Find keyboard shortcut conflicts on macOS — before they find you

macOS only flags conflicts inside System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts, and only between its own shortcuts. To find conflicts involving third-party apps (Raycast, Alfred, window managers, Karabiner rules), you need a scanner like HotkeyClash: it reads every running app’s menu shortcuts, your automation config files, and the macOS system shortcuts, then lists every key combination claimed by more than one source.

For a cheat-sheet overlay of the current app’s shortcuts, use a viewer like KeyClu or KeyCue. For a complete inventory across all running apps plus Karabiner, skhd, and macOS system shortcuts — including where they overlap — run a scan with HotkeyClash.

ShortcutDetective was a small Irradiated Software utility that told you which app intercepted a pressed hotkey. It was never updated past version 1.0, lacks Apple Silicon support, and crashes on modern macOS. HotkeyClash covers the same job — finding which app owns a shortcut — with a full conflict scan, and it’s open source and maintained.

The most common cause is another app silently claiming the same combination — global hotkeys win over menu shortcuts, and the last app to register usually wins. Other causes: the shortcut is disabled in System Settings, the app lacks Accessibility permission, or a Karabiner rule remaps the key before the app sees it. A HotkeyClash scan shows every claimant in seconds.

HotkeyClash deliberately doesn’t edit shortcuts — each app owns its own settings. Once a scan shows you the clash, change the combination in one of the offending apps: System Settings → Keyboard for macOS shortcuts, or the app’s own preferences (Raycast, Alfred, BetterTouchTool all have shortcut recorders). Re-scan to confirm the conflict is gone.