What is PawPause?

PawPause is a tiny macOS menu bar app that detects when your cat walks on your keyboard and pauses input system-wide. It runs 100% on-device with zero network calls, zero storage, and no analytics. The app is open source under the MIT license and completely free to use.

Who it's for

• Remote workers and writers who share a home office with a keyboard-curious cat
• Developers and power users who need a reliable, privacy-first solution that won't compromise their keystrokes
• Cat owners tired of garbled messages sent to colleagues or corrupted code from accidental feline input

Key features

Cat detection engine

The app inspects which physical keys fire and how fast — never the actual letters typed. It models paw patterns, not passwords, so your sensitive data stays completely private while the detector accurately identifies cat-like keyboard behavior.

Instant input clamping

When PawPause detects a cat on the keyboard, it pauses input system-wide immediately. The paw icon in your menu bar turns red, and the clamp auto-releases the instant typing settles. You can also press Esc at any time to override manually.

One-minute setup

Download the .dmg, drag PawPause to Applications, and launch it. It appears as a paw in your menu bar with no Dock icon or window. After granting Input Monitoring and Accessibility permissions in System Settings, flip Cat Mode armed and you're done.

Open source and auditable

Every line of code is on GitHub under the MIT license. You can read it, build it yourself, or audit exactly what the app does with the access you grant. The same detection engine also ships as a JavaScript library for web apps on any OS.

What stands out

It watches keys. It keeps nothing.

PawPause is built so it can't betray your trust — and the whole thing is open source so you don't have to take anyone's word for it. The detector inspects key-press patterns in memory and discards them immediately, with no network calls, no storage, and no analytics. Nothing you type ever leaves your Mac because there's nowhere for it to go.

Worth checking out if…

You work from home with a cat that loves walking across your keyboard, and you want a free, privacy-respecting solution that runs entirely on your Mac without sending anything to the cloud.