Musou
FOR EVERY MAC SCREEN · MACBOOK · IMAC · STUDIO DISPLAY · MULTI-MONITOR · OLED

Your Mac, without the noise. Pure black around what matters.

Press ⌃⌥⌘F and every distracting window, glaring white sheet, and unused monitor vanishes into velvet black—so your active work stays at 100% vivid brightness without blinding your eyes. Let the light follow your cursor across monitors, keep two apps side-by-side in Custom, or step back so only your video stays lit. Touch the mouse, and your whole desk is back before you blink.

Download Musou for Mac — Free Enjoy it all, free · 14-day Supporter trial built in · Apple silicon (macOS 14.2+) · No account · No card
Musou Work Focus keeping only the active workspace lit in velvet black

Four modes built for how you actually work and watch

Work Focus mode
1 · Work Focus (⌃⌥⌘F)

Full brightness where you work. Pure black everywhere else.

Stop dimming your screen to 30% just to survive a glaring white spreadsheet beside your canvas. Work Focus blacks out every background window, badge, and extra monitor so your active window stays vivid and crisp.

Follow the mouse mode
2 · Follow the Mouse

Light follows your cursor across every screen.

Coding on one monitor with white API docs on the second? The window under your pointer lights up in 0.4 seconds and fades back to velvet black 1.5 seconds after your cursor leaves—no more giant lightbulbs in your peripheral vision.¿Programando en un monitor con documentación blanca en el segundo? La ventana bajo tu puntero se ilumina en 0.4 segundos y vuelve a negro terciopelo 1.5 segundos después de salir, sin focos encendidos en tu visión periférica.

Custom Keep and Vanish mode
3 · Custom Keep/Vanish & Smart Alerts

Keep two apps side-by-side—and wake when your AI agent finishes.

Mark your code editor and live preview as Keep while Mail and Slack vanish. Running a long Claude Code, Cursor, or Terminal task in the dark? Musou detects when your agent or build finishes and gently wakes it for you.

Away and Only the video mode
4 · Away & Only the Video

Your browser outshines the film. Slice it away.

When you step back to watch at night, Musou slices off browser tabs, sidebars, comments, and grey letterbox bars, then glides just the playing video to the middle of your screen. One touch of the mouse restores your desk.

Before: from the doorway it looks like you're still working—a bright web page, open tabs, and a second monitor lighting up the whole room for nobody.
With Musou: the house lights go down across your desk. Only the movie—or the one window you're using—stays lit.

Dark mode is grey. This is black.

The light on your wall is the page, not the film

Dark Mode doesn't turn the light off—it just paints the walls grey while comments, sidebars, and grey bars keep shining in your face. When you step back to watch, Musou turns the page around your video, the menu bar, the grey bars, and your other screens velvet black—leaving only the movie (or your live stream and chat) lit in the dark.

“Can you turn that down?” “It's already on the lowest.”

When your brightness bar is already at the bottom and the room is still lit up, brightness isn't the problem—how much of the screen is glowing is. And on most external monitors, your MacBook's brightness keys don't even work. With Follow, only the window under your mouse and the one you're typing in stay lit; everything else fades to black in 1.5 seconds. Seen from their pillow, it's just one quiet page.

Lid open. Laptop black. Until your mouse goes back.

Tired of half-closing your MacBook lid—or draping a towel over it—just to stop it glaring beside your monitor or TV, only for your main screen to go black too? Leave the lid open. While you work or watch on the big screen, your laptop stays velvet black, and lights up again the instant your mouse slides back to it.

Back from lunch. Every window right where you left it.

When macOS puts an external monitor to sleep, it often takes 8 seconds to wake up, cuts off your music on the TV, or dumps all 20 of your windows onto your laptop screen. Because Musou never puts your monitor to sleep—it simply draws a black curtain over it—nothing slept, and nothing moved. Touch the mouse and your whole desk is back at once.

