The AutoHotkey (AHK) environment is a powerful tool to enhance your productivity and speed up your workflow. There are so many possibilities and use cases that sometimes... you might run out of hotkeys. Or you might want to combine AHK-scripts or trigger them from different sources or even from other computers in your local network.
Until now, you had only two viable solutions:
- Exotic key combinations, like...
CTRL + ALT + F13. This solution is fast, but not very scalable. You might not remember, which hotkeys are still available and sometimes encounter bad side effects with your favorite software. - Single AHK-scripts, which you run directly from AHK or the explorer window. This solution is somewhat scalable, well, until you loose track of all your AHK files. Additionally, how can you live with the delay of the AHK-process starting up?
Hotkeyless AutoHotkey combines the best of both worlds. It's an easy way to expand your AHK-capabilities, both fast and scalable. But don't take my word for it, here are some numbers:
| Approach | Call Delay | Fast | Scalable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key combinations | ~ 10 ms | ✔ | 🞭 |
| Single AHK scripts | ~ 92 ms | 🞭 | ✔ |
| Hotkeyless AutoHotkey | ~ 55 ms | ✔ | ✔ |
You can make your own performance tests. Just have a look at the performance-tests-folder!
Also, Hotkeyless AutoHotkey enables the execution of AutoHotkey code from other computers in the same local network. And we also provide a complementary Elgato Stream Deck plugin, that enables calling AHK code by simply pressing a button (and without cluttering up your shortcut list).
Hotkeyless AHK internally launches a lightweight web server. Per default, it listens to the endpoint localhost:42800/send/* for HTTP requests and redirects them to the HotkeylessAHK.ahk script. Simply put, if you call localhost:42800/send/HelloWorld using curl or by opening it in your web browser, the HelloWorld() function inside the AHK-file is executed:
HelloWorld() {
MsgBox, Hello World
}Furthermore, you can include your own AHK scripts using the #Include directive and define custom functionality in a nice and clean way - without loosing too much performance. You can use your web browser, shortcuts, or the Elgato Stream Deck with the HotkeylessAHK plugin. This plugin automatically browses existing functions and lets you call them easily.
To increase the reusability of your AHK functions, HotkeylessAHK allows you to also pass parameters to the called function, see the example provided in the main HotkeylessAHK.ahk file:
; can be called using the URL "localhost:<serverPort>/send/FunctionWithParams?Hello,World"
FunctionWithParams(param1, param2) {
MsgBox "Param1: " . param1 . "`nParam2: " . param2
}Note: Requires Windows 10 or newer
- Install AutoHotkey. Well... if you're reading this, you probably already have.
- Install Node.js. You can download it from https://nodejs.org/. Make sure that Node.js is in the PATH-variable and available from the console. You can test this by opening a console window and executing
node -v. - Clone or download this repository. You can also just head over to releases.
- Open a console window within
filesfolder. Then, executenpm ito install all web server dependencies. - Start Hotkeyless AutoHotkey by executing the
HotkeylessAHK.ahk-file. - Open your web browser and navigate to
http://localhost:42800/send/HelloWorld. This should open a message dialog, triggered by theHotkeylessAHK.ahk-file. - Now, you're ready to go.
Troubleshooting: If anything does not work, enable debug mode by setting the boolean value debug in the HotkeylessAHK.ahk to true. See the section Configuration for more details.
- Clone or download this repository or a release of it. You probably already have done this during the installation of HotkeylessAHK explained above.
- Make sure you are using a Elgato Stream Deck and have the Stream Deck Software installed.
- Identify the Stream Deck Software plugin folder. On Windows, it should be located here:
%appdata%\Elgato\StreamDeck\Plugins\. Find more information in the developer documentation. - Copy everything inside of the
stream-deck-pluginfolder into the plugin folder of the Stream Deck Software. It should look like this:%appdata%\Elgato\StreamDeck\Plugins\de.sebinside.hotkeylessahk.sdPlugin. - Restart the Stream Deck Software. The new plugin should appear in your plugin list.
Once installed, the usage of Hotkeyless AutoHotkey is easy: Write your functions inside the HotkeylessAHK.ahk-file (or include other scripts) and call them with your web browser, the curl console command, an Elgato Stream Deck, ...
For keep everything tidy, all functions are organized in classes. By default, the main HotkeylessAHK.ahk file comprises one class called CustomFunctions:
Class CustomFunctions {
HelloWorld() {
MsgBox "Hello, World!"
}
; ....
}The endpoint, however, is always the same, per default: http://localhost:42800/send/YourFunctionNameGoesHere.
To terminate the running tool, call the reserved kill command name http://localhost:42800/send/kill.
If you're using the Elgato Stream Deck plugin, you will not have to deal with the internals.
HotkeylessAHK comes with a working configuration out of the box. However, a couple of things can be configured in the main HotkeylessAHK.ahk file:
serverPort := 42800 ; sets the server port of the HotkeylessAHK server
functionClassNames := ["CustomFunctions"] ; lists all class names where HotkeylessAHK can call your custom functionality
debug := false ; setting this to true shows the normally hidden console window of the running HotkeylessAHK serverPlease note, that HotkeylessAHK is not meant to be used in insecure environments as there are no security measures like access control implemented! Everyone with access to your localhost can at least run any function that you defined and provided to HotkeylessAHK. We are not aware of further remote code execution possibilities via HotkeylessAHK, but as we also do not apply any kind of input sanitization, they are probably viable.
TL;DR: HotkeylessAHK is insecure by design.
In the following, the functionality of HotkeylessAHK is explained in more detail. This section is for those who are interested, who want to enhance the tool (thank you!), and for myself in two years (also, thank you!).
Put simply, HotkeylessAHK is just a message broker.
It spawns a local web server that redirects valid incoming requests to a single subscriber, i.e., the AutoHotkey script.
To decide whether an incoming request is valid, it keeps a list of all function names of all classes specified in the functionClassNames parameter, see Configuration.
The subscribing AutoHotkey script waits for a response to its request to the HotkeylessAHK server and executes the according function.
If the function name is kill, the script first asks the Node.js server to shut down and than terminates itself.
The following sequence diagram summarizes the communication of HotkeylessAHK (client and server) with other services like the Stream Deck plugin:
sequenceDiagram
HotkeylessAHK.ahk->>+Server: setupServer()
HotkeylessAHK.ahk->>+Client: runClient()
Client->>Server: register(functions)
Client->>Server: subscribe()
Stream Deck Plugin->>Server: list()
Server-->>Stream Deck Plugin: functions
loop
Stream Deck Plugin->>Server: send(function,params)
Server->>Client: call(function,params)
end
Stream Deck Plugin->>Server: send("kill",_)
Server->>Client: call("kill",_)
Client->>Server: kill()
Server-->>-HotkeylessAHK.ahk:
Client-->>-HotkeylessAHK.ahk:
This is yet another small tool to enhance the power of AHK. Here are some more links, you might find interesting:
- PremiereRemote, another utility tool from me which helps you connect AutoHotkey with the Adobe Premiere CEP scripting environment. A very helpful tool for video production.
- Taran Van Hemert, a macro specialist: https://www.youtube.com/user/TaranVH
- And my own twitch channel, where I develop with these techniques: https://www.twitch.tv/skate702
If there are more questions, you can contact me via mail, see https://sebastianhahner.de/.