Install and first run
Install Capslock, grant Accessibility, finish the four-step onboarding, and check that Home reports a healthy keyboard.
Release status
There is no public download yet; see Download. This page describes the signed release.
Requirements
- macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple silicon or Intel.
- The Accessibility permission. Capslock never asks for Input Monitoring.
- Caps Lock not already remapped by another tool. If you use Karabiner-Elements, read Coexisting with Karabiner-Elements first.
Install
Open Capslock.dmg and drag Capslock into Applications. Then open it from
Applications or Spotlight.
Capslock runs as an ordinary app with a window, a Dock icon, and a menu-bar icon. Closing the window keeps it running in the menu bar.
Onboarding
On the first launch Capslock takes over nothing. The keyboard keeps working as before until you finish onboarding.
- Welcome to Capslock. Click Continue.
- Choose a Hyper mode. Classic, the default, also holds ⌃⌥⇧⌘ while Caps Lock is down, so Hyper shortcuts in apps such as Alfred and Raycast keep working. Native keeps Caps Lock chords inside Capslock. You can change this later; see Hyper mode.
- Before you start. The Keyboard access card shows whether Capslock may read Caps chords and send keystrokes. Click Open System Settings. macOS opens Privacy & Security › Accessibility; turn on Capslock and confirm with your password. Back in Capslock, click Start Capslock. The Conflicts card below lists anything else that uses Caps Lock. To finish without starting, click Skip for Now.
- Explore your keyboard. Click Open Keyboard. The Keyboard page shows the layout, and you can browse and edit it even while Capslock is paused.
Check that it works
Home shows Running and "Caps Lock is your Hyper key." Its status card should read:
| Row | Healthy value |
|---|---|
| Keyboard access | Granted |
| Hyper key | Caps Lock is ready |
| Conflicts | None |
| Recovery | None needed |
Then try the four gestures from First steps on Home:
- Tap Caps Lock: Escape.
- Hold Caps Lock and press H, J, K or L: the cursor moves left, down, up or right, in any app.
- Hold Caps Lock and press Space: the input source changes, if you have more than one and the ⌃Space shortcut is on.
- Hold Caps Lock and wait: the whole current plane appears on screen.
If a row is not healthy, its link opens Diagnostics, where every check has numbered steps and buttons that fix it.
Everyday controls
- Pause on Home, in Settings, or in the menu-bar menu gives Caps Lock back to macOS until you click Resume.
- Open at login is in Settings › General and is off by default.
- Hide Dock icon in the same section leaves only the menu-bar icon.
- Quitting Capslock restores Caps Lock before the app exits.