Your keys only go to a window with light

Ever typed a private message into a work document—or pressed ⌘W and closed the wrong window—because ten open windows all look the same? In Follow and Work Focus, the window receiving your keystrokes is always lit while background clutter disappears into black (or a soft 75% / 50% dim).

No more 3:12 a.m. ghost wakes (Wake on News)

Everyone was taught to turn the light off when leaving a room—yet a finished backup or download at 3:12 a.m. will wake a sleeping Mac and light up your whole bedroom until morning. Musou keeps your screens dark even if your Mac wakes up at night, or—when you turn on Smart Alerts for an overnight AI agent (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor)—lights up only the finished window when your job is done.

Why every screen in your house feels different tonight

1. Ordinary Laptop, iMac & Office Screens (LED & IPS)

On a MacBook Air, iMac, Studio Display, or everyday monitor, turning the brightness down ruins the movie or page you are looking at. The secret isn't dimming the whole screen—it's turning off the white glare around it. By covering the other 80% of the screen in black, the harsh office glow disappears from your walls and glasses while your video stays crisp and bright.

2. MacBook Pro Liquid Retina XDR & Mini-LED

Your 14″ or 16″ MacBook Pro has thousands of tiny lights behind the glass that can turn off in the dark—but Apple's grey Dark Mode forces them to stay on! When Musou covers unused windows in true black, the tiny lights behind those parts of your screen actually switch off, making the black around your movie blend seamlessly into a dark room.

3. OLED, AMOLED & MicroLED Monitors

You didn't buy an expensive OLED monitor to become its babysitter—hiding your menu bar, deleting your wallpaper, and staring at a soulless empty desktop. Keep your wallpaper, your Dock, and your menu bar exactly how you love them. Wherever Musou lays its black curtain, those pixels rest completely off—giving you the floating-in-mid-air black you paid for, automatically.

4. Built to Be Seen Working from Second Zero

Most Mac menu-bar utilities sit in the top corner for years and you never know if they actually did anything. Musou shows its work the first time you step away or click the Eclipse Orb: the room goes quiet, your movie stays lit, and a single touch brings everything back.

Enjoy it all, free. Support us once if you love it.

Every core mode—Away, Follow, Work Focus, Custom, Only the video, and 3 smooth transitions—is free forever, with a 14-day full Supporter trial built in (plus 16 bonus days when you share Musou with a friend). No account, no credit card, and no subscription ever. If Musou earns a permanent spot on your Mac, unlock every Supporter power feature and every future version for life with a single payment.

Free Forever + 14-Day Supporter Trial

Free

$0

All 4 modes and Only the video for everyday 1–2 screen setups.Los 4 modos y Solo el video para escritorios de 1 o 2 pantallas.

  • Away, Follow the Mouse, Work Focus & Custom modesModos Ausente, Seguir el puntero, Work Focus y Personalizado
  • Only the video (turns the page & grey bars around your film black)Solo el video (pone en negro la página y las barras grises alrededor de tu peli)
  • Up to 2 lit windows & up to 2 screensHasta 2 ventanas iluminadas y hasta 2 pantallas
  • 3 transitions: Instant, Fade & Dissolve3 transiciones: Instantánea, Fundido y Disolver
  • Includes 14 days of full Supporter access (+16 bonus days when you share)Incluye 14 días de acceso Supporter completo (+16 días extra al compartir)
Download free
Recommended · 50% off launch ($29.99)

Founding Supporter

$14.99 once$14.99 un solo pago

Every Supporter power feature and every future version, yours for life.

