klicky

Make your Mac keyboard sound like a mechanical keyboard. System-wide, low-latency, lightweight.

0.33ms average latency — every keypress under 1ms. 3.5MB binary. Zero runtime dependencies.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/klicky-demo.mp4

How it works

klicky runs as a background daemon that:

1. Listens for keypresses via macOS CGEventTap (system-wide, works in any app)
2. Plays pre-decoded PCM audio for each key — sounds are decoded once at startup, not on every keypress
3. Accepts runtime commands via Unix socket (switch sounds, adjust volume, stop)

Install

From source (requires Rust)

git clone https://github.com/Sauhard74/klicky.git
cd klicky
cargo build --release
cp target/release/klicky /usr/local/bin/  # or ~/.local/bin/

# Install sound packs (included in repo)
mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/klicky/sounds
cp -r sounds/* ~/Library/Application\ Support/klicky/sounds/

11 sound packs are included in the sounds/ directory. They get copied to ~/Library/Application Support/klicky/sounds/ where klicky reads them at startup.

Each sound pack is a directory containing sound.ogg + config.json:

~Library/Application Support/klicky/sounds/
├── cherrymx-black-pbt/
│   ├── sound.ogg
│   └── config.json
├── cherrymx-blue-abs/
│   ├── sound.ogg
│   └── config.json
└── eg-oreo/
    ├── sound.ogg
    └── config.json

Usage

klicky start                      # start the daemon (foreground)
klicky start &                    # start in background
klicky stop                       # stop the daemon
klicky list                       # list available sound packs
klicky switch cherrymx-blue-pbt   # switch to a different sound
klicky volume 0.5                 # set volume (0.0 - 1.0)
klicky status                     # show current state
klicky start --benchmark          # start with latency measurements

Auto-start on login

Add this to your ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

# klicky - mechanical keyboard sounds
(pgrep -f "klicky start" > /dev/null 2>&1 || ~/.local/bin/klicky start &) > /dev/null 2>&1

First run — Accessibility permission

klicky needs Accessibility permission to listen for keypresses:

1. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility
2. Click the + button
3. Add your terminal app (Terminal, iTerm2, Warp, etc.) or the klicky binary
4. Toggle it on

Sound packs

Included packs

Pack	Type	Description
cherrymx-black-pbt	Linear	Deep, smooth thock with PBT keycaps
cherrymx-black-abs	Linear	Slightly brighter with ABS keycaps
cherrymx-blue-pbt	Clicky	Classic loud click with PBT
cherrymx-blue-abs	Clicky	Bright click with ABS
cherrymx-brown-pbt	Tactile	Subtle bump, no click, PBT
cherrymx-brown-abs	Tactile	Subtle bump with ABS
cherrymx-red-pbt	Linear	Light and smooth, PBT
cherrymx-red-abs	Linear	Light and poppy, ABS
eg-oreo	Linear	Everglide Oreo — creamy thock
eg-crystal-purple	Tactile	Everglide Crystal Purple — crisp
nk-cream	Linear	NovelKeys Cream — deep buttery thock

Custom sound packs

Create your own sound pack:

1. Record or obtain a single audio file with all key sounds
2. Create a config.json mapping each key to [start_ms, duration_ms] in the audio file:

{
  "defines": {
    "KeyA": [0, 150],
    "KeyB": [150, 120],
    "Space": [270, 180]
  },
  "name": "My Custom Pack",
  "key_define_type": "single"
}

3. Save as sound.ogg + config.json in a new directory under the sounds folder

Supported key names: KeyA-KeyZ, Num0-Num9, F1-F12, Space, Return, Backspace, Tab, Escape, ShiftLeft, ShiftRight, ControlLeft, ControlRight, Alt, AltGr, MetaLeft, MetaRight, CapsLock, Comma, Dot, Slash, SemiColon, Quote, LeftBracket, RightBracket, BackSlash, BackQuote, Minus, Equal, UpArrow, DownArrow, LeftArrow, RightArrow, Delete, Home, End, PageUp, PageDown, Insert, Function, and numpad keys (Kp0-Kp9, KpPlus, KpMinus, KpMultiply, KpDivide, KpReturn, KpDelete).

Latency

klicky is built for speed. Benchmark results on Apple M-series:

=== Latency (219 keypresses) ===
  avg:  0.33ms
  min:  0.02ms
  max:  0.69ms

This measures time from CGEventTap callback to audio dispatch. Add ~5-12ms for CoreAudio buffer output, giving ~6-13ms total perceived latency — imperceptible to humans.

Why so fast?

Optimization	Impact
Pre-decode all OGG → raw PCM at startup	0ms runtime decode (vs ~10-20ms for on-the-fly)
Persistent audio OutputStream	No per-keypress device setup
Arc<Vec<i16>> sample sharing	Zero-copy playback from cache
500μs event loop	Sub-millisecond response

Tech stack

• Rust — safe, fast, no GC pauses
• rdev — cross-platform global key listener (CGEventTap on macOS)
• rodio — audio playback
• symphonia — OGG Vorbis decoding
• clap — CLI framework
• Unix domain sockets — IPC between CLI and daemon

Inspired by

• KeyEcho — Tauri-based mechanical keyboard sounds (sound pack format compatible)
• keyb — Beautiful web-based mechanical keyboard
• Klack — Native macOS mechanical keyboard app
• rustyvibes — Rust CLI for keyboard sounds

License

MIT