MaCursor

Cursor Control for macOS

MaCursor gives you control over system cursors on macOS. You can replace macOS cursors with your own artwork or with ready-made themes, fine-tune every detail in the visual editor, and switch between them instantly with global hotkeys.

Requires macOS 13 Ventura or later.

Features

• 80+ Ready-to-Apply Themes — Browse and download curated cursor themes from the Theme Gallery
• Menu Bar Panel — Your favorite themes, the cursor for the app in front, and the cursor scale, Cursor Shadow and Focus on Hover controls, all in the menu bar without opening the window
• Right-Click Menu — Get more from your right-click in Finder and on the Desktop: copy a path, make a new file, open files in the app you choose, and more
• Per-App Themes — Each app can have its own cursor theme, and MaCursor switches to it when that app comes to the front
• Focus on Hover — The window under your pointer becomes active after a short pause, without clicking; it needs Accessibility access for the helper
• Convert Windows, Linux & Mousecape Themes — A Windows cursor folder (.cur / .ani), a Linux Xcursor theme folder or a Mousecape .cape file becomes a native .cursor theme, with every mapped cursor listed for review before it reaches your library
• Full Theme Editor — A split-pane editor for building and refining themes: metadata, cursor list, per-cursor image slots, hotspot editing, and animated cursor preview
• Cursor Scale — Adjust cursor size from 0.50× to 4.00× with a precision slider (0.1× steps), or type any custom value and press Enter to apply
• Left / Right Hand Mode — Cursor orientation for left-handed or right-handed mouse use

Quick Start

Get up and running in under a minute:

1. Install MaCursor

Download the latest .dmg from the Releases page, open it, and drag MaCursor to your Applications folder.

Or install it with Homebrew:

brew install --cask writronic/tap/macursor

2. Get Themes

Browse .cursor theme files in the Theme Gallery or grab them all from the Releases page. Already have a Windows or Linux cursor theme? Use File → Convert Theme… instead.

3. Import & Apply

Double-click any .cursor file, drag & drop it onto the MaCursor library window, or use File → Import Theme. Then select the theme and click Apply.

4. Make It Permanent (Recommended)

Without the helper tool, cursors reset after a restart or user switch. To keep your theme active permanently:

1. Open MaCursor → Settings → General.
2. Click Install next to Helper Tool.
3. That's it — the helper runs silently at login and reapplies your theme automatically.

[!IMPORTANT] The helper tool is a lightweight login item. It uses minimal resources and keeps your chosen cursor theme across restarts, sleep/wake cycles, and user switches.

Install

Download the latest .dmg from the Releases page. The app ships as a universal binary (Apple Silicon + Intel). Every release is code-signed, notarized, and stapled by Apple.

Usage

Applying a Theme

Select a theme from the sidebar and click Apply, or simply double-click it. The theme persists across app relaunches.

Restoring System Cursors

Click the Restore button (↺) in the toolbar to reset all cursors to macOS defaults.

Using the Menu Bar Panel

The menu bar panel puts the everyday controls one click away. It belongs to the Helper Tool, so it keeps working while MaCursor itself is closed.

1. Open MaCursor → Settings → General and install the Helper Tool. Until you do, Show Menu Bar Icon stays greyed out and reads The menu bar icon is provided by the Helper Tool. Install it above to use it.
2. Turn on Show Menu Bar Icon. A MaCursor pointer appears in the menu bar. If it does not, open System Settings and look in the Menu Bar section.
3. Star the themes you want to reach from the panel: select a theme and click the star (Add to Favorites) in the toolbar, or right-click it in the sidebar and choose the same command. The panel shows favorites only.

Click the menu bar icon to open the panel:

Right-click the menu bar icon for Open MaCursor, Settings... and Quit MaCursor. Quit MaCursor quits the app and the Helper Tool together, so the menu bar icon disappears and global shortcuts stop until you open MaCursor again.

