G13

A native macOS menu bar app for the Logitech G13 Advanced Gameboard.

Since Logitech has discontinued support for the G13, there is no official driver for modern macOS. G13 fills that gap — it's a lightweight, open-source Swift app that gives you full control of your G13 directly from the menu bar.

Features

• Key remapping — Map any of the 22 G-keys, thumb buttons, joystick click, and LCD buttons to any keyboard key or combination (Cmd+C, Ctrl+Shift+S, etc.)
• Joystick as keys — Configure joystick directions to send keyboard inputs (WASD by default), with adjustable deadzone
• Multiple profiles — Create profiles for different games or applications, switch instantly with M1/M2/M3 buttons
• RGB backlight control — Set any color for the key and LCD backlight, saved per profile
• LCD display — Shows the active profile name on the 160×43 monochrome screen
• M-key LEDs — Automatically lights the LED matching the active profile
• Auto-reconnect — Plug/unplug freely, the app reconnects automatically
• Menu bar app — Lives in the menu bar, no Dock icon, minimal footprint
• Native macOS — Pure Swift + IOKit + SwiftUI, no external dependencies

Screenshot

Requirements

• macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
• Logitech G13 Advanced Gameboard
• Accessibility permission (required for key injection)

Installation

Pre-built release

1. Download G13-v1.1.0-macos.zip from the Releases page
2. Unzip and drag G13.app to your Applications folder

Note: The app is not notarized. On first launch, macOS Gatekeeper will block it with a message saying the developer cannot be verified. To open it anyway:

• Option A — Right-click (or Ctrl+click) G13.app → Open → Open in the confirmation dialog
• Option B — After the blocked launch attempt, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway next to the G13 message

You only need to do this once. Subsequent launches will work normally.

From source (Xcode)

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/golgote/G13.git
   

2. Open G13.xcodeproj in Xcode
3. Build and run (Cmd+R)
4. Grant Accessibility permission when prompted (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility)

Usage

First launch

1. Plug in your G13
2. Launch the app — a gamepad icon appears in the menu bar
3. Grant Accessibility permission when prompted
4. The G13 backlight turns on and the default WASD gaming profile is loaded

Remapping keys

1. Click the menu bar icon → Settings...
2. Click any G-key button in the settings window
3. Press the key (or key combination) you want to assign
4. The mapping is saved automatically

To clear a mapping, right-click a key and select "Clear mapping".

Profiles

• M1/M2/M3 buttons on the G13 switch between the first 3 profiles
• Create new profiles with the + button in the settings window
• Right-click a profile tab to rename, duplicate, or delete it
• Each profile stores its own key mapping, joystick config, and backlight color

Joystick

The joystick sends configurable key presses for each direction (default: WASD). Click a direction in the joystick section of settings, then press the desired key.

Adjust the deadzone slider to control how far you need to push the stick before it registers.

How it works

G13 communicates directly with the Logitech G13 hardware over USB HID using Apple's IOKit framework:

• IOHIDManager detects the device (Vendor ID 0x046D, Product ID 0xC21C) and monitors for plug/unplug events
• Input reports (8 bytes) are decoded to identify key presses and joystick position
• Output reports (992 bytes) send framebuffer data to the 160×43 LCD
• Feature reports control the RGB backlight (Report ID 0x07) and M-key LEDs (Report ID 0x05)
• CGEvent (CoreGraphics) injects keyboard events into macOS, requiring Accessibility permission

No kernel extensions, no third-party libraries, no elevated privileges.

USB Protocol Reference

The G13 communicates via USB Full Speed (12 Mb/s):

Direction	Endpoint	Size	Content
IN	1	8 bytes	Key state + joystick position
OUT	2	992 bytes	LCD framebuffer (32 header + 960 image)

Input report format:

[0] Always 0x01
[1] Joystick X (0-255, ~127 at center)
[2] Joystick Y (0-255, ~127 at center)
[3] Keys: G1-G8 (bit 0 = G1)
[4] Keys: G9-G16
[5] Keys: G17-G22, light state
[6] Keys: BD, L1-L4, M1-M3
[7] Keys: MR, LEFT, RIGHT, STICK, light controls

Project structure

G13/
├── G13App.swift                 — App entry point (menu bar)
├── G13Device.swift              — USB/HID communication, auto-reconnect
├── G13LCD.swift                 — LCD framebuffer + 5×7 bitmap font
├── KeyMapper.swift              — Key remapping + CGEvent injection
├── ProfileManager.swift         — Multi-profile preferences (UserDefaults)
├── ContentView.swift            — Settings window (SwiftUI)
├── MenuBarView.swift            — Menu bar drop-down
└── SettingsWindowController.swift — AppKit window management

Acknowledgments

This project was inspired by and references the USB protocol work from:

• tewhalen/g13slop — Python G13 driver for macOS
• ecraven/g13 — C++ libusb driver for Linux
• bjanders/g13 — Go library with protocol documentation
• jtgans/g13gui — Python GUI driver for Linux

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or pull requests.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add my feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/my-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

Copyright (c) 2026 Bertrand Mansion