CatPaws 🐾

A macOS menu bar app that detects when a cat walks on your keyboard and automatically locks input to prevent unwanted keystrokes.

Features

• Smart Cat Detection - Detects cat-like keyboard patterns (multiple adjacent keys pressed simultaneously)
• Automatic Keyboard Lock - Instantly blocks all keyboard input when a cat is detected
• Visual Notification - Shows a friendly popup when the keyboard is locked
• Auto Unlock - Automatically unlocks when the cat leaves the keyboard
• Manual Override - Click the notification to immediately unlock
• Statistics Tracking - See how many times your cat has visited your keyboard
• Launch at Login - Optionally start CatPaws when you log in
• Configurable Sensitivity - Adjust detection thresholds to match your cat's behavior

Screenshots

Coming soon

Installation

Download

Download the latest release from the Releases page.

1. Download CatPaws-x.x.x.dmg
2. Open the DMG file
3. Drag CatPaws to your Applications folder
4. Launch CatPaws from Applications

Permissions

CatPaws requires Input Monitoring permission to detect keyboard events:

1. On first launch, you'll be prompted to grant access
2. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring
3. Enable CatPaws in the list

Usage

Once running, CatPaws appears as a paw icon in your menu bar:

• 🐾 - Active and monitoring
• Click the icon to access settings, statistics, and quit

How Detection Works

CatPaws monitors keyboard input for patterns that indicate a cat:

• 3+ adjacent keys pressed simultaneously (single paw)
• Multiple clusters of keys across the keyboard (multiple paws)
• 10+ keys pressed at once (cat sitting on keyboard)

When detected, the keyboard locks for a brief period. If the cat-like pattern persists, it stays locked. Once the keys are released, the keyboard automatically unlocks.

Settings

• Detection Sensitivity - Adjust how sensitive the detection is
• Lock Duration - How long to wait before auto-unlocking
• Launch at Login - Start CatPaws automatically
• Show Notifications - Toggle visual feedback

Building from Source

Requirements

• macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
• Xcode 15.0 or later
• Swift 5.9 or later

Build Steps

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/TechPreacher/CatPaws.git
cd CatPaws

# Open in Xcode
open CatPaws/CatPaws.xcodeproj

# Or build from command line
cd CatPaws
xcodebuild build -scheme CatPaws -configuration Debug

Creating a Release Build

Use the provided build script to create a signed and notarized release:

./scripts/build-release.sh

This will:

1. Build a Release configuration
2. Sign with Developer ID
3. Submit for Apple notarization
4. Create DMG and ZIP packages

Project Structure

CatPaws/
├── App/                 # App entry point and delegates
├── Configuration/       # Entitlements and Info.plist
├── MenuBar/            # Menu bar UI components
├── Models/             # Data models and state
├── Resources/          # Assets and localization
├── Services/           # Business logic services
├── ViewModels/         # MVVM view models
└── Views/              # SwiftUI views

How It Works

1. Keyboard Monitoring - Uses macOS Input Monitoring APIs to observe key events
2. Pattern Detection - Analyzes key timing and adjacency to identify cat patterns
3. Input Blocking - Uses CGEvent tap to intercept and block keyboard events
4. State Management - SwiftUI-based reactive state for UI updates

Privacy

CatPaws:

• Does not record or transmit any keystrokes
• Does not connect to the internet
• Only monitors key patterns, not actual characters typed
• All processing happens locally on your Mac

See our full Privacy Policy.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Inspired by every cat owner who has had their work interrupted by curious paws
• Built with SwiftUI and love for cats 🐱