yknotify – Notify when YubiKey needs touch on macOS

In plain words

yknotify is a macOS utility that alerts users when their YubiKey requires physical touch to complete an operation. The tool is designed for anyone using YubiKeys for authentication or security purposes on Apple computers. It addresses the common problem of not knowing when a YubiKey is waiting for user interaction, providing notifications so users don't miss time-sensitive prompts during authentication workflows.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

yknotify watches macOS logs (via log stream CLI command) for events that I've determined, through trial and error, are heuristically associated with the YubiKey waiting for touch. I primarily use the FIDO2 and OpenPGP features and haven't tested other applications listed in ykman info (e.g., Yubico OTP, FIDO U2F, OATH, PIV, YubiHSM Auth). usbsmartcardreaderd: [com.apple.CryptoTokenKit:ccid] Time extension received As soon as the YubiKey is touched, we'll get a new/different log message in the same category. So the strategy here is to check if either of the above messages are the last one logged in their respective categories, and if so, notify the user to touch the YubiKey. When you've tied…from github.com

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