How I put a physics-simulated cloth rug on my Mac desktop

Description and use

Desk Rug overlays a physics‑simulated cloth rug on a macOS desktop, hiding icons while keeping them accessible via hotkeys, with realistic dynamics and low CPU usage.

Problem

The author’s desktop was cluttered and wanted a way to cover icons without hiding them, providing a visual and interactive solution.

Outcome

Desk Rug provides a realistic, low‑CPU physics‑based cloth overlay that hides desktop icons while keeping them accessible, with hotkey control, scheduling, and per‑Space profiles.

Workflow

• Install Desk Rug from the provided download link.
• Open the app (right‑click → Open if not notarized).
• Use the global hotkey (⌃⌥⌘R) to sweep icons under the rug or restore them.
• Configure per‑Space profiles or schedules if desired.
• Adjust cloth parameters via environment variables for fine‑tuning.
• Use the app’s UI to select different rugs or floors.

Evidence

Desk Rug is a small native macOS app that puts a live, physics-simulated cloth rug on your desktop.

Source

The rug is a grid of vertices simulated with XPBD (substepped, in the style of Ten Minute Physics' cloth), not a pre-baked animation.

Source

All shaders are MSL compiled at runtime from a source string — no Metal toolchain or precompiled bundle needed, which keeps the app a single thin binary.

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No accounts, no analytics, no network calls, no screen-recording permission. The app moves files through Finder on your machine and never sends anything anywhere.

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