Free & open-source macOS app that adds a glowing comet trail to your cursor.
Never lose your audience during presentations again.
You're sharing your screen. Your audience squints at a tiny cursor arrow, lost in a sea of code, slides, or design mockups. You wiggle the mouse hoping they'll notice.
Comet Cursor fixes this. It draws a beautiful, animated comet trail behind your cursor — always on top, across all monitors, GPU-accelerated, zero lag. Your audience sees exactly where you're pointing, every time.
| Comet Cursor | Mouseposé | KeyCastr | Built-in macOS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cursor trail | ✅ Glowing comet | ✅ Basic highlight | ❌ Keystrokes only | ❌ None |
| Price | Free | $11 | Free | Free |
| Open source | ✅ MIT | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| GPU-accelerated | ✅ Metal | ❌ | ❌ | — |
| Multi-monitor | ✅ | ❌ | N/A | — |
| Customizable | 3 presets + full control | Limited | N/A | Cursor size only |
| App exclusions | ✅ Per-app | ❌ | — | — |
- ☄️ Animated comet trail that follows your cursor in real time (60 FPS, Metal)
- 🎨 3 built-in presets:
Presenter Glow,Neon Focus,Minimal Trace - 🎛️ Adjust trail length, thickness, opacity, and fade speed on the fly — no restart needed
- 🎨 Separate color pickers for trail body and head
- ⌨️ Global toggle: menu bar switch or
⌥⌘C - 🚫 Per-app exclusion list — auto-disable in apps where you don't need it
- 🖥️ Multi-monitor: separate overlay per screen, always on top
- 🌍 UI in English and Russian
- 🔋 Minimal resource usage: ~20 MB RAM, near-zero CPU when idle
If you regularly share your screen, this is for you:
- Developers — live demos, pair programming, code reviews
- Designers & PMs — Figma walkthroughs, slide presentations
- Teachers & mentors — explaining concepts on screen
- Streamers & content creators — recording tutorials and screencasts
Download .dmg, open it, drag Comet Cursor to Applications.
First launch: macOS may block the app since it's not from the App Store. Right-click the app → Open → Open to allow it once.
Requires Accessibility permission for cursor tracking. The app will prompt you on first launch.
# Requires Xcode Command Line Tools: xcode-select --install
git clone https://github.com/zaitsev-av/comet-cursor.git
cd comet-cursor/CometCursorApp
./scripts/build.sh
open "Comet Cursor.app"No Xcode required — just swift build.
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Language | Swift 5.9 |
| UI | SwiftUI + AppKit |
| Rendering | Metal (GPU) — triangle strip ribbon, no line strip artifacts |
| Tracking | CGEventTap + 120 Hz polling fallback |
| Build | swift build (no .xcodeproj) |
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions → DMG → Release |
| Min OS | macOS 13+ |
For architecture details, see CONTRIBUTING.md.
macOS blocks the app on first launch Right-click the app → Open → Open to allow it once.
"App is damaged" error
xattr -cr "/Applications/Comet Cursor.app"Trail doesn't appear
Add Comet Cursor to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
Trail feels laggy Grant Accessibility access — the app falls back to polling mode without it.
If Comet Cursor is useful to you, support its development:
⭐ Star the repo — it helps more people discover the app!
The original Go + CGo + OpenGL proof of concept lives in prototype-go/. Archived, not maintained.
MIT — do whatever you want, just keep the license notice.