KeyCastr

KeyCastr is a free, open-source keystroke visualizer for macOS. It shows your keyboard shortcuts on screen as you press them, a floating overlay that displays each key combination in real time. When you press Cmd+Shift+P, the overlay shows '⌘⇧P' on your screen. As of August 2026 the project remains actively maintained on GitHub (keycastr/keycastr). The latest release is v0.10.5, which improved handling of different input sources so language/layout switches no longer delay or mis-render the overlay. Earlier 0.10.x releases added options to apply modifiers when displaying keystrokes, display all modified keys, and fix Intel modifier detection and ShortcutRecorder quirks, so the project is not abandoned. It is a mature utility that still ships compatibility and quality-of-life fixes. The primary use case is screencasting. When you record a tutorial, viewers cannot see your keyboard. They watch your cursor move and things happen on screen, but they do not know what you pressed. KeyCastr solves this by displaying each keystroke as a visual overlay in the recording. A coding tutorial becomes more useful when viewers see 'Cmd+P' appear when you open the command palette, or 'Cmd+S' when you save. The second use case is live presentations and pair programming. During a conference demo or Zoom share, the audience follows shortcuts far more easily when they appear on screen. This is especially true for editors, terminals, and IDEs where the shortcut is the lesson. KeyCastr is highly customizable: position (any corner or center), font size, colors, opacity, fade duration, and whether to show individual keys or full modifier combinations. Filter to command/modifier combinations only so regular typing stays hidden, important both for clarity and for not leaking draft text or secrets. The app is lightweight: menu bar only, event-driven overlay, no recording, no analytics, no network access. It reads keyboard events through macOS Accessibility APIs, so you must grant Accessibility permission in System Settings. Builds support Apple Silicon and Intel Macs; macOS 10.13+ compatibility is still a stated goal of recent releases. KeyCastr is completely free and open-source (BSD license). There is no paid tier, registration, or feature limit. In 2026 new open-source rivals such as Keyty have appeared for demos that also visualize mouse input, but KeyCastr remains the default recommendation for pure keystroke overlays on Mac. The honest take: KeyCastr does one thing and does it well. If you make screencasts, record tutorials, or give live presentations where keyboard shortcuts matter, install it. If you do not, you will never need it.