HotkeyBridge

Keyboard shortcuts for web apps, even when another program is in front.

A web page can only hear your keyboard while the browser is the window in front. Click into Excel and your web app goes deaf. HotkeyBridge is a small free program that sits in your Windows tray and passes those keystrokes along.

↓ Download HotkeyBridge

Free. Windows 10 and 11. 1.3 MB, single file, no installer. Nothing else to install, not even AutoHotkey.

Setting it up

Download and double-click it. A small icon appears in your tray, down by the clock. That is the whole install.
Open a web app that supports it and find its hotkey settings. In PomoFocus that is Settings, then "Global hotkeys".
Click "Enable global hotkeys". Your browser asks once whether to open HotkeyBridge. Say yes.
Done. The status line turns green. Your shortcuts now work from any program.

Windows may warn you on first run. The download is not signed with a paid certificate yet, so Windows shows a blue "Windows protected your PC" screen. Click More info, then Run anyway. You can always right-click the tray icon and choose Exit to stop it.

What it does, and does not do

Listens for the shortcuts a web app asks for, and only those.
Talks only to your own computer, on a local connection no other machine can reach.
Only works with sites you explicitly connect. Each site is approved once, by you.
Sends nothing over the internet. No accounts, no tracking, no data leaves your PC.
Remembers your shortcuts, so they keep working after a restart.

Tray menu

Item	What it does
Status	Shows your current shortcuts and which apps are connected
Pause hotkeys	Hands every shortcut back to Windows until you switch it off again
Run at startup	Starts HotkeyBridge automatically when you log in
Open Folder	Opens where the program lives
Exit	Closes it completely

Try it without any app

The demo page connects to the helper and shows every shortcut as it arrives, including which program you were in when you pressed it. Handy for checking that everything works.

For developers

Adding HotkeyBridge support to your own web app is one script tag and a few lines. Grab bridge.js and call it like this:

const bridge = HotkeyBridge.connect({
  hotkeys: [{ keys: '^+p', cmd: 'toggle' }],
  onCommand: ev => Run(ev.cmd),
  onState: (name, detail) => ShowBanner(name)
});

Shortcuts use AutoHotkey's notation: ^ Ctrl, ! Alt, + Shift, # Win. So ^+p is Ctrl+Shift+P. The helper also reports which window was in front when a shortcut fired, so your app can act on it. Built with AutoHotkey v2.