  • Unlimited lit windows, Custom Keep/Vanish choices, and 3+ screensVentanas iluminadas ilimitadas, zonas Custom Keep/Vanish ilimitadas y 3 o más pantallas
  • Smart Alerts (messages & AI agents), Center the video, all floating videos, Stream + Chat layout & Rest browser barsAvisos inteligentes (mensajes y agentes IA), centrar video, videos flotantes, diseño de stream + chat y descanso de barras
  • 6 cinema transitions (Snap, Melt, TV Off, Burn, Eclipse, Black Hole) + Soft Dim (75%/50%) & Work Focus timer6 transiciones de cine (Snap, Melt, TV Off, Burn, Eclipse, Black Hole) + Atenuado suave (75%/50%) y temporizador Work Focus
  • Every future version and update included for lifeTodas las versiones y actualizaciones futuras incluidas de por vida
  • Use on up to 3 of your Macs ($5 per Mac for life) + your permanent Founding Supporter numberÚsalo hasta en 3 de tus Mac ($5 por Mac de por vida) + tu número permanente de Founding Supporter
  • 2 guest passes: 30 days of full Supporter access for friends2 pases de invitado: 30 días de acceso Supporter total para amigos

Worth $32–$40 at launch prices (all future versions included)

Get the Founding Supporter licence
Pay what you want · 3 Lifetime Licences

Patron

From $39.99, you chooseDesde $39.99, tú eliges

A lifetime licence for you (5 Macs), plus 2 full lifetime licences to gift.

  • Everything in the Founding Supporter licence, with every future version & add-on included for lifeTodo lo incluido en la licencia Founding Supporter, con cada versión y complemento futuro incluidos de por vida
  • Use on up to 5 of your MacsÚsalo hasta en 5 de tus Mac
  • 2 full licences to give: Version 1 of the finished app for two friends (3 Macs each — 11 Macs total)2 licencias completas para regalar: Versión 1 de la app terminada para dos amigos (3 Mac cada una — 11 Mac en total)
  • 5 guest passes: 30 days of full Supporter access for five friends5 pases de invitado: 30 días de acceso Supporter total para cinco amigos
  • Your name in the app's credits and on the official Patrons wall (opt-in) + the Patron mark

Worth $89.97 at regular prices ($29.99 × 3 lifetime licences)

Become a Patron

30-day no-questions refund: if Musou isn't for you, reply to your receipt within 30 days for a full refund.

Nothing leaves your Mac

Musou collects nothing. No account, no analytics, no tracking. Screen Recording and Accessibility are used strictly in your Mac's memory to find the edges of your windows and videos—nothing is ever saved or sent anywhere. Musou goes online only to check a Supporter or Patron licence key when you enter one: it sends the key, a random installation ID, your Mac model name, and the stored activation ID to Polar (polar.sh) to verify activation and expiry. Every free feature works 100% offline.

Questions

Why is it called Musou, and does it work on ordinary screens (not just OLED)?

It's named after Musou Black, the Japanese artist pigment that absorbs 99.4% of light. Most apps still treat your Mac like a 2012 display—leaving unused windows glowing white or washed-out grey. Musou covers everything you aren't watching in velvet black: on an ordinary MacBook Air, iMac, Studio Display, or office monitor, it takes away the white page glare lighting up your walls and glasses; on a MacBook Pro, the tiny lights behind those black areas actually switch off; and on an OLED monitor, black pixels turn completely off so your window looks like it's floating in mid-air.

What is GFN (Glowing For Nothing)?

You were taught as a kid to turn the light off when you leave a room. GFN (Glowing For Nothing) is what happens when you watch one small video—or step away to make coffee—and the rest of your web page and your other monitors keep shining in your face or at an empty chair. Musou fixes that automatically: what you're using gets light; what's waiting goes dark.

Did my screen break? Is it locked or asleep?

Yes, it went black—on purpose! Nothing is turned off, asleep, or locked. Because your monitor never goes to sleep, your music never cuts out and your windows never scatter onto your laptop. Just nudge the mouse or tap any key (or press Esc three times) and everything is back right where you left it.

Why only Apple silicon?

Musou is written natively for M1, M2, M3, M4 and M5 Macs on macOS 14.2 or later so it uses practically zero energy while running silently in the background. Intel Macs aren't supported.

Turn off the light around what you watch.

Download Musou for Mac — Free Apple silicon · macOS 14.2 or later · Enjoy it all, free