Limelight
What is Keycast?
Keycast is the practice of showing your keystrokes on screen, letting viewers see which keys or shortcuts you press during a recording, stream, or live demo.
Keycast describes broadcasting your keystrokes visually on screen as you work. The term is commonly used by screencasters, streamers, and educators who want their audience to see the keyboard actions driving what happens on screen. A keycast display typically pops up the keys or key combinations near the moment they are pressed.
Keycasting differs from screen recording, which captures the picture but not the reason behind each action. It also differs from a static shortcut cheat sheet, because keycast reflects what you actually press in the moment. The goal is clarity: viewers can reproduce your steps because they can see the keys involved.
For anyone presenting or teaching on a screen, keycasting turns invisible keyboard work into something the audience can follow. Limelight offers a keycast-style display on macOS through its menu bar: press ⌃⌥2 to show shortcut combinations and special keys as readable badges, designed to highlight commands rather than every keystroke.
Why Limelight
- ▸Keycast means showing your keystrokes on screen as you press them
- ▸Popular with streamers, screencasters, and tutorial makers
- ▸Focuses on shortcuts and commands so viewers can follow along
- ▸Limelight's keycast display is triggered with the global hotkey ⌃⌥2
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FAQ
- Is keycast the same as a keylogger?
- No. Keycast shows keys on screen for viewers; it does not secretly capture or store input. Limelight displays your keys on screen and bakes them into the video it records — there is no hidden keylog, and everything stays on your Mac.
- Do I need special software to keycast?
- Yes, you need an overlay tool. On macOS, Limelight provides a keycast display you toggle with ⌃⌥2.