How to set up a Hyper key on a Mac

Option 1: Raycast

If you already use Raycast (free for personal use):

1. Open Raycast's settings and find Hyper Key. It's under the Keyboard section in current versions; older versions had it under Advanced.
2. Pick Caps Lock (or another key you don't use).
3. Choose what a quick tap does: nothing, the original key, or Escape.
4. Turn on Include Shift if you want all four modifiers.

Raycast's Hyper is ⌃⌥⌘, plus ⇧ if you include it.

Option 2: Karabiner-Elements

Karabiner-Elements is a free, open-source keyboard remapper and the long-standing way to do this.

1. Install it (brew install --cask karabiner-elements) and allow the permissions and driver it asks for.
2. Open Complex Modifications → Add predefined rule and import a Caps Lock to Hyper rule from the rule library, or add your own rule.

A rule that turns Caps Lock into all four modifiers, and Escape when tapped alone:

{
  "description": "Caps Lock to Hyper, Escape on tap",
  "manipulators": [{
    "type": "basic",
    "from": { "key_code": "caps_lock", "modifiers": { "optional": ["any"] } },
    "to": [{ "key_code": "left_shift", "modifiers": ["left_command", "left_control", "left_option"] }],
    "to_if_alone": [{ "key_code": "escape" }]
  }]
}

Karabiner can also make Caps Lock any other combination. Change the to line to { "key_code": "left_control", "modifiers": ["left_option"] } and Caps Lock becomes ⌃⌥, which suits window managers whose shortcuts already use that pair.

Use one remapper for Caps Lock, not both: Raycast's Hyper Key and Karabiner will fight over the key.

Option 3: what macOS does alone

System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Modifier Keys lets you set Caps Lock to Control, Option, Command, Escape or No Action, per keyboard. That's a single modifier, not Hyper, but Caps Lock as Control is a popular change on its own, especially for terminal and Emacs users.

What to bind to Hyper

• App launchers: Hyper plus a letter opens or focuses an app (Hyper-B for the browser, Hyper-T for the terminal). Raycast can assign hotkeys to apps directly.
• Window management: the obvious use. Hyper plus H/J/K/L to move focus never clashes with an app.
• Snippets and scripts in Raycast, Keyboard Maestro or Shortcuts.

Hyper with Ribbon

Ribbon, a scrolling window manager, uses ⌃⌥ plus one key for every shortcut: ⌃⌥H/L to focus left and right, ⌃⌥R to cycle width, and so on. Two ways to put it on Caps Lock:

• Map Caps Lock to ⌃⌥ with the Karabiner change above. Ribbon's default shortcuts then work as Caps Lock plus a letter, with nothing to rebind.
• Use a full Hyper key and rebind Ribbon's shortcuts to it in Settings → Shortcuts. Every shortcut can be changed.

The live demo uses the same keys as the app, so you can try them in your browser. Ribbon is $9.99 once for macOS 13 or later on Apple silicon.