Alt Modifier Stops Working After Latest macOS Sequoia Developer Beta

[jcdiv47]

Pretty much an identical issue as in #285 where the alt modifier appears to stop responding after MacOS Sequoia update. The issue was reported to be solved in the latest version of Aerospace at the time (June 26).

I must have started using Aerospace after that time because I am also in MacOS Sequoia and I have been enjoying Aerospace since my first experience up until yesterday. It appears that my alt modifier stops working in Aerospace after my MacBook Pro's auto update last night where my system updates to the latest MacOS Sequoia 15 Developer Beta(24B5035e).

I have made sure the following few things:

• updating Aerospace to version 0.14.2-Beta and restarting the app but the problem still presists
• change alt to say cmd in Aerospace config and it works fine
• use Aerospace from command line, tested a couple of basic commands and it works fine
• my alt key is not broken, e.g., I can switch between MacOS desktops with alt-left and alt-right

Changing alt to cmd has too many conflicts in key bindings than I am willing to deal with and ctrl is just like way in the corner and I need to build up muscle memory all over again. Therefore, I really hope I can identify the problem and fix it here. Appreciate any help/advice in advance.

Here's my full Aerospace config...

# Place a copy of this config to ~/.aerospace.toml
# After that, you can edit ~/.aerospace.toml to your liking

# It's not necessary to copy all keys to your config.
# If the key is missing in your config, "default-config.toml" will serve as a fallback

# You can use it to add commands that run after login to macOS user session.
# 'start-at-login' needs to be 'true' for 'after-login-command' to work
# Available commands: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands
after-login-command = []

# You can use it to add commands that run after AeroSpace startup.
# 'after-startup-command' is run after 'after-login-command'
# Available commands : https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands
after-startup-command = []

# Start AeroSpace at login
start-at-login = true

# Normalizations. See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/guide#normalization
enable-normalization-flatten-containers = true
enable-normalization-opposite-orientation-for-nested-containers = true

# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/guide#layouts
# The 'accordion-padding' specifies the size of accordion padding
# You can set 0 to disable the padding feature
accordion-padding = 20

# Possible values: tiles|accordion
default-root-container-layout = 'tiles'

# Possible values: horizontal|vertical|auto
# 'auto' means: wide monitor (anything wider than high) gets horizontal orientation,
#               tall monitor (anything higher than wide) gets vertical orientation
default-root-container-orientation = 'auto'

# Possible values: (qwerty|dvorak)
# See https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/guide#key-mapping
key-mapping.preset = 'qwerty'

# Mouse follows focus when focused monitor changes
# Drop it from your config, if you don't like this behavior
# See https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/guide#on-focus-changed-callbacks
# See https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands#move-mouse
# on-focused-monitor-changed = ['move-mouse monitor-lazy-center']
# on-focus-changed = "move-mouse window-lazy-center"

# Gaps between windows (inner-*) and between monitor edges (outer-*).
# Possible values:
# - Constant:     gaps.outer.top = 8
# - Per monitor:  gaps.outer.top = [{ monitor.main = 16 }, { monitor."some-pattern" = 32 }, 24]
#                 In this example, 24 is a default value when there is no match.
#                 Monitor pattern is the same as for 'workspace-to-monitor-force-assignment'.
#                 See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/guide#assign-workspaces-to-monitors
[gaps]
inner.horizontal = 0
inner.vertical =   0
outer.left =       5
outer.bottom =     5
outer.top =        0
outer.right =      5

# 'main' binding mode declaration
# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/guide#binding-modes
# 'main' binding mode must be always presented
[mode.main.binding]

# All possible keys:
# - Letters.        a, b, c, ..., z
# - Numbers.        0, 1, 2, ..., 9
# - Keypad numbers. keypad0, keypad1, keypad2, ..., keypad9
# - F-keys.         f1, f2, ..., f20
# - Special keys.   minus, equal, period, comma, slash, backslash, quote, semicolon, backtick,
#                   leftSquareBracket, rightSquareBracket, space, enter, esc, backspace, tab
# - Keypad special. keypadClear, keypadDecimalMark, keypadDivide, keypadEnter, keypadEqual,
#                   keypadMinus, keypadMultiply, keypadPlus
# - Arrows.         left, down, up, right

# All possible modifiers: cmd, alt, ctrl, shift

# All possible commands: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands

# You can uncomment this line to open up terminal with alt + enter shortcut
# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands#exec-and-forget
# alt-enter = 'exec-and-forget open -n /System/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app'

# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands#layout
alt-slash = 'layout tiles horizontal vertical'
alt-comma = 'layout accordion horizontal vertical'

# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands#focus
alt-h = 'focus left'
alt-j = 'focus down'
alt-k = 'focus up'
alt-l = 'focus right'

# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands#move
alt-shift-h = 'move left'
alt-shift-j = 'move down'
alt-shift-k = 'move up'
alt-shift-l = 'move right'

# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands#resize
alt-shift-minus = 'resize smart -50'
alt-shift-equal = 'resize smart +50'

# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands#workspace
alt-1 = 'workspace 1'
alt-2 = 'workspace 2'
alt-3 = 'workspace 3'
alt-4 = 'workspace 4'
alt-5 = 'workspace 5'
alt-b = 'workspace B'
alt-c = 'workspace C'
alt-m = 'workspace M'
alt-n = 'workspace N'
alt-t = 'workspace T'

# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands#move-node-to-workspace
alt-shift-1 = 'move-node-to-workspace 1'
alt-shift-2 = 'move-node-to-workspace 2'
alt-shift-3 = 'move-node-to-workspace 3'
alt-shift-4 = 'move-node-to-workspace 4'
alt-shift-5 = 'move-node-to-workspace 5'
alt-shift-b = 'move-node-to-workspace B'
alt-shift-c = 'move-node-to-workspace C'
alt-shift-m = 'move-node-to-workspace M'
alt-shift-n = 'move-node-to-workspace N'
alt-shift-t = 'move-node-to-workspace T'

alt-shift-enter = 'fullscreen'

# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands#workspace-back-and-forth
alt-tab = 'workspace-back-and-forth'
# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands#move-workspace-to-monitor
alt-shift-tab = 'move-workspace-to-monitor --wrap-around next'

# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands#mode
alt-shift-semicolon = 'mode service'

cmd-h = [] # Disable "hide application"
cmd-alt-h = [] # Disable "hide others"

# 'service' binding mode declaration.
# See: https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/guide#binding-modes
[mode.service.binding]
esc = ['reload-config', 'mode main']
r = ['flatten-workspace-tree', 'mode main'] # reset layout
#s = ['layout sticky tiling', 'mode main'] # sticky is not yet supported https://github.com/nikitabobko/AeroSpace/issues/2
f = ['layout floating tiling', 'mode main'] # Toggle between floating and tiling layout
backspace = ['close-all-windows-but-current', 'mode main']

alt-shift-h = ['join-with left', 'mode main']
alt-shift-j = ['join-with down', 'mode main']
alt-shift-k = ['join-with up', 'mode main']
alt-shift-l = ['join-with right', 'mode main']

[[on-window-detected]]
if.app-id = 'net.kovidgoyal.kitty' # kitty
run = 'move-node-to-workspace T' # as in [T]erminal

[[on-window-detected]]
if.app-id = 'company.thebrowser.Browser' # Arc
run = 'move-node-to-workspace B' # as in [B]rowser

[[on-window-detected]]
if.app-id = 'com.google.Chrome' # Chrome
run = 'move-node-to-workspace B' # as in [B]rowser

[[on-window-detected]]
if.app-id = 'com.todesktop.230313mzl4w4u92' # Curosr
run = 'move-node-to-workspace C' # as in [C]ode

# [[on-window-detected]]
# if.app-id = 'com.apple.finder'
# run = 'move-node-to-workspace M' # as in [M]isc.

[[on-window-detected]]
if.app-id = 'md.obsidian'
run = 'move-node-to-workspace N' # as in [N]ote

[[on-window-detected]]
if.app-id = 'com.linnk.linnk' # Cubox
run = 'move-node-to-workspace N' # as in [N]ote

but I essentially use the default config so pretty much every key binding starts with `alt`.

Checklist

• I've searched for duplicates. My search queries were (please don't forget to search in closed issues too):
  • alt
  • option
  • Sequoia
• I've read the documentation https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/guide & https://nikitabobko.github.io/AeroSpace/commands
• I've searched in the documentation. My search queries were:
  • update
  • alt
  • modifier

aerospace CLI client version: 0.14.2-Beta 0cb8dbdfc5ee73b8cbc200f175f467ebead55201
AeroSpace.app server version: 0.14.2-Beta 0cb8dbdfc5ee73b8cbc200f175f467ebead55201

[nikitabobko]

Can't reporduce in 15.1 Beta 3 (24B5035e). The problem is somewhere on your side

[DieracDelta]

@nikitabobko any chance the built artifacts for 15.1 Beta 3 exist somewhere on github like they do for 14.2? If not no worries, I can build myself. (just double checking before I go down that rabbit hole 😅 ) edit: turns out it's trivial to extract the artifacts from the existing gha. Nevermind!

