mac-inputlock

English | 한국어

A personal macOS lock daemon that globally blocks keyboard and mouse input while keeping the screen on. Not the lock screen (login screen) — a "lock of your own" where input goes dead but the display stays visible.

For stepping away, cleaning the keyboard, preventing accidents — or cats. One toggle hotkey locks and unlocks.

Toggle hotkey

⌃⌥⌘L (Control + Option + Command + L) — every press toggles lock ↔ unlock.

While locked, the keyboard and mouse (movement/clicks/scrolling/trackpad) are all blocked; only this hotkey passes through, so it is the one way to unlock.

Install

1) Homebrew (when ready)

brew install --cask choiyounggi/tap/inputlock

2) From a release

Grab InputLock-<version>.zip from Releases, unzip, and move InputLock.app into /Applications.

3) Build from source

git clone https://github.com/choiyounggi/mac-inputlock.git
cd mac-inputlock
./build.sh 1.0.0          # produces InputLock.app + InputLock-1.0.0.zip

Permission (required)

Intercepting input requires the Accessibility permission. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, add InputLock.app, and toggle it ON.

For macOS security reasons this permission must be granted by you manually — it cannot be automated.

Auto-start (resident at login)

After granting the permission, one line registers a LaunchAgent so it is always resident at login:

/Applications/InputLock.app/Contents/MacOS/inputlock --install-agent

Remove:

/Applications/InputLock.app/Contents/MacOS/inputlock --uninstall-agent

Escape hatches (if input won't come back)

• Even while locked, ⌃⌥⌘L always passes through.
• If that fails, SSH in from another device and killall inputlock. When the process dies, the event tap is released automatically and input recovers immediately. (With auto-start on, it comes back ~10 seconds later — in the unlocked state.)

Limits (not a security lock)

Not a 100% block. The OS may take priority on a forced power-button shutdown, some system shortcuts during secure-input (password field) situations, and some multitouch system gestures. Plenty for accidents/pranks/stepping away — not a security lock against a determined intruder.

How it works

A session-level CGEventTap (Quartz global event tap) swallows (suppresses) keyboard and mouse events while locked. The toggle hotkey alone is intercepted in either state and used as the toggle trigger.

License

MIT — LICENSE