AutoSwitch KVM

Your Bluetooth keyboard, mouse and trackpad follow your KVM switch.

Press the button on your KVM and the other computer gets your monitor, your USB devices and your Bluetooth keyboard, mouse or trackpad. No trip to Bluetooth settings, no re-pairing by hand, no channel keys to press.

AutoSwitch KVM is a small app that runs in the background on each of your computers (a menu bar app on macOS, a tray app on Windows). It notices when the KVM switches to or away from that computer and moves your Bluetooth devices along with it:

• Apple Magic Trackpad, Keyboard and Mouse: it hands the pairing over to the other computer.
• Logitech Easy-Switch keyboards and mice (e.g. K380): it tells the device to switch to the other computer's channel.
• ZMK keyboards with the free zmk-autoswitch firmware module: the same, with the keyboard's Bluetooth profiles as channels.
• Everything else: it tells you what's possible for the device and shows its status (see which devices can follow the KVM).

  

_{The menu bar panel on macOS (left) and the tray panel on Windows (right).}

The problem it solves

A KVM switch shares one desk (monitor, keyboard, mouse) between two computers. That works for wired and USB devices, because they're plugged into the KVM. Bluetooth devices aren't: they stay connected to whichever computer they last paired with.

So every switch means some manual work, depending on the device:

• One-computer devices like Apple's Magic Trackpad can only be paired with one computer at a time. Moving one means removing it in the first computer's Bluetooth settings, then searching and pairing on the other. Switch back later? All again, the other way.
• Multi-channel devices like Logitech's Easy-Switch keyboards and mice, or a ZMK keyboard's Bluetooth profiles, remember a channel per computer, but you press the channel key on every device, every time you switch.

AutoSwitch KVM does that work for you every time the KVM switches.

What you get

• Hands-off switching. Devices connect when your computer is selected and are released when it isn't. Nothing to click.
• Works with one-computer devices. It unpairs on the way out and pairs on the way in, so the Magic Trackpad, Keyboard and Mouse hand over cleanly.
• Speaks Logitech Easy-Switch. It tells the device to change channel, finds the other computer's channel by itself, and shows which computer is on which channel. ZMK keyboards learn the same language from the zmk-autoswitch module.
• Respects your hands. Switched a keyboard to the other computer with its own key? AutoSwitch leaves it there.
• Knows your devices. Settings shows how each device handles a second computer and whether AutoSwitch can switch it, and suggests the fix when it can't.
• Several devices. Keyboard, mouse, trackpad: choose which follow the KVM and in what order.
• Easy setup. Switch the KVM once and the app learns which USB device tells it which computer is selected.
• Profiles. Keep separate setups, for example "Desk" and "Travel", and switch between them.
• Stays out of the way. Pause automation any time, use Connect all / Release all, or set keyboard shortcuts. It releases devices when the computer goes to sleep and catches up when it wakes.
• Native on each platform, with automatic updates.

Download

	Platform	Get it	Status
🍎	macOS 13 Ventura or later, Apple silicon or Intel	AutoSwitchKVM-<version>-macos.dmg from Releases	Stable
🪟	Windows 10 (1809) or 11, x64 or ARM64	AutoSwitchKVM.App-win-Setup.exe (or -win-arm64-Setup.exe) from Releases	Beta

The builds aren't signed with a paid developer certificate yet, so the first launch shows a warning:

• macOS: after the first open is blocked, go to System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Then allow Bluetooth when the app asks; it can't move your devices without it. For a Logitech Easy-Switch device it also asks once for Input Monitoring.
• Windows: on the SmartScreen prompt, click More info ▸ Run anyway.

Getting started

1. Install the app on both computers connected to the KVM. Each one releases the devices when the KVM switches away from it, so the other computer can pick them up.
2. Teach it your KVM. In Settings, choose Learn for the KVM source, then switch the KVM to the other computer and back. The app spots the USB device that comes and goes with the switch.
3. Add your Bluetooth devices. AutoSwitch shows how each one switches and sets Manage pairing to match: on for a Magic Trackpad (or anything that only pairs with one computer at a time), off for a Logitech Easy-Switch device or a ZMK keyboard, which change channel instead. For a ZMK keyboard, add the zmk-autoswitch module to its firmware first.
4. Switch the KVM. Your devices follow, usually within a few seconds.

Platform guides with more detail: Windows · macOS.

Which Bluetooth devices can follow the KVM?

Not every Bluetooth device can be moved by an app. It depends on how the device handles more than one computer, and there are four kinds. AutoSwitch tells you which kind a device is when you add it, and what it can do with it.

