# PSA: hyper modifier on OSX

**URL:** <https://community.keyboard.io/t/psa-hyper-modifier-on-osx/4780>\
**Category:** Model 01 Layouts\
**Created:** [April 27, 2021, 5:07pm UTC](https://community.keyboard.io/t/psa-hyper-modifier-on-osx/4780 "2021-04-27T17:07:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kenobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@kenobi](https://community.keyboard.io/u/kenobi)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 5:07pm UTC](https://community.keyboard.io/t/psa-hyper-modifier-on-osx/4780/1 "2021-04-27T17:07:09Z")

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Just a quick PSA for those of you who are using the hyper modifier (command+control+alt+shift) on OSX. I recently discovered that OSX has a few undocumented hotkeys:  
Hyper-w - run wifi diagnostics  
Hyper-. - run system diagnostics  
Hyper-, - open most recent system diagnostic

These hotkeys do a couple of things. (a) they cause screen to flash momentarily; (b) they dump a huge log file to /private/var/tmp.

If you are like me and have mapped one of these keys to a commonly-used action (say, for window management) and are wondering what that weird flash is on the screen every now and then, and why you’re running low on disk space, here’s your answer.

Unfortunately there appears to be no way to turn off this hotkey (some dev probably figured they were rarely-used enough to just co-opt them – may a thousand fleas, flies, camels and other vermin fester in their armpits) so I ended up switching to use meh instead of hyper for my window-management hotkeys.

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**Author:** ![gib](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex031/user_avatar/community.keyboard.io/gib/32/3736_2.png) [@gib](https://community.keyboard.io/u/gib)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2021, 11:48am UTC](https://community.keyboard.io/t/psa-hyper-modifier-on-osx/4780/2 "2021-05-03T11:48:45Z")

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I hit similar issues, especially for things like binding `Hyper-h` to the left arrow key, and then using it with other modifiers (e.g. `Cmd-shift-hyper-h` as `Cmd-shift-left-arrow`).

Solution I found online was to use `F17` as the Hyper key instead of Cmd-ctrl-opt-shift.

I have this working on my built-in keyboard (originally using [Karabiner Elements](https://github.com/gibfahn/dot/blob/main/config/karabiner/karabiner.json), now using [Hammerspoon](https://github.com/gibfahn/dot/blob/main/dotfiles/.config/hammerspoon/hyper.lua), and [`hidutil`](https://github.com/gibfahn/dot/blob/main/dotfiles/bin/hid) directly for the key remapping), and on the Model 01 by [directly mapping to F17](https://github.com/gibfahn/dot/blob/main/config/keyboardio-model-01-chrysalis-layout.json).

  

Example articles from others doing similar things:

> **[Solve Shortcut Hell in MacOS — Building a Hyper Key](https://medium.com/macoclock/solve-shortcut-hell-in-macos-building-a-hyper-key-1cb8838bf521)**
>
> If you like shortcuts and try to use them in every application, you will run into it eventually: Shortcut Hell. Two (or more) applications…

> **[Set up a Hyper Key with Hammerspoon on macOS](https://kalis.me/setup-hyper-key-hammerspoon-macos/)**
>
> To make sure your application shortcuts don't get in the way of more important ones, we will set up global shortcuts on macOS with a Hyper Key and Hammerspoon.

> **[A better Hyper key hack for Sierra - BrettTerpstra.com](https://brettterpstra.com/2016/09/29/a-better-hyper-key-hack-for-sierra/)**
>
> Update: Karabiner elements can once again do the Hyper Key modification on its own, see my post A Hyper Key with Karabiner Elements, full instructions.