this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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How do I make Alt+V pull up KeePassXC if it's not already open AND trigger its auto-type prompt? (Mint 22.3) (programming.dev)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by Flagstaff@programming.dev to c/linux@lemmy.world
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  1. Set the custom keyboard shortcut sh -c 'pgrep -i keepassxc > /dev/null || keepassxc' to Alt+V
  2. Keep KeePassXC's default autotype prompt keybinding, which is Alt+V

One disables the other. I thought that going the grep route might make the program opener conditionally inactive, but apparently that's not doing anything. I would really like to avoid using a separate keybinding if possible. Otherwise, I guess I'd just have to have it open on launch.

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[–] HelloRoot@lemy.lol 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

The problem is that your desktop environment's shortcut handler intercepts Alt+V before KeePassXC ever sees it, so the internal keybinding never fires. And when pgrep finds the process running, your command simply does nothing.

The fix is to use KeePassXC's --auto-type CLI flag, which sends the auto-type signal to a running instance:

Command for your custom shortcut (Alt+V):

bash -c 'pgrep -x keepassxc > /dev/null && keepassxc --auto-type || keepassxc'

Not sure what happens when keepass is minimized / in the system tray though

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Wow, it works; you're a genius!!! Thanks so much!!! Hmm, Lemmy doesn't seem to have post flair, but it does allow title-editing, so I'll just update the post title, haha.

[–] HelloRoot@lemy.lol 1 points 1 month ago

Yeah you probably have to play around with the flags to debug it. I can not look into it right now

[–] Novocirab@feddit.org 1 points 1 month ago

Lovely solution. But I think it should be || instead of && for the goal of the post title, right? ("pull up KeePassXC if it's not already open")