Tauri Plugin Key Intercept

Tauri v2 plugin that intercepts global keyboard events at the hardware level on macOS. uses `CGEventTap` FFI to steal keypresses before the OS sees them — so you can override system shortcuts like F5 (dictation) without asking nicely.

app.plugin(tauri_plugin_key_intercept::init())

[](https://crates.io/crates/tauri-plugin-key-intercept) [](https://www.rust-lang.org/) [](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

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how it works

inserts a `CG_HEAD_INSERT_EVENT_TAP` at `CG_HID_EVENT_TAP` position — highest priority in the macOS event chain, before any other listener. when a registered hotkey fires, the C callback returns `NULL` to consume the event (OS never sees it) and emits a Tauri event to your frontend with the keycode and modifier flags.

same technique used by BetterTouchTool and similar tools. runs on a dedicated thread with its own `CFRunLoop`, fully idle at 0.0% CPU between events.

what it does

• hardware-level event tap — CGEventTap FFI, not NSEvent global monitors
• consume or passthrough — per-hotkey choice to block the OS or let the event propagate
• both keycode modes — register standard and media keycodes simultaneously (e.g. F5 = [96, 176])
• modifier filtering — strips internal macOS flags (fn, caps lock, numpad), matches only intentional modifiers (cmd, opt, ctrl, shift)
• runtime permission check — probes CGEventTapCreate to verify Input Monitoring access without side effects
• deep-link to settings — opens System Settings directly at Privacy > Input Monitoring
• cross-platform safe — compiles on all platforms, returns UnsupportedPlatform on non-macOS

install

Rust side

add to your `src-tauri/Cargo.toml`:

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