autokeyboardlang

Automatically switches your macOS keyboard input source (language/layout) when you switch between physical keyboards.

Requirements

macOS	15 Sequoia or 26 Tahoe
Hardware	Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) — Intel Macs not supported
Architecture	arm64 only

If you are on an older macOS version or Intel Mac, this project will not work.

Installation

Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap jakguel/autokeyboardlang
brew install --cask autokeyboardlang

Direct download

Download the latest .dmg from the Releases page, open it and drag autokeyboardlang.app to /Applications/.

Note: The app is ad-hoc signed. On first launch macOS may show a security warning — go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

Open /Applications/autokeyboardlang.app — the tray icon guides you through Input Monitoring setup and autostart.

Upgrade

brew upgrade --cask autokeyboardlang

Build from source

Requires a full Xcode.app installation:

git clone https://github.com/jakguel/autokeyboardlang
cd autokeyboardlang
swift build --configuration release

Getting started

1. Type a few keys on your first keyboard so it becomes the active keyboard
2. Switch to the desired layout via the menu bar or 🌐
3. Repeat for each keyboard you use

The layout switches after the first keystroke when changing keyboards.

CLI

autokeyboardlang list                        # show all known devices and their status
autokeyboardlang enable <device>             # enable switching for a device
autokeyboardlang disable <device>            # disable switching for a device
autokeyboardlang clear                       # reset all stored mappings

<device> is either the number from list or the full device identifier.

Options: --verbose 1|2 (debug/trace output), --location (include USB port in device ID)

Troubleshooting

Not switching after install

Autostart is managed by the tray menu. Click Autostart disabled — click to enable in the tray menu to enable launch-at-login.

If Input Monitoring permission is needed, add the app under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring: /Applications/autokeyboardlang.app/Contents/MacOS/autokeyboardlang

Logitech device not detected correctly

Some Logitech devices misidentify as keyboard or mouse. Use autokeyboardlang enable or autokeyboardlang disable to correct this manually.

Not compatible with:

• macOS "Automatically switch to a document's input source" (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources → Edit…)
• Karabiner-Elements — proxies keyboard events, hiding the real device from autokeyboardlang

Acknowledgements

Originally developed by Jean Helou. Extended by ohueter. Further developed by Jiyan Akgül.