VibeJoy

Map Nintendo Switch Joy-Con inputs to macOS keyboard shortcuts — configured via a single TOML file, controllable from the command line, and designed to be edited by humans or AI copilots.

Bonus: expose the Joy-Con's HD Rumble as a CLI, so your Claude Code / any-AI hook can buzz your hand when a task finishes.

# after `vibejoy run` is running in the background:
vibejoy rumble --pattern ok       # a gentle double-click
vibejoy rumble --pattern error    # a long angry buzz

Why

The existing Joy-Con → keyboard projects are Windows-first, GUI-heavy, and don't play well with an AI-driven workflow. VibeJoy is the opposite:

• macOS-native — reads Joy-Con directly over HID (joycon-python), simulates keys via pynput, switches apps via Quartz/AppKit.
• TOML is the API — one human-readable file, one DSL per binding (tap:enter, combo:cmd+c, repeat:up@100). AIs can edit it; vibejoy validate catches typos.
• CLI first — no GUI, no system tray. Every operation is a subcommand.
• AI-reachable rumble — the daemon exposes a Unix-socket control channel; any script can trigger haptics.

Requirements

• macOS 13+ (Quartz + AppKit pyobjc frameworks).
• Python 3.11+ (uses the built-in tomllib).
• uv (recommended) or pip.
• Joy-Con paired over Bluetooth.

Install

# end-user install (once 0.1.0 lands on PyPI)
pip install vibejoy

# or with uv for a fully isolated tool
uv tool install vibejoy

# from source, for development
git clone https://github.com/WEIFENG2333/vibejoy.git
cd vibejoy
uv sync

Grant Accessibility permission to your terminal the first time you run anything that simulates keys — otherwise pynput silently does nothing.

System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → add Terminal / iTerm / VS Code.

Quick Start

# 1. Pair Joy-Con via Bluetooth (see `vibejoy doctor` for guidance)
vibejoy doctor

# 2. Start the daemon — first run writes a starter config automatically
vibejoy run
#   first run: wrote starter config to ~/.config/vibejoy/config.toml
#              edit to customize, then `vibejoy validate` to re-check

# 3. Edit the config — by hand or via AI
$EDITOR ~/.config/vibejoy/config.toml
vibejoy validate                   # catches typos
vibejoy run                        # pick up the new bindings

The daemon autodetects whichever Joy-Cons are paired and applies the matching profile (profile.right / profile.left).

Configuration

Everything lives in one TOML file. The full DSL:

Minimal example:

[global]
deadzone       = 0.2
poll_hz        = 100
long_press_ms  = 250
stick_mode     = "4dir"

[profile.right.buttons]
a    = "tap:enter"
b    = "tap:escape"
x    = "combo:cmd+w"
r    = "window_switch:code,chrome,terminal"
zr   = "macro:claude_focus"
plus = "combo:cmd+s"

[profile.right.stick]
up    = "repeat:up@100"
down  = "repeat:down@100"
left  = "repeat:left@100"
right = "repeat:right@100"

[macro.claude_focus]
if_app = "Visual Studio Code"    # run only when VS Code is frontmost
steps  = [
  "combo:cmd+shift+p",
  "delay:100",
  "type:Claude Code: Focus input",
  "delay:100",
  "tap:enter",
]

Run vibejoy schema to print the full annotated example.

Shell Actions

Bind any button or stick direction to a shell command:

[profile.right.buttons]
home    = "shell:open -a Calculator"
capture = "shell:say done"
plus    = "shell:osascript -e 'display notification \"buzzed\"'"

Semantics

• Runs /bin/sh -c <command> in a new session — non-blocking (the daemon never waits).
• Fires on both press and release. Your script gets $VIBEJOY_EVENT = pressed or released so it can tell which edge it's handling.
• Inside a macro step, $VIBEJOY_EVENT = macro.

Injected environment variables

Every shell invocation receives these in addition to the daemon's env:

Scripts that only want to act on press:

[ "$VIBEJOY_EVENT" = "pressed" ] || exit 0

Output handling

Stdout/stderr inherit from vibejoy run — so you see your script's output in the same terminal. For noisy commands, redirect in the command itself:

home = "shell:long-running.sh >> ~/vibejoy.log 2>&1"

Security

Binding a button to shell: gives config.toml the same authority as a shell script under your account. VibeJoy already requires macOS Accessibility permission (arbitrary keystrokes), so the trust boundary doesn't change — but treat config.toml with dotfile-level care. If an AI is rewriting your config, review its edits the same way you'd review a PR.

CLI Reference

vibejoy run           start the mapping daemon (auto-creates config on first run)
vibejoy validate      parse + type-check config, exit non-zero on error
vibejoy discover      live dump of button / stick events (for authoring)
vibejoy doctor        probe environment: Joy-Con, permissions, IPC
vibejoy rumble        trigger rumble (via daemon if running, else direct HID)
vibejoy schema        print the annotated starter config

Each subcommand has --help.

Rumble from AI Hooks

The daemon listens on a Unix domain socket at ~/.vibejoy/control.sock. vibejoy rumble prefers this channel (so it works even while the daemon holds the HID handle) and falls back to opening HID directly when no daemon is running.

Built-in patterns: short, long, click, double, ok, error.

Custom patterns: pass raw bytes with --pattern "c8 c8 72 04" (4 bytes shared across sides, or 8 bytes for left / right).

Claude Code example

.claude/settings.json:

{
  "hooks": {
    "Stop": [
      { "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "vibejoy rumble --pattern ok" }] }
    ],
    "Error": [
      { "hooks": [{ "type": "command", "command": "vibejoy rumble --pattern error" }] }
    ]
  }
}

Your Joy-Con becomes a tactile notification channel.

Architecture

┌───────────────┐  events   ┌──────────┐  actions   ┌────────────────┐
│  joycon.py    │──────────▶│ mapper.py│───────────▶│ keyboard.py    │
│  (pyjoycon +  │           │ (state   │            │ window.py      │
│  baseline cal)│           │  machine)│            │ (rumble via    │
└───────────────┘           └──────────┘            │  shared HID)   │
       ▲                         ▲                  └────────────────┘
       │              config.py  │
       └── discover ──────── cli.py ──▶ runner.py ──▶ ipc.py
                                                     (control socket)

Nine source files, each a single responsibility:

src/vibejoy/
├── __init__.py
├── __main__.py           # python -m vibejoy
├── cli.py                # argparse subcommands
├── config.py             # TOML load / validate / paths
├── events.py             # ButtonEvent, StickEvent dataclasses
├── actions.py            # Action DSL + parser
├── keyboard.py           # pynput wrapper + key-name resolver
├── window.py             # macOS app switcher (Quartz/AppKit)
├── joycon.py             # pyjoycon wrapper + baseline calibration
├── mapper.py             # event → action state machine
├── shell.py              # non-blocking shell dispatch + env context
├── rumble.py             # HD-Rumble primitives + presets
├── ipc.py                # Unix-socket control channel
├── runner.py             # main loop + signal handling
└── config.example.toml   # bundled starter config

Development

uv sync --all-groups
uv run pytest             # 81 tests, ~0.4s
uv run ruff check .
uv run vibejoy doctor     # sanity check

Known Caveats

• joycon-python 0.2.4 forgot to declare pyglm as a dependency; pyproject.toml pins it explicitly until upstream fixes that.
• Rumble byte presets are derived from published reverse-engineering docs. They vibrate reliably but the exact tone isn't Nintendo-accurate — use raw bytes if you need a specific frequency.
• macOS sleeps Bluetooth Joy-Cons after ~30 min idle. Press any button to wake.

License

MIT