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Advanced Hotkey Overlay System (AHOS)

Displays clean, abbreviation-style keybind labels on your action buttons — across every major action bar addon and every supported WoW version.

CurseForge WoWInterface GitHub Version

What is AHOS?

The Advanced Hotkey Overlay System replaces WoW's default verbose hotkey labels (e.g., CTRL-SHIFT-A) with compact, ConsolePort-style abbreviations (e.g., C-S-A) displayed as clean overlays directly on your action buttons.

Instead of cluttered multi-word labels eating up half your button space, you get short, readable keybind hints that stay out of the way while still giving you exactly the information you need at a glance.

Key highlights:

  • 🎯 ConsolePort-style abbreviations — CTRL+SHIFT+A becomes C-S-A
  • 🔌 Broad addon compatibility — Blizzard, Dominos, Bartender4, AzeriteUI, DiabolicUI3
  • 🖥️ Multi-version support — Retail, Mists of Pandaria Classic, and Vanilla (Classic Era)
  • 🎨 Fully customizable — Font, color, size, position, outline, alpha, and more
  • 🔄 Three display modes — Overlay, Native Rewrite, and Auto-Fallback
  • 👤 Profile system — Global, per-character, and per-spec profile switching
  • ⚡ Event-driven — Overlays update automatically when bindings change

Quick Start

  1. Install — Drop the AdvancedHotkeyOverlaySystem folder into your AddOns directory.
  2. Log in — AHOS auto-detects your action bar addon and displays overlays immediately.
  3. Open settings — Type /ahos in chat or left-click the minimap icon.
  4. Customize — Adjust font, size, color, position, and abbreviation style to taste.

That's it. No configuration required to get started. See Installation for full details.

Game Version Support

WoW Version Interface Version Notes
Retail (Mainline) 11.0.7 – 12.x Full feature support
Mists of Pandaria Classic 5.0.x Full feature support
Vanilla / Classic Era 1.15.x Full feature support

Supported Action Bar Addons

Addon Support Level
Blizzard (default UI) ✅ Full
Dominos ✅ Full (including native text mode)
Bartender4 ✅ Full
AzeriteUI ✅ Full
DiabolicUI3 ✅ Full
ElvUI ⚠️ Detected — enable compatibility option if needed

See Supported-Addons for details on each integration.

Wiki Pages

Page Description
Installation How to install, update, and set up AHOS for all WoW versions
Configuration Every setting explained — display modes, fonts, profiles, and more
Slash-Commands Full list of /ahos commands with examples
Supported-Addons Addon-specific notes, quirks, and integration details
FAQ Answers to the most common questions
Troubleshooting Step-by-step fixes for common issues
Contributing How to report bugs, request features, and contribute code

Display Modes at a Glance

Overlay Mode (default)         Native Rewrite Mode           Auto-Fallback
─────────────────────          ───────────────────           ─────────────────
Draws a new FontString         Rewrites the button's         Starts in Overlay Mode.
on top of the button.          built-in HotKey text.         If the overlay is hidden
Does not modify native         Best when your skin           by a skin, automatically
button elements.               hides external frames.        switches to Native Rewrite.

Abbreviation Engine

AHOS converts full keybind strings into short, readable labels:

Raw Keybind AHOS Display
CTRL-SHIFT-A C-S-A
ALT-1 A-1
SHIFT-F3 S-F3
CTRL-ALT-MOUSEBUTTON2 C-A-B2
F5 F5

The separator between modifiers is configurable (default: none), and the maximum label length is capped at 6 characters by default (configurable from 1–10).

Author & Links

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