macOS quick terminal global keybinding not working

[jkeys089]

I'm unable to toggle the quick terminal via the global keybinding. When I try, nothing happens unless Ghostty is already active / focused.

Env:

OS: macOS 15.2
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Chip: Apple M1 Max
Total Number of Cores: 10 (8 performance and 2 efficiency)
Memory: 64 GB

Ghostty version:

Ghostty 1.0.1

Version
  - version: 1.0.1
  - channel: stable
Build Config
  - Zig version: 0.13.0
  - build mode : builtin.OptimizeMode.ReleaseFast
  - app runtime: apprt.Runtime.none
  - font engine: font.main.Backend.coretext
  - renderer   : renderer.Metal
  - libxev     : main.Backend.kqueue

Ghostty config:

keybind = global:ctrl+grave_accent=toggle_quick_terminal

Logs excerpt from fresh install showing proper permissions (i.e. Ghostty enabled in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility):

2025-01-14 14:33:09.557526-0800 0x1b6278f  Debug  0x0  97755  0  ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:GlobalEventTap] creating global event tap failed, missing permissions?
2025-01-14 14:33:10.247359-0800 0x1b6278f  Debug  0x0  97755  0  ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:AppDelegate] application will save window state
2025-01-14 14:33:10.568892-0800 0x1b6278f  Info   0x0  97755  0  ghostty: [com.mitchellh.ghostty:GlobalEventTap] global event tap enabled for global keybinds

If I kill the Ghostty process and restart I no longer see the creating global event tap failed, missing permissions? line in the logs but it is still not working.

I've also tried several other keybindings just in case there were any conflicts but nothing is working.

As a fallback, I'm using the following AppleScript triggered via a custom Alfred workflow triggered via hotkey:

tell application "System Events"
  tell process "Ghostty"
    click menu item "Quick Terminal" of menu "View" of menu bar 1
  end tell
end tell

This works, but isn't ideal as it introduces a noticeable delay from keybinding activation to display of the quick terminal compared to Ghostty handling it directly.

[rhodes-b]

Related? #4954

[jkeys089]

Related? #4954

I don't think so. No matter how many times I hit the keybinding, nothing is happening.

[jkeys089]

Update: global keys started magically working again after a reboot. After working fine for ~6 hours or so they mysteriously stopped working again (same behavior as before -- keybindings work fine if ghostty is active but nothing is registering globally / when ghostty is not active). I'm not sure what caused global keybindings to stop working but other apps with global keybindings are still working fine. There is nothing out of the ordinary in the ghostty logs and resting the app has no effect.

[ParzivalVulpine]

Do you have any update on this? I gave accessibility permissions to ghostty and it still does not open a quick terminal when ghostty is not running even if I press the keybind I set for it.

[jkeys089]

@ParzivalVulpine I run into this every so often and it just requires a full reboot to fix. The last time it happened I tried just closing every single app and restarting ghostty and it worked! So, my conclusion is that there must be some app causing a conflict with ghostty. I don't actually know which one it is for me but my plan is to methodically close each app one-by-one and restart ghostty until I figure it out. Then, I can maybe figure out how to reproduce this issue reliably and report back here for a possible bugfix / workaround.

[edrozenberg]

Some of these may help:

ShortCut Detective
https://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/labs/

ShortcutDetective detects which app receives a keyboard shortcut (hotkey). This is useful because sometimes you aren't able to register a shortcut in an app like SizeUp and want to know why.
If you're looking for more control, check out ShortStop which can block all global hotkeys.
Known Limitations: Not all hotkeys can be detected.

KeyCue
https://ergonis.com/keycue

KeyCue gives you an instant overview of all keyboard shortcuts of any application. Plus, it lets you define your own customized shortcuts for commonly used commands.

Key Codes
https://manytricks.com/keycodes/

Key Codes is a little utility that displays the key code, unicode value, and modifier keys state for any key combination you press. If you're a developer, this might be useful to you.

Also, the last refuge of desperate Mac users - you could update to Sequoia 15.3 and hope it helps somehow.

[rgigger]

I was having this issue and based on @jkeys089 last comment I closed my apps one by one, and after each one I quit ghostty and restarted it. After closing Brave (the browser) it started working. But then after launch Brave again it continued to work. So I don't want to 100% blame Brave, but that was the last one I closed before it started working. I am wondering if it could have been one of the previous ones, and maybe there was just a delay of some kind before it took effect. I am not sure.

[kru]

I can confirm closing Brave, then start Ghostty can make it work.
I don't see any conflict between these two, it seems this condition is mostly reproducible after Mac went to sleep mode.

[gutomotta]

Adding to this, I bet this is related to Secure Input: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/331557/is-there-a-way-to-fix-or-disable-secure-input

Sometimes identifying which app in your Mac requires Secure Input can help. Closing/reopening that app, or even finding out how to make it deactivate Secure Input might do the trick.

For me, it's KeePassXC. It usually leaves Secure Input active while my database is locked. If I unlock the database, then Secure Input is release and Ghostty global shortcuts work again.

[edrozenberg]

Definitely a possibility. If I have a 1Password Mac (v7) window focused while it's asking for the password, quick terminal keybind doesn't work. Once I've entered the password in the app then it works again. I've had continuing issues with quickterm binding not working at times even with the latest dev builds, for a long time.