Clear macOS menu bar shortcuts when resetting keybindings (keybind = clear)

[frobware]

I’ve set keybind = clear to minimise keybindings that might conflict with Emacs or readline. While this works well for simplifying conflicts, the macOS app menu bar still retains its default keybindings (e.g., Cmd-W). It would be helpful if setting keybind = clear also removed these default menu bar shortcuts to reflect the configuration.

For the moment I've been using the following script to clear the app shortcuts.

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Reset and customise menu bar shortcuts for the Ghostty macOS app.
# Restart the app to apply the new bindings.

set -euo pipefail

# Constants for modifier keys.
CMD="@"
CTRL="^"
OPT="~"
SHIFT="$"

get_bundle_id() {
    local app_path="$1"
    if [[ ! -e "$app_path" ]]; then
        echo "Error: Application path '$app_path' does not exist." >&2
        exit 1
    fi

    local bundle_id
    bundle_id=$(mdls -raw -name kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier "$app_path" 2>/dev/null)

    if [[ -z "$bundle_id" ]]; then
        echo "Error: Failed to retrieve bundle ID for '$app_path'." >&2
        exit 1
    fi

    echo "$bundle_id"
}

clear_shortcuts() {
    local bundle_id="$1"
    if ! defaults write "$bundle_id" NSUserKeyEquivalents "{}"; then
        echo "Error: Failed to clear existing shortcuts for bundle ID '$bundle_id'." >&2
        exit 1
    fi
}

set_shortcuts() {
    local bundle_id="$1"
    defaults write "$bundle_id" NSUserKeyEquivalents "$(cat <<EOF
{
    "Settings..."            = "\0";
    "Reload Configuration"   = "\0";
    "Hide Ghostty"           = "\0";
    "Hide Others"            = "\0";
    "Quit Ghostty"           = "\0";
    "New Window"             = "\0";
    "New Tab"                = "\0";
    "Split Right"            = "\0";
    "Split Down"             = "\0";
    "Close"                  = "\0";
    "Close Window"           = "\0";
    "Close All Windows"      = "\0";
    "Copy"                   = "${CTRL}${SHIFT}C";
    "Paste"                  = "${CTRL}${SHIFT}V";
    "Select All"             = "\0";
    "Show All Tabs"          = "\0";
    "Increase Font Size"     = "\0";
    "Reset Font Size"        = "\0";
    "Decrease Font Size"     = "\0";
    "Terminal Inspector"     = "\0";
    "Minimize"               = "\0";
    "Zoom Split"             = "\0";
    "Show Previous Tab"      = "${CMD}${SHIFT}[";
    "Show Next Tab"          = "${CMD}${SHIFT}]";
    "Select Previous Split"  = "${CMD}[";
    "Select Next Split"      = "${CMD}]";
    "Ghostty Help"           = "\0";
}
EOF
)"
}

read_shortcuts() {
    local bundle_id="$1"
    if ! defaults read "$bundle_id" NSUserKeyEquivalents; then
        echo "Error: Failed to read shortcuts for bundle ID '$bundle_id'." >&2
        exit 1
    fi
}

main() {
    local app_path="${1:-/Applications/Ghostty.app}"

    if ! command -v mdls &>/dev/null || ! command -v defaults &>/dev/null; then
        echo "Error: Required commands 'mdls(1)' or 'defaults(1)' are not available." >&2
        exit 1
    fi

    local bundle_id
    bundle_id=$(get_bundle_id "$app_path")
    echo "Bundle ID: $bundle_id"

    clear_shortcuts "$bundle_id"
    echo "Cleared existing shortcuts for bundle ID '$bundle_id'."

    set_shortcuts "$bundle_id"
    echo "Set new shortcuts for bundle ID '$bundle_id'."

    echo "Updated shortcuts for $app_path ($bundle_id) :"
    read_shortcuts "$bundle_id"
}

main "$@"

Running this:

$ ./ghostty-keybindings.sh
Bundle ID: com.mitchellh.ghostty
Cleared existing shortcuts for bundle ID 'com.mitchellh.ghostty'.
Set new shortcuts for bundle ID 'com.mitchellh.ghostty'.
Updated shortcuts for /Applications/Ghostty.app (com.mitchellh.ghostty) :
{
    Close = "";
    "Close All Windows" = "";
    "Close Window" = "";
    Copy = "^$C";
    "Decrease Font Size" = "";
    "Ghostty Help" = "";
    "Hide Ghostty" = "";
    "Hide Others" = "";
    "Increase Font Size" = "";
    Minimize = "";
    "New Tab" = "";
    "New Window" = "";
    Paste = "^$V";
    "Quit Ghostty" = "";
    "Reload Configuration" = "";
    "Reset Font Size" = "";
    "Select All" = "";
    "Select Next Split" = "@]";
    "Select Previous Split" = "@[";
    "Settings..." = "";
    "Show All Tabs" = "";
    "Show Next Tab" = "@$]";
    "Show Previous Tab" = "@$[";
    "Split Down" = "";
    "Split Right" = "";
    "Terminal Inspector" = "";
    "Zoom Split" = "";
}

[frobware]

I should add...

I really want Emacs and readline (bash/zsh) to receive Alt when Command is pressed on macOS. I'm getting Alt due to macos-option-as-alt = true and the following hack[1] pending the discussion in #3493.

[1] hack alert:

% git log -p -1
commit 28413bb842a9b3d47d32a1252618bc3b027a86e2 (HEAD -> swap-option-and-command)
Author: Andrew McDermott <[email protected]>
Date:   Mon Dec 30 15:50:27 2024 +0000

    FROBWARE: Swap Cmd/Option

diff --git a/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Ghostty.Input.swift b/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Ghostty.Input.swift
index 0a279ea1..012534cb 100644
--- a/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Ghostty.Input.swift
+++ b/macos/Sources/Ghostty/Ghostty.Input.swift
@@ -81,8 +81,10 @@ extension Ghostty {

         if (flags.contains(.shift)) { mods |= GHOSTTY_MODS_SHIFT.rawValue }
         if (flags.contains(.control)) { mods |= GHOSTTY_MODS_CTRL.rawValue }
-        if (flags.contains(.option)) { mods |= GHOSTTY_MODS_ALT.rawValue }
-        if (flags.contains(.command)) { mods |= GHOSTTY_MODS_SUPER.rawValue }
+        if (flags.contains(.option)) { mods |= GHOSTTY_MODS_SUPER.rawValue }
+        if (flags.contains(.command)) { mods |= GHOSTTY_MODS_ALT.rawValue }
+        // if (flags.contains(.option)) { mods |= GHOSTTY_MODS_ALT.rawValue }
+        // if (flags.contains(.command)) { mods |= GHOSTTY_MODS_SUPER.rawValue }
         if (flags.contains(.capsLock)) { mods |= GHOSTTY_MODS_CAPS.rawValue }

         // Handle sided input. We can't tell that both are pressed in the

All of this hackery works, but the menu bar shortcuts remain bound to Cmd-, which interferes with Emacs and readline. This is why I was hoping that keybind = clear would also deregister these shortcuts.