Distributed notifications not being sent (kindaVimDidEnterNormalMode etc.)

[Nickcom4]

Description

I'm trying to use Hammerspoon to display a menu bar indicator for the current KindaVim mode. According to the docs and Discussion #117, KindaVim should send distributed notifications like:

• kindaVimDidEnterNormalMode
• kindaVimDidExitNormalMode
• kindaVimDidEnterInsertMode
• kindaVimDidEnterVisualMode

Problem

When I listen for these notifications in Hammerspoon using hs.distributednotifications, nothing is received when switching modes. I've verified the listener is working by logging ALL distributed notifications - KindaVim doesn't appear to be sending any.

My Setup

• macOS: 26.0
• KindaVim: 83
• Hammerspoon: 1.0.0
• enableKarabinerElementsIntegration = 1 in preferences

Hammerspoon Test Code

local watcher = hs.distributednotifications.new(function(name, object, userInfo)
    print("Notification: " .. tostring(name))
    hs.alert.show("Got: " .. tostring(name))
end)
watcher:start()

When switching between Normal/Insert modes in KindaVim, no notifications are received. The watcher is confirmed working (it catches other system notifications).

Question

Are distributed notifications still supported in KindaVim 83? Is there a preference setting to enable them, or has this feature been removed/changed?

[godbout]

According to the docs

where in the docs? they should not contain any reference to DNs anymore: https://docs.kindavim.app/

When I listen for these notifications in Hammerspoon using hs.distributednotifications, nothing is received when switching modes. I've verified the listener is working by logging ALL distributed notifications - KindaVim doesn't appear to be sending any.

yes. DNs were removed in kV59: https://github.com/godbout/kindaVim.blahblah/releases/tag/59

too slow. they're replaced by the environment.json now.

Are distributed notifications still supported in KindaVim 83? Is there a preference setting to enable them, or has this feature been removed/changed?

so yeah, there's no more DNs anymore because 1) they're too slow 2) they're not even sure to be fired by macOS lol. now there's two integrations. one is through an environment JSON file useful for stuff like you're trying to do, another one is integration with Karabiner Elements for custom remapping. see https://docs.kindavim.app/integrations/json-file for your case.

lemme see if i can find some examples. some people have been playing with kV and SketchyBar.

[godbout]

lemme see if i can find some examples. some people have been playing with kV and SketchyBar.

you can have a look at #290 for an example with watchman, but if you use hs you can use their own watcher.

see https://gist.github.com/why-trv/677476e1b7bca7717df5fce456cca387 for a more hardcore example using hs. there's a part down there related to the watchers and getting kV's environment mode.