Automation and integrations decision
Keyboard Maestro
A capable developer can build a useful subset (hotkeys, basic actions, scheduler, clipboard history) over several weeks, but reproducing Keyboard Maestro's large built-in action library, polish, and community support is impractical for a single developer.
Visit website↗Open-source builds that already do this
Every project below is open source and already does this job today. Fork one, self-host it, or take the parts you need — the build prompt further down assumes an empty file, and this is the shortcut past that. Licences differ; check the one on each card before you ship.
What a replacement has to do
- Listen for a hotkey or schedule, run a sequence of actions (keystrokes, scripts, window management, clipboard operations), allow user to author simple macros and save them locally.
What it still won’t have
- Hundreds of Built-In Actions (predefined action library)
- Active forum support
- New Macro Wizard and security settings UI
What remains hard
- Product polish and ongoing maintenance
First-year cost
No published price
Keyboard Maestro does not publish a price we could read, so there is nothing to compare against. What building costs is below.
Money you would actually spend
Time you would spend
—
What you would spend
What we assumed
The verdict above measures whether you could build it. This one is only about money.
Runnable build prompt
Build a minimal macOS native automation app in Swift (SwiftUI for UI, Combine for async) that: (1) listens for global hotkeys and scheduled triggers; (2) stores macros as JSON on disk and exposes a simple editor to add/remove steps; (3) supports action types: run shell command, run AppleScript, send keystrokes, manipulate clipboard, and basic window arrangement; (4) includes a clipboard history and text-snippet expansion; (5) provides simple logging, error handling for failed actions, and unit tests for the macro storage and action runner. Out of scope: reproducing the full catalogue of built-in actions, polished commercial UI, forum, licensing/payment flow, and OCR/image-based triggers.
How we checked
How the score was reached
- Partly verdict base52
- An open-source build was found+5
- 5 cited sources+3
- Price verified on pricing page+3
- 3/3 assessment runs agreed+4
- Evidence score67
The base comes from the verdict. Everything under it is a check that either happened or did not, and each one is a fact frozen in this record rather than a judgement made at render time — so the same evidence always produces the same number.
How scoring works →Cited sources · 5
Every page the run actually retrieved.
- official productKeyboard Maestro official product page
- official pricingKeyboard Maestro pricing
- official docsKeyboard Maestro features/docs
- open sourceHammerspoon/hammerspoon
- open sourceTomBadash/Mouser
Integrity checks
What held up, and what did not.
