How to Show Keystrokes in a Screen Recording on Mac

macOS ships with two built-in recording options: QuickTime Player and the screenshot toolbar (Command+Shift+5). Both capture exactly what appears on your display — pixels, nothing more. Keystrokes happen at the OS input layer, below the display layer, so neither tool has any mechanism to intercept them and render them visually.

The result: your viewer watches a mouse cursor move and things happen on screen with no explanation of what keyboard shortcut triggered it. For a 30-second demo this is fine. For a coding tutorial where you're flying through Vim bindings or Photoshop shortcuts, it's a wall of magic.

You have two realistic solutions: a dedicated overlay app that draws keystrokes on top of your screen while you record, or a screen recorder that handles keystroke display natively.

KeyCastr is a free, open-source macOS app (available on GitHub) that intercepts keyboard input and displays it as a floating overlay on your screen. When you press Command+C, a small panel appears showing ⌘C. It's been around for years and is the go-to solution for people who want keystroke display without switching their recording tool.

The overlay is composited on top of your screen, so any screen recorder — QuickTime, OBS, Limelight, anything — will capture it in the recording. You get to choose the font size, color, fade duration, and position of the display panel.

The catch: KeyCastr is an overlay, not embedded data. The keystroke display is rendered at a fixed position on screen and can overlap your content. If your UI has important elements in the bottom-left corner (where KeyCastr defaults), you'll need to reposition it manually. Also, if you want to share just the video without keystroke labels for a different audience, you can't — they're burned into the pixels wherever they appeared.

KeyCastr works best when you already have a recording workflow you like, you just need keystroke visibility added to it.

Limelight is a native macOS screen recorder (Apple Silicon + Intel, macOS 14+) that builds keystroke display directly into its recording engine. You don't run a separate overlay app — Limelight intercepts your keystrokes during recording and renders them as part of the captured video.

The visual output is similar to KeyCastr: a panel showing the keys you press appears on screen. The difference is integration. Limelight also auto-zooms into every click, adds cursor spotlight, supports freehand annotations and region spotlight, and has a built-in editor for trimming and speed adjustments. Everything is offline — no account, no uploads.

Keystroke display in Limelight is available on the Pro plan ($2.99/month or $34 lifetime for up to 5 Macs). The free tier includes cursor spotlight only.

1. Download Limelight from github.com/Muk9700/limelight-releases and open it. No account setup required.

2. In the Limelight menu bar icon, open Settings. Under the Recording section, find the Keystrokes toggle and enable it.

3. Optionally adjust the keystroke display style — you can change font size and position to suit your layout.

4. Click the record button (or use the global shortcut) to start recording. As you type, the keystroke panel appears in the video.

5. When done, stop the recording. Open the built-in editor to trim dead air at the start or end, then export as mp4.

The keystrokes are baked into the exported video file — no post-processing required.

Use KeyCastr if: you have an existing recording setup you're happy with (OBS, QuickTime), you need keystroke display for free with no other changes, or you want fine-grained control over the overlay appearance via KeyCastr's own settings.

Use Limelight if: you want keystroke display combined with auto-zoom, cursor effects, and annotations in a single tool. The workflow is simpler — one app handles everything instead of two running simultaneously. Limelight also gives you 9:16 vertical export for social media clips.

Both tools produce accurate keystroke output. This is really a question of workflow: separate tools vs. an integrated recorder.

Position matters. Put the keystroke panel in a corner where your UI has the least activity. Bottom-center works well for most apps. Avoid overlapping menu bars or toolbars that your viewer needs to see.

Size up for high-resolution exports. If you're exporting at 2x Retina resolution, small text in the keystroke panel can look tiny when the video is played at 50% size. Increase font size beyond what looks right on your screen — it'll scale down appropriately.

Filter modifier-only shortcuts. Commands like Command+Tab or Command+Space that switch apps mid-recording look confusing in the keystroke display. If your tool supports filtering, suppress system-level shortcuts.

Pause before complex sequences. If you're about to type a multi-key shortcut that's the point of the tutorial, pause for a second, then execute it. This gives viewers time to anticipate the keystroke display.

Match your pacing. If you type at 120 WPM during a typing demo, the keystroke panel will flash so fast viewers can't read it. Slow down for sections where the keys themselves are what you're demonstrating.