What a macro is, and what it is not
Three features get called macros, and they solve different problems:
| Feature | One press does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Remap | One different input | Circle acts as Cross |
| Combination (chord) | One input, fired by several buttons held together | L1 + R1 opens the map |
| Macro | A timed sequence of inputs | Tap, wait 50 ms, tap again |
A macro is the only one of the three with time in it: what happens, in what order, and how long each step lasts. That is what makes it useful for anything a game expects as a quick sequence, and it is also why games treat macros differently from a remap.
Play once, or repeat while held
- Play once runs the sequence a single time per press. In Coda a started sequence always plays to the end, even if you let go early.
- Repeat while held runs it again and again for as long as the button is down. A one-step macro set to repeat is what other tools call turbo or rapid fire. Coda has no separate rapid-fire switch; this is how it repeats an input, with a 50 ms gap between repeats.
Why timing decides whether the game sees it
Many games check input once per rendered frame — every 16.7 ms at 60 frames per second. A press that starts and ends between two checks never happened, as far as the game is concerned. So a macro step needs to be held long enough for the game to see it, and a wait long enough for the game to notice the release. Coda's defaults are 60 ms for a button tap and 40 ms for a key or mouse tap. If a macro works in the gamepad tester but not in a game, lengthen the holds and waits before anything else.
Which tools make controller macros on PC
- On the console side, nothing. Microsoft's Xbox Accessories app remaps buttons, swaps sticks and triggers; Sony's DualSense Edge profiles assign one function per button, and its PS5 setup page notes you cannot “assign multiple functions to L2 and R2”. Neither describes sequences.
- Steam Input comes close: an activator can carry several actions, wait before it fires, repeat as turbo while held, or cycle through its bindings — for games Steam runs.
- reWASD has a Combo feature for “macro sequences of keyboard keys, mouse clicks, and controller buttons”, with a recorder that keeps the pauses; its site places macros in the full version, not in Basic.
- DS4Windows triggers Special Actions from a button or a combination, and its interface includes a macro recorder. Its last maintained fork was archived in March 2026.
- Coda builds macros from controller buttons, keyboard keys, mouse clicks, the mouse wheel and waits, and binds them to any button — below.
Do games allow macros?
Often not in online play, and the rules are worth reading before the first match rather than after. Publishers' rules commonly prohibit automation and unauthorised third-party programs, and some name scripts, macros or input-mapping software explicitly — two such documents are among the sources below. Others say nothing specific.
What a tool cannot do is promise you an outcome. Coda does not: it tells you what it does — ordinary controller input through a virtual controller, nothing injected into the game, and macros that only press what you put in them — and leaves the judgement about each game's rules with you.
How to make a macro in Coda
- Open Macros in the sidebar and press + Add Macro. Give it a name.
- Press Record… to record from the controller, or Edit macro… to build it step by step with Add action: button tap, press or release; key tap, press or release; mouse click, button down or up; wheel up or down; and wait. Double-click a step to change its timing; drag to reorder. Press Done.
- Under TRIGGER, press + Add trigger and pick the button that starts it. A macro without a trigger does nothing — the most common reason a new macro “doesn't work”.
- Decide whether the button keeps its normal function (Keep original function) or only plays the macro, which is the default.
- Set MODE to Play Once or Repeat While Held, then Save.
You can also bind a macro from Remapping: click the button, open its Macros tab and pick one. A combination of buttons in Chords can fire a macro too. To share one, Export gives a code or a file, and Import takes one in; a macro that types on the keyboard asks before it is imported.
What Coda's macros do not do
- They never move the sticks or the mouse pointer. Recording skips stick movement, and there is no step for it.
- No toggle mode: a macro plays once per press, or repeats while held.
- Up to eight per profile, one macro per button.
Macros are one part of what a profile holds. The rest — remapping, shift layers, touchpad zones — is in how to remap controller buttons on PC.