Process Key Sender — Send Keystrokes to a Target Application

pks is a Windows keystroke automation CLI that finds a target application by process name and sends it single keys, keyboard shortcuts, or timed key sequences. Use the command line for simple repeating keys or JSON config files for sequences and independent timers.

Safety

Use this tool only for legitimate local automation, accessibility, testing, and offline applications. Do not use it with online games, anti-cheat protected software, or services that prohibit automation.

Platform Status

• Windows: supported target platform for process lookup and key sending.
• Unix/Linux: config parsing, validation, and most tests work, but key sending is not implemented.

More detail: docs/platform-support.md

Supported Keyboard Input

• Letters, numbers, arrows, navigation keys, and F1–F12
• Special keys such as space, enter, tab, escape, and delete
• Shortcuts and key combinations such as ctrl+c, alt+tab, and ctrl+shift+s
• Timed sequences and independently repeating keys

On Windows, pks finds the chosen application's visible window, focuses it, sends the keyboard input through the Windows SendInput API, and can restore the previously focused window afterward.

Build

git clone https://github.com/KyleDerZweite/process-key-sender.git
cd process-key-sender
cargo build --release

Quick Start

Run a single key on an interval:

cargo run -- --process notepad.exe --key space --interval 1000ms

Run from a config file:

cargo run -- --config examples/configs/sequence-config.json

Save CLI arguments as a config file:

cargo run -- --process notepad.exe --key space --save-config my-config.json

Documentation

• CLI reference: docs/cli.md
• Configuration guide: docs/configuration.md
• Platform support: docs/platform-support.md

Contributing

Development setup, verification commands, and contribution guidelines are in CONTRIBUTING.md.