AI answers for anything you select — invisible to screen recorders.
Select any text, press ⌘⇧Space, and an answer streams back in a floating overlay that no screenshot tool or screen recording can capture.
- Go to the latest release
- Download
BlindSpot-<version>.dmg - Open the DMG and drag BlindSpot onto the Applications folder
- First launch: right-click
BlindSpotin Applications → Open → Open
That last step is a one-time workaround. BlindSpot isn't notarized with Apple yet, so macOS shows a security prompt the first time. After that, double-clicking works normally.
brew tap Nainounen/blindspot
brew install --cask blindspotHomebrew skips the first-launch prompt automatically. To update:
brew update && brew upgrade --cask blindspotRequires macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Works on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
On first launch, BlindSpot walks you through three steps:
- Choose a provider — OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek, Grok, or Ollama (runs locally, no key needed)
- Paste your API key — saved on your Mac only, never sent anywhere except your chosen provider
- Allow Accessibility access — lets the app read your selected text and listen for the hotkey
Once done, the ✦ icon appears in your menu bar. Select any text anywhere and press ⌘⇧Space.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘⇧Space | Query the selected text |
| ⌘⌥Q | Force-quit BlindSpot |
Both are configurable in Settings. The panic shortcut kills the process immediately — useful when the overlay is stuck or you need to exit fast.
| Provider | Default model | API key |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | GPT-4o | platform.openai.com/api-keys |
| Anthropic | Claude Sonnet | console.anthropic.com/settings/keys |
| Google Gemini | Gemini 2.5 Flash | aistudio.google.com/app/apikey |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek Chat | platform.deepseek.com/api_keys |
| xAI Grok | Grok 3 | console.x.ai |
| Ollama | Llama 3.2 | No key — runs entirely on your Mac |
Switch providers at any time from the ✦ menu.
- API keys are stored locally at
~/.config/blind-spot/keys/and sent only to your chosen provider - Selected text goes to your provider's API to generate a response, subject to their privacy policy
- The answer overlay is excluded from screen capture via
NSWindowSharingNone, which operates at the compositor level — it does not appear in screenshots, ScreenCaptureKit recordings, or video calls (Zoom, Teams, Meet, etc.). On macOS 14.4+, the system screen picker also hides the window entirely, so it cannot be accidentally selected when sharing your screen - BlindSpot has no Dock icon and collects no data of its own
Limitations: The overlay is not protected against CGDisplayCreateImage or Accessibility API captures made by apps that already hold Screen Recording permission. A physical camera pointed at your display is also unaffected.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to build from source and submit changes.
