flash

Flash and Homerow

Homerow is “Keyboard shortcuts for your entire Mac”: Accessibility-based labels and a scroll mode, sold for a one-time $49.99 covering all your personal Macs, with a free trial that reminds you every 50 activations. It began as the commercial successor of Vimac by Dexter Leng and now belongs to Neil Chudleigh. Version 1.5.3 shipped in March 2026; updates are irregular (1.4.0 in February 2025, 1.4.1 in October 2025).

	Homerow	Flash
License, price	Closed; $49.99 one-time	MIT, free
Platforms	macOS 13+	macOS 14+
Permissions	Accessibility	Accessibility; Automation per browser for tab lists; Screen Recording only for :screenshot
Hints from	Accessibility tree	Accessibility tree; tmux panes; VS Code enhancer
Pointer modes	Labels, search and labels together, labels-only, scroll mode, click chain, Mission Control	Hints, search, grid, bisect, pointer mode, drag, select, words, path, sticky
Beyond pointing	Caps Lock to Hyper remap, sound effects	NORMAL mode, flashlight, status bar, widgets, popups, window placement, plugins
Configuration	Settings window, “Ignored Apps”	One TOML file, live reload, CLI
Maintenance	1.5.3, March 2026; 156 open issues on the tracker	1.0.0, October 2026; one maintainer

Where Homerow is stronger

• Polish. A settings window, a tutor that shows which properties of an element are searchable, sound effects, and a product that has been in daily use by many people for years.
• Search and labels in one view with a fast/exhaustive switch, tuned over a long time on the apps people actually use.
• Click chains (several clicks in one activation) and Mission Control support arrived in recent releases.
• Lower macOS floor (13 against Flash’s 14).
• Nothing to configure. Install, grant Accessibility, done.

Where Flash is stronger

• Free and open. No trial reminders, no licence, and the source is there when an app misbehaves.
• Configured in a file. Every binding is in flash.toml, lives in your dotfiles, reloads on save and is validated by flash config_check. Homerow has no file, CLI or scripting surface.
• A persistent NORMAL mode instead of a hold-to-activate hint mode, with actions that resolve per app.
• Grid and pointer modes for apps with no Accessibility tree. Homerow has no grid, so a canvas app is a dead end.
• Terminal, bar, widgets, popups, search, plugins. Homerow stops at the click.
• Documented privacy. Homerow’s tracker has an open request to opt out of analytics calls (#98). Flash has no analytics, and its privacy page lists every network destination.

Flash features you might like

• mouse_target --search for the search-first feel, mouse_target for labels only, in the same hotkey table.
• mouse_target --multi and --sticky are the click chain.
• scroll_target chooses the scroll area, then NORMAL’s ctrl+d/ctrl+u scroll it (normal mode).
• mouse_dock, mouse_menubar and mouse_notifications label surfaces outside the focused window.

Moving from Homerow

Homerow	Flash
Hint shortcut	["flash", "mouse_target"] on the key of your choice
Labels only	mouse_target (labels are the default)
Search	["flash", "mouse_target", "--search"]
Scroll mode	NORMAL mode scroll keys, scroll_target to pick the area
Shift-Return right-click	In NORMAL, cf right-clicks a hint; from a hotkey, mouse_bigram --secondary
Cmd-click, double-click	df double-clicks in NORMAL; modifiers are held as you type the label
Ignored Apps	[mode.apps."<bundle id>"] tables, or leave the app unmapped
Caps Lock to Hyper	Keep Karabiner-Elements; Flash does not remap hardware keys
Mission Control hints	Not available

[mode.all.mappings]
"cmd+shift+space" = ["flash", "mouse_target"]
"cmd+shift+alt+space" = ["flash", "mouse_target", "--search"]

Both apps take the Accessibility grant and a hotkey; running them together only costs a second overlay. Keep Homerow for its tutor while you learn what each app exposes, if you like.

Checked 2026-10-14 against homerow.app, its changelog and the issue tracker.

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