Espanso

Version documented: 2.2.1 Installer type: .exe (NSIS) Hives written: HKCU, HKLM

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📁 Registry Paths

Path	Hive	Purpose
SOFTWARE\espanso	HKCU	User-level configuration reference
SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run	HKCU	Startup entry
SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Espanso	HKLM	Uninstall entry

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🔑 Keys

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Value Name	Type	Example Data	Description
espanso	REG_SZ	"C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\espanso\espanso.exe" daemon	Auto-start daemon

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Espanso

Value Name	Type	Example Data	Description
DisplayName	REG_SZ	Espanso	Display name
DisplayVersion	REG_SZ	2.2.1	Version string
Publisher	REG_SZ	Federico Terzi	Publisher
InstallLocation	REG_SZ	C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\espanso	Install path
UninstallString	REG_SZ	"...\unins000.exe"	Uninstaller path

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📝 Notes

• Espanso is primarily config-file driven (%CONFIG%\espanso\) — the registry footprint is minimal.
• The daemon startup entry in HKCU\Run is added during install; removing it prevents Espanso from starting with Windows without uninstalling.
• Configuration lives at %APPDATA%\espanso\ — back this up to migrate settings.

# Disable Espanso auto-start without uninstalling
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" `
  -Name "espanso" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Re-enable auto-start
$exe = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\espanso\espanso.exe"
Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" `
  -Name "espanso" -Value "`"$exe`" daemon"

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🗑️ Cleanup

# Remove Espanso auto-start
Remove-ItemProperty -Path "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run" `
  -Name "espanso" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

# Remove user settings key
Remove-Item -Path "HKCU:\SOFTWARE\espanso" -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

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📦 Package Managers

Manager	ID / Command
winget	winget install Espanso.Espanso
Chocolatey	choco install espanso
Scoop	scoop install extras/espanso