Getting started with KeyRoutines on Windows 11
5 min read · Updated
KeyRoutines is free in the Microsoft Store: install it, pick a ready-made template, choose your own apps, and press Run. Everything after that lives in a small tray icon, and Run history shows you exactly what each run did.
This guide takes you from a fresh install to your first finished run in about ten minutes.
Install from the Microsoft Store
KeyRoutines is a Windows desktop app made by QaemDev. It's built for Windows 11 and also runs on Windows 10 version 2004 or newer.
Get it from the Store
Open the download page and follow the link to the Microsoft Store, then click Get. The Store installs KeyRoutines and keeps it up to date for you.
Start it once
Open KeyRoutines from the Start menu. The first time, a short setup walks you through the basics: picking a few starter routines from the templates, choosing a hotkey, deciding whether KeyRoutines starts with Windows, and how game-safe mode keeps it away from your games.
Leave it running
When you close the window, KeyRoutines keeps running in the tray so your hotkeys and other triggers keep working. You can change whether it starts with Windows in Settings ▸ General.
Meet the tray app
KeyRoutines is one small process in the notification area. The editor window only exists while you have it open, so while it waits in the tray it uses almost no memory or CPU.
Right-click the tray icon to reach the things you need most often:
- your favourite routines, to run them with one click
- the routines running right now, each with a Cancel option
- Pause all triggers, for when you want KeyRoutines to sit still for a while
- the game-safe status, so you can see when it has stepped back for a game
- Panic stop, which cancels every run at once
- Open and Quit
The panic hotkey does the same as Panic stop from anywhere. By default it's Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Backspace, and you can change it. It stops every routine and lets go of any keys a routine was holding down.
Set up your first template
Templates are complete routines with blanks for your own apps, devices and hotkeys. KeyRoutines comes with these:
- Gaming Mode and ARC Raiders Setup, for getting ready to play
- Work Mode, Meeting Setup and End of Day, for your desk
- Download Finished, which tidies files as they arrive
- Headset Connected and Headset Disconnected, for switching sound
- Stream Start, for going live with OBS
- AFK mode: one key when you step away, the same key when you're back
Open Templates
In the KeyRoutines window, go to Templates and choose one. Work Mode is a good first pick because it only touches everyday apps.
Fill in the blanks
The template asks for what it needs: which apps to open or close, which audio device to use, which hotkey starts it. Pick them from the lists. You never have to type a file path or a window name.
Save it
Save, and the routine joins your list with its trigger switched on. Work Mode, for example, listens for its hotkey (Ctrl + Alt + W by default).
Every template uses only free blocks, so they all work without Pro.
Run it
There are a few ways to start a routine:
- press its hotkey (the Hotkey trigger)
- press Run in the KeyRoutines window
- pick it from the tray, if you've made it a favourite (the Run manually trigger can list it there)
- let another trigger start it, such as a schedule or an app starting (see Triggers explained)
While it runs, the window shows each step light up in turn. A "Wait until" step shows a countdown and the reason it's still waiting, for example that an app is running but has no window yet.
Read Run history
Every run is recorded in Run history. For each one you can see:
- what started it, and the details the trigger passed along
- every step, with whether it succeeded, failed or was skipped
- how long each step took
- the reason a step failed, in plain words, such as "This app runs as administrator" or "Game-safe mode blocked this step"
If a run was interrupted, for example because the PC shut down, you can run it again from there. When something didn't go the way you expected, Run history is the first place to look. KeyRoutines never fails silently: a step that can't work says why.
Free keeps the last 50 runs per routine or 7 days of history. Pro keeps more.
Where to go next
- Build your first routine from scratch: a hotkey that opens apps, waits until they're ready, arranges windows and switches audio.
- Triggers explained: every way a routine can start.
- Game-safe mode and background keys: what KeyRoutines does and doesn't do around games.
- Browse the blocks or the how-to answers when you want to do something specific.
- Stuck? Support is here to help.