InputGlow

A gamer-style stream overlay that shows your keys and mouse live in OBS. Built for mouse and keyboard players.

• Glass keys for the left side of the keyboard (Esc to B, plus Ctrl, Alt and Space)
• A laser dot with a fading tail, in its own box next to the keys so your crosshair stays clear
• Live keys-per-second counter
• RGB mode or any theme colour

Quick start

1. Download InputGlow.exe from Releases (or run from source, see below).
2. Open it. Your settings page opens in the browser.
3. In OBS, add a Browser Source, paste http://localhost:8765/overlay, and set the size to 1920 x 1080.

That's it. Next time, just open InputGlow before you stream.

Press F8 any time to hide the overlay, for example before typing a password.

Features

Feature	What it does
Privacy hotkey	F8 hides everything and stops sending input
Auto-fade	Dims the overlay when you are idle
Position and size	Pick a corner and size in settings, or move it in OBS
Theme colour	Pick a colour, a custom colour, or RGB mode

Anti-cheat

⚠️ No guarantee: InputGlow is built to be as anti-cheat friendly as possible, but it is not approved by any game or anti-cheat company, and nobody can guarantee that an anti-cheat won't flag it. Anti-cheat rules are private and can change at any time. Use it at your own risk, and test it in a casual match before ranked.

How InputGlow keeps the risk low:

• It only reads input. It never touches or reads game memory, never injects code into a game, and never sends or changes any input.
• Keyboard and mouse are read with the Windows Raw Input API, which gives a read-only copy of input without sitting in the input chain.
• It never needs administrator rights.
• Controller support was removed on purpose, to keep the app as simple as possible and avoid anything that works like a remapping tool.

Tested by the developer in ranked Apex Legends matches with no issues. That's one person's experience, not a promise for every game.

Troubleshooting

• Don't run InputGlow as administrator. It never needs it, and anti-cheats are stricter with admin tools.
• Anti-cheat error in a game? Close InputGlow, verify the game files (Steam: right-click the game, Properties, Installed Files, Verify integrity), and play a match without it. If the error only happens with InputGlow open, please open an issue with the game name and error.
• Remapping tools (like reWASD) are a common cause of anti-cheat errors even when they're not running.
• Port 8765 busy? InputGlow is probably already open. Check for its black window or close it in Task Manager.

Security

The app reads your keyboard, so it is built to keep that data local:

• The server only listens on 127.0.0.1, never on your network.
• WebSocket connections are only accepted from the local overlay pages. Other websites are blocked by checking the Origin and Host headers, which also stops DNS rebinding.
• Only the keys shown on the overlay are ever sent. Everything else you type is ignored.
• Settings sent to the app are checked against allowed values before they are saved.
• No outside requests: the font is bundled with the app, so the overlay never contacts the internet.

Supply chain security

The build is locked down so a hacked package or action can't sneak into the exe:

• requirements.txt pins every package (including the packages they depend on) to an exact version and its SHA-256 hash. pip refuses to install anything that doesn't match (--require-hashes).
• GitHub Actions are pinned to exact commit SHAs instead of tags, because tags can be moved.
• The build prints the SHA-256 of InputGlow.exe, so users can check their download matches.
• Dependabot opens a pull request when safer versions are out. Nothing updates without a review.

Updating packages

1. Change the version in requirements.in.
2. Regenerate the locked file:

pip install uv
uv pip compile requirements.in --generate-hashes --python-platform windows --python-version 3.12 -o requirements.txt

Run from source

Needs Windows and Python 3.12.

pip install --require-hashes -r requirements.txt
python app.py

Or double-click run.bat.

Build the .exe

Automatic (recommended): GitHub Actions builds InputGlow.exe for you. Push a version tag and the exe is attached to a new release:

git tag v1.0.0
git push origin v1.0.0

You can also open the Actions tab, pick Build InputGlow, and press Run workflow.

On your own PC: double-click build.bat. The app appears in the dist folder.

Antivirus tools sometimes flag new unsigned apps that read the keyboard. If that happens, build it yourself from the source so you know exactly what is inside.

Project layout

app.py              helper app: input reading, local server, settings
web/overlay.html    the overlay OBS shows
web/settings.html   settings page with live preview

Credits

Rajdhani font by Indian Type Foundry, used under the SIL Open Font License (web/fonts/OFL.txt).

License

MIT