[mingsheng13]

@DieracDelta How did you manage to fix this? I'm new to aerospace and are trying the default config. My option key won't let me focus windows or move windows but it worked when I'm using the aerospace commands. I'm on Sonoma 14.6.1 btw.

[DieracDelta]

I think the version was a red herring for me (shkd had somehow gotten enabled and was intercepting keystrokes). But I also was running HEAD of master at the time ( https://github.com/DieracDelta/AeroSpace/actions/runs/10654238557/job/29530293380#step:9:20 )

[mingsheng13]

Omg, thats it! I was running yabai with skhd before and I forgot to turn it off. Thanks man.

[moshialam]

Hello everyone,
In my case the option stopped working a couple of days back. I had uninstalled skhd and yabai. But even after checking and reloading the config, the problem persists. I had not installed anything new recently, and have been on MacOS Sequoia since its launch.
Is there anyway to identify where the problem is? Thanks!

[DieracDelta]

As a sanity check that the uninstall was successful: runningskhd --stop-service does nothing, right? (presumably skhd won't be found in the path)

[moshialam]

RIght. Hence I get zsh: command not found: skhd

[mingsheng13]

Have you tried to restart your computer

[moshialam]

I did not--it just started working again today on its own! All I had done in between was quite aerospace and restart again a bunch of times. But I was doing that before too and it had not worked.

I truly don't know what happened here, but glad its working back again! :-)
Thanks everyone!

[SimonOneNineEight]

i met the same issue one day after I updated my macbook to macOS sequoia. I tried to restart my laptop multiple times, reinstall aerospace, or restart aerospace, but it all failed to fix the problem.

I really believe it is the alt key problem because it works well when I temporary change my keymap from alt to cmd.

Does anyone encounters the same issue?

(btw I don't have skhd installed)

[mingsheng13]

i met the same issue one day after I updated my macbook to macOS sequoia. I tried to restart my laptop multiple times, reinstall aerospace, or restart aerospace, but it all failed to fix the problem.

I really believe it is the alt key problem because it works well when I temporary change my keymap from alt to cmd.

Does anyone encounters the same issue?

(btw I don't have skhd installed)

This might be helpful.
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/104074/find-which-process-receives-a-given-keyboard-command

[jasmine-nguyen]

Can confirm I have the same issue after upgrading to Sequoia 15.1.1 (24B91). I never used yabai or skhd before so they should not be the culprit. I'm gonna try to downgrade to Sonoma and see if it fixes the issue.

UPDATE: Issue fixed after downgrading to Sonoma.

[tamerlan-volvo]

I can confirm the same issue is happening with 15.1. It worked when I first installed it but after a time it stopped.

Edit: I restarted my mac and it works, so not sure what the problem was.

[DieracDelta]

I'm also on 15.1.1 24B91 on aerospace 0.12.0-Beta 9cf82fe (so, a bit old). Been using for a few days and haven't had any issues so far.

[sschuldenzucker]

Hey guys, I'm also having this problem since I updated to Seqoia, but only with kitty. If kitty is focused, my alt-shift-... keyboard shortcuts do nothing and the key goes to kitty instead. My alt-shift-ctrl-... shortcuts work. If kitty is not focused, everything works as normal. This does not happen with any other app (I've tested the default Terminal, Arc browser, slack)

I've never used skhd or yabai.

Aerospace version: 0.15.2-Beta b6cf82
Kitty version: 0.37.0

[kaynetik]

Had the same issue, which was resolved by this sequence:

• reinstalling aerospace
• assigning required permissions again in Accessibility
• setting start-at-login = true
• rebooting before first use

For whatever reason, if it's started before a reboot, I had to reinstall again...

aerospace CLI client version: 0.16.2-Beta 21336ad
AeroSpace.app server version: 0.16.2-Beta 21336ad
MacOS: 15.1.1

[sschuldenzucker]

@kaynetik & for the record: your instructions didn't help me but turns out that kitty's "secure text input" was on for some reason. Deactivating that (cmd-option-s in kitty by default, seems persistent) fixed the issue. Not sure if the Sequoia update activated that or whatever. See kovidgoyal/kitty#8108 (comment)

[filip-krasinski]

Same issue, fresh macOS install... not a single shortcut works.

aerospace CLI client version: 0.16.2-Beta 21336ad382539b35fdc94b4fbd55408e10b101f8
AeroSpace.app server version: 0.16.2-Beta 21336ad382539b35fdc94b4fbd55408e10b101f8
macOS Sequoia Version 15.1 (24B2083)