Kind	How the device behaves	Examples	Can AutoSwitch switch it?
Hands off by pairing	Holds one pairing. Once a computer lets go, the next one can pair without you touching the device.	Apple Magic Trackpad, Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse	Yes, on Mac and Windows. This is what AutoSwitch was built for.
Picks the computer itself	Remembers several computers, and a key on the device chooses one.	Multi-device keyboards with host keys	No. Only the device can choose. Use its switch key, or plug it into the KVM by USB. (ZMK keyboards switch channel on request with the zmk-autoswitch module.)
Re-pairs by hand	Remembers one Bluetooth computer. Moving it needs its pairing button.	Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo controllers	No. Keep it on one computer, connect it by cable through the KVM, or pair it to a Bluetooth-to-USB adapter (e.g. 8BitDo USB Wireless Adapter 2) plugged into the KVM.
Switches channel on request	Like the previous kind, but the computer it's connected to can tell it to change channel.	Logitech Easy-Switch keyboards and mice (e.g. K380); ZMK keyboards with zmk-autoswitch	Yes, on Mac and Windows: when the KVM leaves, AutoSwitch sends it to the other computer's channel.
Joins whichever computer connects	Remembers several computers and goes to the one that asks.	Many headphones and speakers	On Mac, yes (being tested). On Windows not yet: Windows can't disconnect a Bluetooth device without unpairing it.

Using a USB receiver? Logitech Unifying, Logi Bolt and Lightspeed receivers are faster than Bluetooth, and they need no software to follow the KVM: plug the receiver into the KVM's USB hub, and it switches like a wired keyboard. Use the KVM's plain USB (hub) port, not a "keyboard/mouse emulation" port, which often doesn't pass receivers through properly.

For the kinds it can't switch, AutoSwitch still shows whether the device is connected. Not sure about a device? Remove it in one computer's Bluetooth settings. If the other computer can then pair it right away, without a button press on the device, it hands off by pairing. More detail: autoswitchkvm.com/devices.

Good to know

• Which devices work? Apple Magic accessories (they hand off by pairing), Logitech Easy-Switch keyboards and mice, and ZMK keyboards with the zmk-autoswitch module (they switch channel), on both platforms. The table above covers the rest, and Settings tells you for each device.
• Which KVMs work? Any KVM that switches USB between the computers. Most do, because that's how they share your keyboard and mouse.
• Why a few seconds? The computer the KVM switched to has to wait until the other one lets go of the device before it can pair. AutoSwitch retries quietly until that happens.
• Your settings stay put. Each computer keeps its own settings. You can export and import them as a file.
• Updates install themselves. Both apps check GitHub for new versions and offer them, so you install once and stay current.
• Private by design. Everything happens on your computers. The only network request is the update check.
• Something not working? Each platform guide has a troubleshooting section. For a bug report, set Settings ▸ Diagnostics ▸ Log detail to Detailed, reproduce the problem, and attach that day's log. At the default level the log stays small: a few lines per switch.

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For developers

AutoSwitch KVM is a monorepo with one native app per platform. Both apps share the same behavior and settings model, but each uses its own platform's toolkit and Bluetooth/USB APIs.

Platform	Folder	Stack
macOS	osx/	Swift / SwiftUI menu bar app, IOKit (USB) + IOBluetooth, Sparkle updates
Windows	windows/	C# / .NET 8 + WinUI 3 tray app, WMI/PnP (USB) + WinRT Bluetooth, Velopack updates
Linux	n/a	Future, not a current focus

How it works: watch USB attach/detach for the configured source (a set of USB device IDs, usually a hub inside the KVM). After a short debounce, when the source appears connect the configured devices (pairing first if Manage pairing is on). When it disappears, release them (unpair for one-host devices). Failures are classified: "the other computer still has it" is retried patiently, a stale pairing is redone from scratch. The full platform-neutral behavior contract is in SPECIFICATION.md.

osx/              macOS app: sources, tests, docs (README, CLAUDE, PLAN, IMPROVEMENTS)
windows/          Windows app: sources, tests, tools, docs (README, CLAUDE, PLAN)
SPECIFICATION.md  Behavior contract both apps implement (config model, engine, Bluetooth ops)
testdata/         Shared config fixture; both test suites read it, so settings stay compatible
agent-notes/      Coordination notes between the macOS and Windows work streams
website/          autoswitchkvm.com (Eleventy, deployed on Cloudflare Workers)
                  (the ZMK firmware module is its own repository: casab/zmk-autoswitch, MIT)
.github/          CI (build + tests for both apps) and release workflows

Releases: pushing a tag vX.Y.Z builds both apps and publishes one GitHub release with the Windows installers and the macOS DMG. Installed apps update from the latest stable release. A pre-release tag (vX.Y.Z-beta.1) is never offered as an update.

Build instructions, architecture and troubleshooting notes are in each platform folder: windows/README.md, osx/README.md.