Keyviz — Free Keystroke and Mouse Action Visualizer

Introduction

Keyviz is a desktop application that shows your keystrokes and mouse actions as a visual overlay on screen. When you press a key or click a mouse button, it appears as a styled badge that fades after a configurable delay. This is valuable for anyone recording tutorials, live coding, or presentations where the audience needs to see what keys are being pressed.

What Keyviz Does

• Displays keyboard shortcuts and key presses as on-screen badges in real time
• Shows mouse clicks and scroll actions with configurable visual indicators
• Runs as a transparent overlay on top of all other windows
• Supports customizable badge styles, sizes, colors, and fade durations
• Works across Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms

Architecture Overview

Keyviz is built with Flutter (now using Tauri in newer versions) for the desktop UI and uses platform-native APIs to capture global keyboard and mouse events. On Windows, it hooks into the low-level keyboard and mouse hooks via the Win32 API. On macOS, it uses the Accessibility framework. On Linux, it reads from the input event subsystem. The overlay window is rendered as a transparent always-on-top surface.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Download pre-built binaries from GitHub Releases for Windows, macOS, or Linux
• No installation required on Linux; just extract and run the binary
• On macOS, grant Accessibility permissions when prompted for keystroke capture
• Configure appearance (color scheme, size, position, animation) from the settings panel
• Set which modifier keys and mouse actions to display or hide

Key Features

• Real-time keystroke visualization with smooth fade-in and fade-out animations
• Mouse click and scroll visualization with directional indicators
• Multiple visual styles including minimal, bordered, and gradient badges
• Configurable display duration, position, and opacity for the overlay
• Lightweight with minimal CPU and memory usage during recording sessions

Comparison with Similar Tools

• Carnac (Windows) — Windows-only; Keyviz is cross-platform
• KeyCastr (macOS) — macOS-only; Keyviz works on all three major desktop platforms
• screenkey (Linux) — Linux-only and X11-dependent; Keyviz supports Wayland and other platforms
• ShowMeTheKey — Linux-only with fewer customization options; Keyviz offers richer styling

FAQ

Q: Does Keyviz work with screen recording software? A: Yes. The overlay renders on top of all windows and is captured by OBS Studio, screen recorders, and video conferencing tools.

Q: Can I filter which keys are shown? A: Yes. You can configure Keyviz to show only modifier combinations (Ctrl, Alt, Shift), hide single character keys, or show everything.

Q: Does it impact typing performance? A: No. Keyviz uses efficient event hooks and renders the overlay asynchronously, so there is no perceptible input lag.

Q: Is Keyviz suitable for streaming? A: Yes. Many streamers and content creators use Keyviz to show keyboard shortcuts during live streams and recorded content.

Sources

• https://github.com/mulaRahul/keyviz
• https://keyviz.app