Input Simulator

⚠️ Experimental — personal use only.
This tool was built for a specific personal workflow and is not a polished product. It carries no guarantees and may behave unexpectedly in other environments. Use at your own risk.

macOS menu bar utility that types clipboard content as simulated keystrokes — useful for RDP sessions or any window where paste is blocked.

Features

• Paste via typing — reads the clipboard and replays it keystroke by keystroke
• Global hotkey — ⌃⌥⌘V triggers typing from anywhere
• ESC to cancel — stops mid-way through a long paste
• Typing speed — Slow (100 ms), Normal (40 ms), Fast (15 ms), or a custom value (≥ 5 ms)
• Start delay — configurable pause before the first keystroke (100 / 300 / 500 / 750 ms), giving you time to click into the target window
• Windows RDP Mode — uses Alt+numpad sequences for non-ASCII characters (Umlauts, etc.) so the correct glyphs arrive regardless of the Windows keyboard layout; leave it off for regular macOS apps
• Symbol shortcuts — [ ] { } \ | buttons in the main menu for quick insertion without the Windows symbol table

Requirements

• macOS 13 Ventura or later
• Accessibility permission — grant it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility; the app will prompt on first launch

Build & Install

Run the install script — it builds a Release binary and copies it to ~/Applications:

./install.sh

Then open the app and grant Accessibility permission in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.

Note: If the script fails with an xcode-select error, run sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer once and retry.

Note: Every time the binary is rebuilt, macOS revokes the Accessibility trust. Always run from ~/Applications/InputSimulator.app (not from the build folder) to keep the permission stable.

Usage

1. Copy text to the clipboard.
2. Click into the target window (the start delay gives you time to do this after pressing the hotkey).
3. Press ⌃⌥⌘V — or open the menu bar icon and choose Paste via Typing.
4. Press ESC at any time to stop.

Testing

Copy the snippet below to the clipboard, click into the target window, and trigger ⌃⌥⌘V with Windows RDP Mode on. Scan each line and confirm the character on the right matches the label on the left.

brackets:  [ ]
braces:    { }
backslash: \
pipe:      |
tilde:     ~
hash:      #
at:        @
backtick:  `
percent:   %>%
quotes:    " '
umlaut:    ä ö ü Ä Ö Ü ß

Logs

Logs are written to:

~/Library/Logs/InputSimulator.log

The log is cleared each time the app launches. To tail it live:

tail -f ~/Library/Logs/InputSimulator.log