Once the icon is showing, the Panel Background slider in Settings → General → Menu Bar sets how see-through the panel is: the middle of the slider is the standard frosted glass, the minimum is clear, the maximum is solid.

Using the Right-Click Menu

MaCursor makes your right-click menu in Finder and on the Desktop do more. Copy a path, make a new text or Markdown file, open files or a folder in the app you choose, and hide files or show them again.

1. Open MaCursor → Settings → Right-Click Menu and turn on Right-Click Menu.
2. If the Finder extension MaCursorFinder is not on yet, a Right-Click Menu window appears.
   • On macOS 13 and 14, click Open System Settings and turn on MaCursorFinder.
   • On macOS 15.0 and 15.1, System Settings cannot turn Finder extensions on. Click Copy Command and run the copied command in Terminal.
   • On macOS 15.2 and later, click Open System Settings and turn on MaCursorFinder in General → Login Items & Extensions → Extensions → File Providers.
3. The window notices on its own and shows Access granted. Click Continue.
4. Click Open System Settings, turn on MaCursor in Full Disk Access, then click Let’s Go!.

If the menu does not show right away, quit and reopen Finder. If you turn off Full Disk Access, the menu turns off too.

Each item shows when you right-click a file or folder, when you right-click empty space, or in both places. Open With, New File and Common Apps are submenus. The table follows the default menu order.

To change the menu, use the tabs in MaCursor → Settings → Right-Click Menu. You can switch each item on or off, add your own apps with +, move an item out of its submenu with Show in, and drag rows in Main Menu to change the order.

You can also add a MaCursor button to the Finder toolbar. In Finder, choose View → Customize Toolbar… and drag the button in. Click it to get the items you see when you right-click empty space, for the folder you are in. Inside iCloud Drive folders, use this button: it works there through the Helper Tool.

Adjusting Cursor Scale

Fine-tune the size of every system cursor from the Settings panel:

1. Open MaCursor → Settings → Cursor Control.
2. Use the Cursor Scale slider to pick a value between 0.50× and 4.00× (each tick moves in 0.1× increments).
3. For a precise value outside the slider stops, type the desired number directly into the scale field and press Enter to apply.

The new scale takes effect immediately.

Cursor Shadow and Hand Mode

Both controls sit beside the scale slider in Settings → Cursor Control, under Appearance, and both are baked into your theme's artwork as it is installed.

• Cursor Shadow draws a soft shadow under the pointer.
• Mouse Hand switches between Right Hand and Left Hand. Left Hand mirrors most cursors horizontally and carries the click point across with them, so a pointer that leans right leans left instead. The diagonal window-resize cursors are left alone, since mirroring those would point them the wrong way.

Change either one and MaCursor reapplies your theme straight away.

Theme Automation

Let MaCursor change your cursor theme on its own, either on a schedule or with your Mac's appearance:

1. Open MaCursor → Settings → Cursor Control and turn on Theme Automation. This needs the Helper Tool, which you can install from General → Helper Tool.
2. To switch on a schedule, leave Match system appearance off. Pick AM/PM or 24 hours as your time format, then set a start time and a theme for Day mode and for Night mode. MaCursor switches at those times and keeps that theme until the next one. The two modes must start at different times.
3. To follow your Mac instead of the clock, turn on Match system appearance, then pick a theme for Light Appearance and for Dark Appearance. Your cursor changes whenever the system appearance does.

Steps 2 and 3 are alternatives, not both: turning on Match system appearance replaces the Day and Night rows with the two appearance rows.

Per-App Themes

Give individual apps their own cursor:

1. Open MaCursor → Settings → Cursor Control and turn on Per-App Themes. This needs the Helper Tool too.
2. Click Add App…, choose an app, and pick the theme it should use.

Whenever that app comes to the front, MaCursor applies its theme, and puts your usual theme back when you leave it. You can also set the theme for the app in front straight from the menu bar panel.

