Shade puts a dark layer over your whole screen. Only the area around your mouse stays clear, so you can work normally while people beside you see a dark screen. Clicks and typing pass straight through to your apps.
Free and open source. Download Shade for Windows · Website
- Download Shade-Setup.exe and double-click it.
- If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway. This appears because Shade isn't signed with a paid certificate yet.
- That's it. Shade installs in a few seconds (no admin password needed), adds a Shade icon to your Desktop and Start menu, and starts with a short welcome guide.
To remove it: Windows Settings → Apps → Installed apps → Shade → Uninstall.
- Round button (bottom-right of your screen): click to turn privacy on or off. Drag it to move it. Right-click it to open the controls.
- Control panel: opens when you start Shade. A big On/Off switch, Blackout, Circle or Reading strip, size and darkness sliders, shortcut choice, and Quit. Closing it keeps Shade running.
- Tray icon: click to open the controls, double-click to turn privacy on or off.
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
| Alt+Q | Turn Shade on or off (change it in the tray menu → On/off key) |
| Ctrl+Alt+Shift+B | Blackout: hide the entire screen instantly (press again to return) |
| Ctrl+Alt+Shift+M | Switch between Spotlight and Reading band |
| Ctrl+Alt+Shift+↑ | Make the clear area larger |
| Ctrl+Alt+Shift+↓ | Make the clear area smaller |
On Mac, use ⌘⌥⇧ instead of Ctrl+Alt+Shift for the other keys. If another app already uses one of these shortcuts, the tray menu marks it "taken by another app" and you can use the menu instead.
Opening Shade always turns it on and shows a short message at the top of the screen. Opening it again while it runs shows "Shade is already running". If something goes wrong, shade-log.txt in the Shade folder records what happened.
- Spotlight: a clear circle follows your mouse.
- Reading band: a clear horizontal strip at your mouse's height. Better for reading documents and long messages.
- Dark: everything outside the clear area is darkened.
- Blur: everything outside the clear area is blurred, with a light tint. Set the blur strength and darkness in the control panel. Blur reads the screen underneath Shade on your own laptop to blur it; nothing is saved or sent. It uses a little more battery than Dark. If it can't start on a PC, Shade switches back to Dark and says so.
- Works on every connected monitor.
- In video calls and screen recordings, other people see your normal screen without the dark layer.
- It stops people beside you or glancing over. Someone sitting right behind you can still see the clear area.
- Nothing is sent anywhere. Shade only saves your settings on your own laptop.
Requires Node.js.
npm install
npm start # run without packaging
npm run dist:win # Windows installer in dist/ (needs NSIS: apt install nsis, or NSIS on Windows)
npm run dist:mac # Mac installer (must be run on a Mac)
The Mac build must be made on a Mac. For other people to open it without warnings, it also needs an Apple Developer account (99 USD per year) to sign and notarize it.
MIT. Free to use, share and change.