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MIT · Open source

bt-switch-cli

Bluetooth device handoff CLI — switch Magic peripherals between Macs by name

Documentation →GitHub ↗

[!NOTE] Prototype — not on npm yet. The commands work and are covered by tests, but nothing has been released, so the npm badge above reads not found and npm i -g will not resolve it. Install from source for now, and expect the interfaces to move.

Features

  • Named devices — connect peripherals by a friendly name, never a MAC address
  • Smart connect — instantly reconnects already-bonded devices; only prompts pairing mode when genuinely needed
  • Handoff between Macs — release a device on one Mac so another can claim it, working with Apple's single-host Bluetooth limit rather than against it
  • Interactive onboarding — bt-switch add scans paired devices and saves them with one keystroke, names pre-filled from the Bluetooth name
  • Multi-device — manage trackpad, keyboard, mouse and more from one config file

Install

macOS only. Requires blueutil.

brew install blueutil
npm install -g @kud/bt-switch-cli

Apple Magic peripherals are single-host by design — only one Mac can hold the connection at a time. Switching to another Mac requires a brief press of the peripheral's pairing button to release it from the previous host. bt-switch switch handles the unpair, guides you through the pairing-mode prompt, and reconnects — streamlining everything around that hardware constraint.

Usage

$ bt-switch add
? Select a device to register: Magic Trackpad
? Save as: trackpad
✓ Saved "trackpad" → aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff

$ bt-switch list
NAME      MAC                PAIRED  CONNECTED
──────────────────────────────────────────────
trackpad  aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff  yes     yes
keyboard  aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:00  yes     no

$ bt-switch connect trackpad
✓ trackpad connected.

$ bt-switch switch keyboard
Hold the power button on keyboard until the LED blinks rapidly.
Press Enter when ready...
✓ keyboard connected.

$ bt-switch forget trackpad
✓ Unpaired trackpad.

Development

git clone https://github.com/kud/bt-switch-cli.git
cd bt-switch-cli
npm install
npm run dev      # run from source via tsx
npm test         # unit tests (vitest)
npm run lint     # eslint
npm run build    # bundle to dist/