Turning On Focus on Hover

Focus on Hover brings the window under your pointer to the front and hands it the keyboard focus after a short pause, so you can type into a window without clicking it first. The Helper Tool does the work, and macOS only lets it move windows once you grant MaCursorHelper Accessibility access.

1. Open MaCursor → Settings → General and install the Helper Tool. Without it the switch is greyed out and reads Focus on Hover requires the Helper Tool. You can install it from General → Helper Tool.
2. Switch to the Cursor Control tab and turn on Focus on Hover.
3. The Allow Accessibility Access window appears. Click Allow for Accessibility and MaCursor opens System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
4. Turn on MaCursorHelper in that list. Look for MaCursorHelper, not MaCursor: the helper is the part that needs the access.
5. The window notices on its own and shows Access granted. Click Let's Go!.

[!IMPORTANT] The switch reads on only while Focus on Hover is enabled, MaCursorHelper is allowed, and the helper is running. If it flips straight back off, check all three.

Importing Themes

Import .cursor theme files by double-clicking, dragging onto the library window, or via File → Import Theme.

Converting Windows, Linux & Mousecape Themes

Convert Theme rebuilds a cursor theme made for another platform as a native .cursor theme. Three kinds of source are accepted:

1. Choose File → Convert Theme… (⇧⌘O), then select the cursor theme folder or .cape file.
2. MaCursor reads the source and maps each cursor to its macOS counterpart, then opens a review sheet.
3. Check the Mapped list — every cursor that found a macOS slot is shown with its identifier. Open Warnings & ignored to see what was skipped and why.
4. Click Add to Library, or Add & Edit… to go straight into the editor and fine-tune the result.

Windows Cursors That Look Blurry or Will Not Import

Most Windows and Linux cursor packs ship 32×32 artwork, which is a 1× image. macOS stretches that to fill a Retina pointer, so the converted theme looks soft. MaCursor does not invent a sharper version for the larger slots, so the sharpness has to come from the source pack.

If the pack includes larger artwork, add it while you are already in the editor:

1. On the review sheet, click Add & Edit… instead of Add to Library.
2. For each cursor, drop the 64×64 or larger version of the same artwork onto the 2× slot.

If a .cur or .ani file will not land on a slot and MaCursor shows a Could Not Use File alert naming it, MaCursor could not read the file. Run the whole folder through File → Convert Theme… instead: it lists every file it could not use under Warnings & ignored.

Editing a Theme

Right-click a theme → Edit, or select it and click Edit in the toolbar. The editor opens in a dedicated window with:

Drop .png, .gif, .cur, or .ani files directly onto the representation slots in the editor to add or replace cursor images.

Slot Sizes Must Stay in Order

The four representation slots hold the same artwork at increasing pixel sizes, and MaCursor keeps them in order: 10× > 5× > 2× > 1×. Drop an image that breaks the order and MaCursor refuses it with a Slot Sizes Out of Order alert naming the two slots that clash. If a theme reaches the editor already out of order, saving stays blocked until you fix it.

• Put the smallest artwork in 1× and each larger version in the slot above it, so 32×32 in 1× and 64×64 in 2×.
• Each slot must be strictly larger than the one below it. The same 32×32 image cannot fill both 1× and 2×, which is the usual surprise after converting a Windows pack.
• To change the image in a filled slot, click the red ✕ on its thumbnail first, then drop the new one.
• You do not have to fill every slot. A cursor with 1× alone is a valid theme.

Editing the Hotspot

The hotspot is the single point that actually clicks. In the Hot Spot section of the cursor detail pane:

1. Drag anywhere on the cursor image — the marker follows your pointer and the X and Y fields update live.
2. Or type exact coordinates into X and Y for pixel-perfect placement.

The checkerboard behind the image shows transparency, so you can see exactly where the artwork ends.

