qdesk

Chord Window Switcher for Windows.

qdesk lets you:

• Arm an add mode, then press any chord to bind the current foreground window.
• Arm a remove mode, then press a chord to delete that binding.
• Jump to a bound window by pressing its chord.

It uses native Win32 APIs through Koffi.

Platform

• Windows only
• Node.js 18+ recommended

Run With npx

Run directly without installing globally:

npx qdesk

Override control chords at startup:

npx qdesk -a ctrl+shift+r -d ctrl+shift+d

Startup flags:

• -a <combo>: add/bind mode trigger
• -d <combo>: drop mode trigger

Defaults:

• add chord: ctrl+win+a
• drop chord: ctrl+win+d

How It Works

1. Press the add chord.
2. qdesk enters recording mode (red screen hue indicates recording).
3. Press the chord you want to bind.
4. Press that bound chord later to activate its window.

Remove flow:

1. Press the 'drop' chord.
2. qdesk enters remove mode (green hue).
3. Press the chord to delete.

Install Locally (Dev)

pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm start

Run directly from TypeScript source:

pnpm dev

Package Scripts

• pnpm dev - run from TypeScript source
• pnpm build - clean and compile to dist
• pnpm start - run compiled CLI
• pnpm prepack - build before packing/publishing

Publish/Test Package

Create a tarball:

pnpm pack

Test tarball locally:

npx --yes .\qdesk-<version>.tgz

Notes

• Some display/driver combinations may limit screen hue APIs.
• Window activation can be restricted by Windows focus rules for certain apps.
• Use unique add/drop chords to avoid mode conflicts.