Hotkey Recording Guide

TanStack Hotkeys provides the createHotkeyRecorder function for building shortcut customization UIs in Svelte.

Recorders default to physical codes: recording a shortcut stores a string such as Mod+[KeyS]. Pass it directly to your hotkey registration and use formatForDisplay for the label. Set recordBy: 'key' when you intentionally want the produced character instead.

Basic usage#

<script lang="ts">
  import {
    createHotkeyRecorder,
    formatForDisplay,
  } from '@tanstack/svelte-hotkeys'

  const recorder = createHotkeyRecorder({
    onRecord: (hotkey) => {
      console.log('Recorded:', hotkey)
    },
  })
</script>

<div>
  <button onclick={recorder.startRecording}>
    {recorder.isRecording
      ? 'Press a key combination...'
      : recorder.recordedHotkey
        ? formatForDisplay(recorder.recordedHotkey)
        : 'Click to record'}
  </button>
  {#if recorder.isRecording}
    <button onclick={() => recorder.cancelRecording()}>Cancel</button>
  {/if}
</div>

Return value#

• isRecording: whether recording is active
• recordedHotkey: the most recently recorded hotkey
• startRecording(): start listening for key presses
• stopRecording(): stop listening and reset recorder state without calling onRecord
• cancelRecording(): stop listening and discard the in-progress recording

Options#

recordBy#

Recorders default to recordBy: 'code'. Option+S producing ß on macOS records Alt+[KeyS]; Option+2 producing ™ records Alt+[Digit2]. The stored brackets preserve physical identity through state, serialization, and registration; formatForDisplay produces a readable label. There is no code-to-letter conversion. Existing authored strings such as Mod+S remain logical bindings.

Set recordBy: 'key' to intentionally record the produced logical character. A code-mode event with no usable code is rejected rather than silently switching modes. IME composition is ignored. AltGraph character entry is rejected in code mode; key mode preserves the produced character without synthetic Control/Alt while retaining Shift. Recording events, repeats, and their releases do not trigger registered hotkeys or sequences.

createHotkeyRecorder({
  recordBy: 'code', // default; choose 'key' for logical characters
  onRecord: (hotkey) => {},
  onCancel: () => {},
  onClear: () => {},
})

Options can also be reactive:

<script lang="ts">
  import { createHotkeyRecorder } from '@tanstack/svelte-hotkeys'

  let actionName = $state('Save')

  const recorder = createHotkeyRecorder(() => ({
    onRecord: (hotkey) => {
      console.log(`${actionName}:`, hotkey)
    },
  }))
</script>

ignoreInputs#

The HotkeyRecorderOptions supports an ignoreInputs option (defaults to true). When true, the recorder doesn't intercept normal typing in text inputs, textareas, selects, or contentEditable elements. Keystrokes pass through to the input as usual. Pressing Escape still cancels recording even when focused on an input. Set ignoreInputs: false if you want the recorder to capture keys from within input elements.

createHotkeyRecorder({
  ignoreInputs: false, // record even from inside inputs
  onRecord: (hotkey) => console.log(hotkey),
})

Recording behavior#

• Modifier-only presses do not complete a recording.
• Modifier plus key combinations record the full shortcut.
• Escape cancels recording.
• Backspace and Delete clear the shortcut.
• Recorded values are normalized to portable Mod format.

Validation and conflicts#

Both recorder APIs accept detectConflicts, validate, and onReject. For a single-hotkey recorder, these options can be supplied alongside onRecord:

const options = {
  detectConflicts: {
    // Use registration IDs to exclude the binding being edited:
    excludeIds: [registrationId],
    target: document,
    eventType: 'keydown',
  },
  validate: (_hotkey, { parsedHotkey }) =>
    parsedHotkey.modifiers.length > 0 || 'Include a modifier.',
  onReject: ({ reason, message, conflicts }) => {
    // Show feedback; recording stays active.
    console.log(reason, message, conflicts)
  },
}

validate returns true to accept, or false/a message to reject. onReject receives reason (missing-code, alt-graph, invalid, validation, or conflict), a message, the candidate when available, and conflicting registration views for conflict rejections. Validation runs before commit; rejection never falls back to another key identity.

detectConflicts: true checks enabled live registrations with the intended event type (default keydown) and overlapping targets (default document). Document/nested scopes can conflict; disjoint widgets can reuse a binding. The options object also supports scope: 'all', includeDisabled, and an exclude(registration) predicate. Both single bindings and sequence prefixes are checked. Source events detect physical/logical overlap on the recorded layout. This is a conservative collision check, not a promise that two callbacks will execute: propagation, input filtering, match priority, external listeners, unmounted routes, and other layouts can affect actual dispatch.

For checks outside recording, use findHotkeyConflicts(bindingOrSequence, options). Without source events, it compares binding identity and sequence prefixes; it does not guess equivalence between a logical character and a physical position.