ShotGun Keyboard 1.0

The first release of ShotGun Keyboard — a macOS menu bar utility that plays a sound effect on every key press, system-wide.

Install

1. Download ShotGun-Keyboard-1.0.dmg below and open it.
2. Drag ShotGun Keyboard into your Applications folder.
3. Launch it. A keyboard icon appears in the menu bar.

Important

macOS will say the app "cannot be checked for malicious software".
This build is signed but not notarised by Apple. To open it:
right-click the app in Applications → Open → Open.
You only need to do this once.

On first launch the app asks for Accessibility access — it cannot detect key presses without it. The built-in setup page links straight to the right System Settings pane and switches itself on the moment you tick the box.

What's in it

• 34 sounds across 10 packs — Shotgun · Mechanical Keyboard · Typewriter · Pistol · Laser · Sci-Fi · Drum Kit · Bubble Pop · Click · Arcade
• Random mode — a different sound from the active pack on every key press
• Pitch variation — each hit detuned by up to ±5%, so fast typing never sounds like a loop
• Custom sounds — import WAV, AIFF, MP3, M4A, CAF or FLAC, with automatic level matching
• Independent volume — never touches your system volume
• Launch at login, and every preference persists across restarts

Privacy

The app never reads which key you pressed. Its event callback reads exactly two things: the event type and the auto-repeat flag. Nothing is stored, buffered, counted or transmitted, and the app makes no network connections at all.

The entire keyboard-facing surface is one ~80-line file, KeyboardMonitor.swift, kept deliberately small so the claim can be verified rather than trusted.

Performance

Cost per key press	0.5–1.7 µs
Audio latency added	~10.7 ms
Idle CPU	0.0%
Memory	32 MB
Overlapping sounds	16 voices

Bluetooth output adds 100–200 ms of its own latency. If sounds feel behind your typing, switch to built-in or wired output.

Requirements

macOS 13 Ventura or later. Universal binary — native on both Apple silicon and Intel.

Verify your download

shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS

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Made by Adeel Ahsan