Pause your keyboard. Wipe in peace.
Paws is a minimal macOS menu bar utility that locks your keyboard with one click - so you can wipe it down without triggering a nuclear launch.
- One-click keyboard lock from the menu bar
- Blocks all keypresses system-wide including modifier keys (Cmd, Shift, Option etc.)
- Menu bar icon changes to reflect locked/unlocked state
- Auto lock keyboard when app starts (optional)
- Lightweight — lives in the menu bar, no Dock icon
- Volume and brightness keys cannot be blocked on modern Macs, this is a macOS restriction at the firmware level
- Not available on the Mac App Store (requires Accessibility permission, incompatible with App Sandbox)
- macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later
- Accessibility permission (prompted on first use)
Download the latest release from the Releases page, unzip, and drag Paws.app to your Applications folder.
Note: Paws is not notarized with Apple, so macOS Gatekeeper will warn you on first launch. This is expected and safe to bypass.
macOS Ventura / Sonoma (13+):
- Double-click Paws.app — you'll see "Paws can't be opened because Apple cannot verify it." Click Done.
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the Security section.
- You'll see "Paws was blocked from use..." — click Open Anyway.
- Confirm by clicking Open in the final prompt.
- Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/mabd-dev/paws.git
- Open
Paws.xcodeprojin Xcode - Select your development team in Signing & Capabilities
- Run with
Cmd+R
Make sure App Sandbox is disabled in Signing & Capabilities — it is incompatible with global event taps.
Paws uses a CGEvent tap at the HID level to intercept all keyboard events system-wide. When locked, the callback returns nil for every keypress, consuming the event so nothing else receives it. This requires macOS Accessibility permission, which the app will request on first use.
Paws does not log, store, or transmit any keystrokes. Events are consumed and discarded immediately.
MIT — see LICENSE