Can't get BTT to trigger Keyboard Maestro macro

Configuration Help & General Discussion
1

Setup: I have a BetterTouchTool trackpad gesture that runs an AppleScript action. That script just tells Keyboard Maestro Engine to run one of my macros:

tell application "Keyboard Maestro Engine" do script "my macro name or UUID" end tell

The problem: when the gesture fires, nothing happens. No error, no grid switch, nothing. It just silently does nothing.

Everything seems to check out though:

  • If I paste that exact same script into Script Editor and run it manually, it works perfectly every time, no errors.
  • The macro is enabled, and its macro group is set to Global (so it's not an "only active in certain apps" issue).
  • I copied the macro's name straight out of Keyboard Maestro to make sure there's no typo, and also tried using the macro's UUID instead of the name — same result either way.
  • Automation permissions look fine — BetterTouchTool shows Keyboard Maestro Engine checked under System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation.
  • I use BTT to run AppleScripts talking to other apps all the time (not Keyboard Maestro) and those work completely fine, triggered by the same kind of gesture. It seems to specifically be BTT → Keyboard Maestro that's the problem.

So basically: the script is correct, the macro is correct, permissions look correct, and it still won't fire when BTT is the one sending it. It only works when I run it myself outside of BTT.

Has anyone run into this specific combo before, or have any other ideas on what I should check? Is this is a known quirk between these two apps?

2

I know there are many users who use this approach to trigger keyboard maestro macros from BTT, not sure what could cause this :-/

Worst case there are various other ways to trigger KM macros from BTT, but this one is weird. I'll try it on my machine later.

You could try a few things:

  1. reset TCC permissions for BTT (QUIT BTT first:)
sudo tccutil reset All com.hegenberg.BetterTouchTool
  1. use "Run Apple Script (blocking)" instead of "Run Apple Script (in background)" or vice versa

Does your keyboard masestro macro maybe invoke BTT in response? That could cause a deadlock.