager</string>
      <string>activate</string>
    </array>
    <key>OtherJobEnabled</key>
    <dict>
        <key>com.github.pqrs-org-Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice</key>
        <true />
    </dict>
  </dict>
</plist>

com.github.pqrs-org-Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice.plist

<!-- See https://launchd.info/ for more info -->
<!-- https://github.com/jtroo/kanata/issues/1317 -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.github.pqrs-org-Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice</string>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true />
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/Library/Application Support/org.pqrs/Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice/Applications/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Daemon</string>
    </array>
  </dict>
</plist>

com.github.jtroo-kanata.plist

<!-- See https://launchd.info/ for more info -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.github.jtroo-kanata</string>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <false />
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/usr/local/bin/kanata</string>
      <string>--cfg</string>
      <string>/etc/kanata.kbd</string>
    </array>
    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/kanata.log</string>
    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/var/log/kanata.log</string>
    <key>OtherJobEnabled</key>
    <dict>
        <key>com.github.pqrs-org-Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager</key>
        <true />
    </dict>
  </dict>
</plist>

/etc/kanata.kbd: <your personal config here>

Build and install kanata from source. This is covered elsewhere. The commit I am running is 0b25d28fd2e06d82e9e2060f88d57cd3f005c981 (kanata 1.8.0-prerelease-1)

I installed the built binary to /usr/local/bin/kanata
Add this built binary to the Privacy & Security => Input Monitoring list of privileged apps/binaries

Once all this is setup, reboot, and then a single command will start kanata:

sudo launchctl start com.github.jtroo-kanata

benvallack · 2025-01-28T22:40:46Z

I'm trying to get this working on Monterey. I notice that VirtualHIDDevice v4.0.0 says macOS 12 is no longer supported. I have Karabiner Elements working fine (which seems to us 3.1.0) but I can't get Kanata to work. Running it in debug mode shows the config is correct and it says it's trying to send keys correctly - but no key gets seen by the Mac.

I assume I need to manually build a version of Kanata that expects to see version 3.x of Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDeviceClient.app (it was renamed to the Daemon name in v4 by the looks of it).

Does anyone know which version of Kanata I need to use on Monterey?

thomastthai · 2025-01-28T23:51:58Z

It was a while ago, but I compiled latest and it worked.

jtroo · 2025-01-29T04:13:27Z

I'm trying to get this working on Monterey. I notice that VirtualHIDDevice v4.0.0 says macOS 12 is no longer supported. I have Karabiner Elements working fine (which seems to us 3.1.0) but I can't get Kanata to work. Running it in debug mode shows the config is correct and it says it's trying to send keys correctly - but no key gets seen by the Mac.

1.7.0 should support v3 of the driver. There may also be extra permissions needed.
#1211

benvallack · 2025-02-05T08:25:22Z

This is baffling - tried building 1.7.0 - still no joy. I get the keys detected in the debug output but the system doesn't receive anything.

❯ kanata --version kanata 1.7.0

/Applications/.Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager.app/Contents/MacOS/Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager activate activation of org.pqrs.Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice is requested request of org.pqrs.Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice is finished request of org.pqrs.Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice is completed

❯ defaults read /Applications/.Karabiner-VirtualHIDDevice-Manager.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleVersion 3.1.0

08:21:25.5271 [DEBUG] (1) kanata_state_machine::oskbd::macos: Attempting to write InputEvent { value: 41, page: 7, code: 4294967295 } DKEvent { value: 41, page: 7, code: 4294967295 } 08:21:25.5271 [DEBUG] (1) kanata_state_machine::kanata::macos: InputEvent { value: 0, page: 7, code: 1 } is unrecognized! 08:21:25.5271 [DEBUG] (1) kanata_state_machine::oskbd::macos: Attempting to write InputEvent { value: 0, page: 7, code: 1 } DKEvent { value: 0, page: 7, code: 1 }

MacOS 12.7.6 Monterey.

What am I missing?!

nightscape · 2025-02-05T09:54:23Z

You might have to upgrade your MacOS. Afaiu, kanata was upgraded to the newest version of Karabiner, which itself might not be compatible with Monterey.

benvallack · 2025-02-05T10:30:37Z

Karabiner 14 works fine on Monterey - that's what I'm using now. I've tried uninstalling it too.

mettavi · 2025-02-08T02:44:55Z

Karabiner 14 works fine on Monterey - that's what I'm using now. I've tried uninstalling it too.

I found I had to completely uninstall Karabiner Elements (including all files that might be left behind) to get Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice working.

Kanata 1.7.0 is compatible with the older versions of Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice.

benvallack · 2025-02-08T13:32:29Z

Thanks - this got me in the right direction. For some reason I wasn't looking at the instructions on the 1.7 release page. https://github.com/jtroo/kanata/releases/tag/v1.7.0 It all makes sense now and is working!

CampAsAChamp · 2025-02-12T16:25:25Z

Alright, now that 1.8.0 is officially released I'm going to close this issue/thread.
Thank you guys for all the comments and fixes

CampAsAChamp added the bug Something isn't working label Nov 1, 2024

CampAsAChamp assigned jtroo Nov 1, 2024

jtroo added the macos Issue pertains to macos; jtroo has no macOS devices and does not maintain the support for this OS. label Nov 1, 2024

jborkowski mentioned this issue Nov 1, 2024

Bumb Karabiner-DriverKit-VirtualHIDDevice to v5.0.0 psych3r/driverkit#4

Merged

psych3r mentioned this issue Nov 9, 2024

Bump driverkit to v.0.1.4 #1338

Merged

This was referenced Nov 11, 2024

Failed use to kanata on macos sequoia #1343

Closed

Bug: connect_failed asio.system:61 #1264

Closed

bustinbung mentioned this issue Nov 20, 2024

Bug: Using one-shot-pause-processing prevents key events from registering in OS #1365

Closed

2 tasks

jtroo mentioned this issue Jan 3, 2025

Bug: Input Event {...} is unrecognized! #1459

Closed

2 tasks

This was referenced Jan 21, 2025

MacOs kanata dose not work #1498

Closed

Bug: MacOS - Keyboard stops working #1495

Closed

CampAsAChamp closed this as completed Feb 12, 2025

Bug: No keys are sending on Mac #1317

Bug: No keys are sending on Mac #1317

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CampAsAChamp commented Nov 1, 2024 • edited Loading

Requirements

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