All 100 ideasDesktop and OS
#88 of 100 · Desktop and OS
AutoHotkey for every OS
An AutoHotkey or Keyboard Maestro equivalent for Linux and macOS that can drive any GUI, with recent asks wanting AI computer use on Linux.
Asks per year
What the askers want
- Would pay0%
- Want it local or private67%
- Object to subscriptions0%
- Want it open source or self-hosted11%
- Want AI to do it11%
Share of the 9 asks that say so, as judged by Jev.
What exists on Show HN
Built, still asked for11 Show HN launches do this job, and 10 more do part of it. People still ask, so the launches are missed, unknown, or not what they want. Ask what they’re missing before you build.
- AutoHotkey for Linux2022 · 500 pts
- Agent-desktop – Native desktop automation CLI for AI agents2026 · 99 pts
- legacy-use – add REST APIs to legacy software with computer-use2025 · 15 pts
- Kora – An AI-native OS layer written in 370k lines of Rust2026 · 4 pts
- RuneCast – Visual desktop automation with OpenCV template matching2026 · 2 pts
- Winuse – Cross-platform desktop GUI automation for AI agents2026 · 2 pts
- Xa11y – cross-platform desktop automation via accessibility trees2026 · 2 pts
- Cybara – An open-source AI agent platform built with Bun2026 · 2 pts
Instead of: AutoHotkey, Keyboard Maestro, Hammerspoon
The idea, as matched
A cross-platform desktop automation tool like AutoHotkey or Keyboard Maestro that also runs on Linux and macOS, clicking and reading GUIs by script, image or AI agent.
Jev first matched 18 requests to this idea; a second reader kept 9 of 18.
Every ask, newest first
Each line is an AI paraphrase of what the writer wanted. The link goes to their own words on Hacker News.
Reader’s note. Mostly Linux users; keyboard-only clicking asks excluded.
- May 2026Wants a Linux version of a native desktop automation CLI for AI agents. Read it: a comment in “Show HN: Agent-desktop – Native desktop automation CLI for AI agents”
- Apr 2026Wants computer-use AI automation that works on Wayland Linux. Read it: a comment in “Codex for almost everything”
- Oct 2025Wants a Keyboard Maestro equivalent for Windows or Linux with image click, OCR and clipboard actions. Read it: a comment in “No I don't want to turn on Windows Backup with One Drive”
- Aug 2022Wants a Linux tool for GUI automation, like finding a window and clicking menu items. Read it: a comment in “Show HN: AutoHotkey for Linux”
- Aug 2022Asks for a macOS equivalent of AutoHotkey for Linux. Read it: a comment in “Show HN: AutoHotkey for Linux”
- Aug 2021Wants a maintained AutoHotkey-like automation tool for Linux. Read it: a comment in “Ask HN: What is your favourite operating system?”
- May 2020Asks for a Linux equivalent of AutoHotkey. Read it: a comment in “In Praise of AutoHotKey”
- Jan 2019Wants open-source Windows automation that non-programmers can build visually, for game installation flows. Read it: a post: “Ask HN: Is there any good OSS for interactive Windows automation?”
- Jul 2017Asks for a Linux tool like Hammerspoon for keyboard-centric workflows. Read it: a comment in “Way Cooler tiling window manager”
Building this?
Read ten of the asks above first, because they say what the existing launches miss. If you ship it, post it as a Show HN so the next run of this list finds it.
Ship it like Vercel, on a server you own
This site runs on ShipTiffin. A push to GitHub deploys it, the way it would on Vercel, but the server is a Hetzner box in your own account. Postgres, sign-in, email, jobs and analytics are already on it, every project gets a hard limit, and nothing is billed by usage.
$19 a month per box, plus about $10 for the server at Hetzner. Open source, so you can also run it yourself for free.