diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index cba52d0..468a312 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,33 @@ follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/); versions
 correspond to [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/archdex-art/SuperSearch/releases)
 and their published installers.
 
+## [0.1.17] — 2026-07-17
+
+Fixes the actual root cause behind the "hotkey doesn't work" reports: the
+capture UI itself could persist a corrupted shortcut.
+
+### Fixed
+- **Rebinding the hotkey to an Option/Alt combo could silently corrupt it.**
+  Live log evidence: `Global shortcut registration failed ... error=Found
+  empty token while parsing hotkey: Alt+\u{a0}`. The General pane's capture
+  UI built the accelerator from `KeyboardEvent.key` — the *composed*
+  character — but macOS recomposes many keys under Option into a different
+  Unicode character than what's printed on the keycap: Option+Space's `key`
+  is a non-breaking space (U+00A0), not a plain `" "`, and Option+letters
+  compose accented characters (Option+C → "ç"). The capture UI showed
+  "Alt+Space" (the *display* used the physical key label) but silently
+  persisted `"Alt+<NBSP>"` (built from the composed character) to
+  `settings.json` — invisible until the next boot's registration attempt
+  rejected it outright. The 0.1.15/0.1.16 self-heal recovered the hotkey
+  back to the default afterward, but the underlying capture bug meant
+  rebinding to *any* Option combo reproduced it every time.
+  `toAccelerator` now resolves letters/digits/Space from
+  `KeyboardEvent.code` (the physical key, unaffected by modifier
+  composition) instead of `key`. Verified live: simulated the exact
+  Option+Space event macOS actually sends (`code: "Space", key: "\u00A0"`)
+  and confirmed it now captures as `Alt+Space`; same for Option+C
+  (`key: "ç"`) capturing as `Alt+C`.
+
 ## [0.1.16] — 2026-07-17
 
 Fixes the hotkey going completely silent instead of just "unreliable."
@@ -431,7 +458,8 @@ First cross-platform release — macOS, Linux, and Windows.
 
 ---
 
-[Unreleased]: https://github.com/archdex-art/SuperSearch/compare/v0.1.16...HEAD
+[Unreleased]: https://github.com/archdex-art/SuperSearch/compare/v0.1.17...HEAD
+[0.1.17]: https://github.com/archdex-art/SuperSearch/releases/tag/v0.1.17
 [0.1.16]: https://github.com/archdex-art/SuperSearch/releases/tag/v0.1.16
 [0.1.15]: https://github.com/archdex-art/SuperSearch/releases/tag/v0.1.15
 [0.1.14]: https://github.com/archdex-art/SuperSearch/releases/tag/v0.1.14
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index aff4917..84091dd 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4327,7 +4327,7 @@ checksum = "13c2bddecc57b384dee18652358fb23172facb8a2c51ccc10d74c157bdea3292"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "supersearch-app"
-version = "0.1.15"
+version = "0.1.16"
 dependencies = [
  "objc2",
  "parking_lot",
diff --git a/react-command-palette/settings/panes/General.tsx b/react-command-palette/settings/panes/General.tsx
index cc4638b..ee6b4e5 100644
--- a/react-command-palette/settings/panes/General.tsx
+++ b/react-command-palette/settings/panes/General.tsx
@@ -22,13 +22,37 @@ function toAccelerator(e: KeyboardEvent): string | null {
   if (e.altKey) mods.push("Alt");
   if (e.shiftKey) mods.push("Shift");
   if (mods.length === 0) return null; // require at least one modifier
-  let key = e.key;
-  if (key === " ") key = "Space";
-  else if (key.length === 1) key = key.toUpperCase();
-  else if (!/^[A-Za-z0-9]/.test(key)) return null; // Escape, Tab, etc. — not bindable
+  const key = codeToAcceleratorKey(e.code, e.key);
+  if (key == null) return null;
   return [...mods, key].join("+");
 }
 
+/** Resolve the pressed key to Tauri accelerator syntax from `code` (the
+ *  *physical* key) wherever possible, not `key` (the *composed* character).
+ *
+ *  macOS recomposes many keys under Option/Alt into a different Unicode
+ *  character than what's physically printed on the keycap — Option+Space's
+ *  `key` is a non-breaking space (U+00A0), not `" "`; Option+letters compose
+ *  accented characters ("Option+C" → "ç"). Since Alt is one of the four
+ *  modifiers this exact capture UI expects users to hold, keying off `key`
+ *  silently persisted a corrupted accelerator like `"Alt+\u00A0"` straight
+ *  to `settings.json` — invisible in the UI (looked like a normal capture),
+ *  but rejected outright by the OS accelerator parser at registration time
+ *  ("Found empty token while parsing hotkey"), leaving the hotkey broken
+ *  until the boot-time self-heal fell back to the default. `code` names the
+ *  physical key regardless of what a modifier composes it into. */
+function codeToAcceleratorKey(code: string, fallbackKey: string): string | null {
+  if (code === "Space") return "Space";
+  if (/^Key[A-Z]$/.test(code)) return code.slice(3);
+  if (/^Digit[0-9]$/.test(code)) return code.slice(5);
+  // Unrecognized physical key (arrows, Escape, function keys, punctuation,
+  // …) — `key` is stable for these regardless of modifiers, since Option
+  // only recomposes *printable* characters.
+  if (fallbackKey.length === 1) return fallbackKey.toUpperCase();
+  if (/^[A-Za-z0-9]/.test(fallbackKey)) return fallbackKey;
+  return null; // Tab, Escape's siblings that aren't bindable, etc.
+}
+
 export function GeneralPane({
   settings,
   onChange,
diff --git a/src-tauri/Cargo.toml b/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
index 5b480b4..4d0a6a8 100644
--- a/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
+++ b/src-tauri/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "supersearch-app"
-version = "0.1.16"
+version = "0.1.17"
 edition = "2021"
 description = "SuperSearch — AI-Native Productivity Layer Desktop App"
 
diff --git a/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json b/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
index a48f6aa..6afea46 100644
--- a/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
+++ b/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tauri-apps/tauri/dev/crates/tauri-config-schema/schema.json",
   "productName": "SuperSearch",
-  "version": "0.1.16",
+  "version": "0.1.17",
   "identifier": "com.supersearch.desktop",
   "build": {
     "frontendDist": "../react-command-palette/dist",