Live Preview

The Preview strip under the hotspot editor lets you try a cursor before you save it:

• Hover the strip and your real pointer becomes the cursor you're editing.
• Click anywhere to drop a bullseye at the exact point the cursor clicked — the quickest way to confirm the hotspot is right.
• The strip is split black and white, so you can check that light and dark artwork stays visible on both.
• Animated cursors play at their real frame rate while you hover.

Tahoe Cursor Variants

macOS 26 Tahoe added S-variant cursor identifiers (ArrowS, IBeamS). MaCursor keeps them in sync for you: whatever you set for Arrow and I-Beam is mirrored into the matching variant, both when a theme is converted and when you edit one.

Open Settings → Cursor Control and turn off Hide Tahoe cursors if you'd rather see and edit those variants yourself.

Global Shortcuts

1. Open Settings → General → Helper Tool and install the helper.
2. Switch to the Shortcut tab.
3. Add slots, assign a theme and a key combination to each.
4. Press your shortcut from any app to switch cursors instantly.

Every shortcut needs ⌃, or ⌘ together with ⌥. MaCursor beeps and refuses a plain ⌘ or ⌘⇧ combination, a common macOS shortcut, or one another slot already uses. If a shortcut you saved earlier breaks these rules, its slot shows Record Shortcut until you record a new one.

Checking the Helper Tool

Theme Automation, Per-App Themes, Focus on Hover, the menu bar panel and global shortcuts all need the Helper Tool, and it is what keeps them running while MaCursor is closed. When one of them is greyed out or quietly stops working, open MaCursor → Settings → General → Helper Tool and read the status next to the dot:

Your Cursor Goes Back to the Default in Other Windows

If your theme applies but the pointer snaps back to the macOS arrow as soon as you move into another window, macOS is taking the cursor back. This happens when the system pointer colours have been changed away from their defaults, because macOS then treats the pointer as system-managed and overrides whatever MaCursor registered.

1. Open System Settings → Accessibility → Display.
2. Scroll to the Pointer section.
3. Set Pointer outline color and Pointer fill color back to their defaults, a black outline and a white fill.
4. Return to MaCursor and apply your theme again.

Cursors MaCursor Cannot Replace

MaCursor replaces the cursors macOS itself registers. An app that paints its own pointer keeps painting it, and no cursor tool can change that. Expect these to stay as they are:

• Websites with their own cursor, where the page supplies its own image through CSS.
• Creative and CAD apps such as Adobe and Blender, which load brush, pen and lasso tips from inside their own bundle.
• Canvas and GPU tools that hide the pointer and draw a brush circle onto their own render surface.
• Games whose engine captures the mouse and draws the pointer inside its own frame.
• Password fields, the Lock Screen and Touch ID prompts, where macOS forces the signed system cursor so a prompt cannot be spoofed.

If the text cursor is the one reverting, and it happens in dark-themed editors like VS Code or Obsidian, that one you can fix: open the theme with Edit, turn on Show All in the cursor list, and fill the IBeamXOR slot.

Development

Build from Source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/writronic/MaCursor.git
   cd MaCursor/Project

2. Open MaCursor.xcodeproj in Xcode 16+.
3. Build and run the MaCursor scheme.

[!NOTE] MaCursor uses Sparkle via Swift Package Manager. Xcode resolves the dependency automatically on first open.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before getting started.

Bug Reports & Feature Requests

Search existing issues before opening a new one. Use the Bug Report or Feature Request template to ensure your report includes all necessary details.

Localization

MaCursor supports 11 languages. Translation files are located in MaCursor/Resources/l10n/ — each language has its own .lproj/Localizable.strings file. Pull requests for new or improved translations are welcome.

Cursor Themes

Created a theme you'd like to share? Submit it to the built-in gallery — see the contributing guide for instructions.

Code

Fork the repository, create a feature branch, and open a pull request. Please follow the pull request template and keep changes focused.

Credits

Mousecape

License

MaCursor is available under the GPL-3.0 license.