Switch workspaces on keydown rather than on keyup

[moritzuehling]

Is it possible to switch workspaces on key down rather than key up?

In general, this adds a lot of (perceived) latency. It's still slower than e.g. sway/hyprland on linux, but those WMs switch on keydown rather than keyup.

[nikitabobko]

It's not possible in the upstream binary, but you can build AeroSpace from sources with the following patch:

diff --git a/Sources/AppBundle/config/HotkeyBinding.swift b/Sources/AppBundle/config/HotkeyBinding.swift
index 04d0e45b..7aff4d49 100644
--- a/Sources/AppBundle/config/HotkeyBinding.swift
+++ b/Sources/AppBundle/config/HotkeyBinding.swift
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ var activeMode: String? = mainModeId
 func activateMode(_ targetMode: String?) {
     let targetBindings = targetMode.flatMap { config.modes[$0] }?.bindings ?? [:]
     for binding in targetBindings.values where !hotkeys.keys.contains(binding.binding) {
-        hotkeys[binding.binding] = HotKey(key: binding.key, modifiers: binding.modifiers, keyUpHandler: {
+        hotkeys[binding.binding] = HotKey(key: binding.key, modifiers: binding.modifiers, keyDownHandler: {
             if let activeMode {
                 refreshSession(forceFocus: true) {
                     _ = config.modes[activeMode]?.bindings[binding.binding]?.commands.run(.focused)

but those WMs switch on keydown rather than keyup

I tested other apps: i3-wm (on Linux), Chrome, Firefox, Finder, IntelliJ IDEA. I was genuinely surprised that all of them handle keydown. For some reason, I thought that apps normally handle keyup.

Since keydown seems to be the norm, I think I will change the default when I return from vacation (in 1 month)

[kevingyori]

I was just looking into how I could configure this, and tried out building from source with this patch.

It made switching between workspaces feel basically as fast as i3/sway. Awesome change!

[nikitabobko]

Fixed in 0.11.0-Beta

[moritzuehling]

Thank you so much for this, this is absolutely awesome :)