How the macOS window sharing type and the Windows Desktop Window Manager keep ClawPad's overlay private during a consent-based mock interview, and how to verify it on your own machine.
Screen-sharing software captures the desktop through OS capture APIs. ClawPad asks the OS to leave its overlay window out of that capture; coverage depends on the sharing tool honoring it.
ClawPad sets the overlay's window sharing type to none and applies window-server capture exclusion. ScreenCaptureKit is used separately for ClawPad's own screenshots of a practice question, with its own windows excluded from that capture.
On Windows 10 (2004+) and Windows 11, the display affinity flag asks the Desktop Window Manager to leave the overlay out of capture.
ClawPad does not claim to detect when sharing starts. If a sharing tool does not honor OS capture exclusion, the configured Show or Hide Overlay shortcut is the manual fallback.
When enabled, type-through mode sends your keys and clicks to the editor or browser behind the overlay so coaching notes stay visible while you keep working.
A readiness result is not recipient-side proof; the test meeting is.
Open Prepare for interview. The Device readiness check reports screen capture permission, microphone input, shortcuts, account access, and whether OS window exclusion is available on this machine.
Open Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, start an empty test meeting, and share your entire display.
Check the meeting preview window or join from a second device to confirm the ClawPad overlay is not present in the shared stream.
Clear facts about operating system controls and permitted use.
OS-level capture exclusion is an operating system control that lets an application ask for one of its windows to be left out of screen capture while it stays visible to the local user. Sharing tools that honor the control omit the window from the stream they send.
ClawPad sets its overlay window's sharing type to none and applies window-server capture exclusion so screen-sharing tools that respect those settings leave the overlay out. ScreenCaptureKit is what ClawPad uses for its own screenshots of a practice question, excluding its own windows from that capture; it is not the exclusion mechanism.
On Windows 10 (build 2004 and newer) and Windows 11, ClawPad sets the window display affinity flag WDA_EXCLUDEFROMCAPTURE, which asks the Desktop Window Manager to leave the overlay out of capture.
No. Capture exclusion affects only what capture APIs see. ClawPad does not hide its running process from system monitoring tools such as Task Manager or Activity Monitor, and it does not bypass assessment rules.
Open Prepare for interview in ClawPad, which runs the Device readiness check, then start a private test meeting on Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, share your full screen, and confirm on the recipient preview that the overlay is not present. ClawPad does not claim to detect when sharing starts; the Show or Hide Overlay shortcut is the manual fallback.