Three-finger trackpad gestures for middle-click and middle-drag on macOS.

The middle mouse button your Mac trackpad is missing.

Mac trackpads don't have a middle mouse button. Many apps expect one.

MiddleDrag fixes this. Three-finger tap for middle-click. Three-finger drag for middle-drag. Works alongside Mission Control and other system gestures.

• Open links in new background tabs
• Close tabs with a click
• Open bookmarks/history in new tabs

• Pan canvas in Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, GIMP
• Navigate large documents in PDF viewers
• Scroll in any direction without modifier keys

• Close editor tabs in VS Code, Sublime Text, IDEs
• Middle-click paste in terminals (where supported)
• Pan around large codebases in code visualization tools

• Orbit and pan viewports in Blender, FreeCAD, Fusion 360, SketchUp, Maya, ZBrush, OnShape
• Navigate Google Earth and mapping applications
• Essential for apps with broken or missing trackpad support

• Autoscroll in supported applications
• Any workflow that expects middle-mouse input

• Three-finger tap → Middle mouse click
• Three-finger drag → Middle mouse drag (pan/orbit in 3D apps)
• Works with system gestures — Mission Control, Exposé, and other macOS gestures remain functional
• Native macOS app — Menu bar interface, no terminal configuration required
• Configurable — Adjust sensitivity and smoothing to your preference
• Launch at login — Set it and forget it

brew install --cask middledrag

sudo port install MiddleDrag

1. Download the latest .pkg installer from Releases
2. Open the installer and follow the prompts
3. Launch MiddleDrag from your Applications folder
4. Grant Accessibility permissions when prompted

Downloads are cryptographically attested via GitHub Artifact Attestations.

# Requires GitHub CLI: brew install gh
gh attestation verify  ~/Downloads/MiddleDrag-{VERSION}.pkg --repo NullPointerDepressiveDisorder/MiddleDrag

MiddleDrag runs in your menu bar as a hand icon.

• Enabled — Toggle gesture recognition
• Drag Sensitivity — Cursor speed during drag (0.5x – 2x)
• Require Exactly 3 Fingers — Ignore 4+ finger touches
• Launch at Login — Auto-start with macOS

BetterTouchTool is powerful but overwhelming. Hundreds of options, complex interface, middle-click buried among features you'll never use. MiddleDrag does one thing well.

Middle costs $8 for functionality that should be free. It's also closed-source. MiddleDrag is MIT-licensed and community-maintained.

MiddleClick requires terminal commands for all configuration — no GUI. MiddleDrag provides a native macOS settings interface. Both are open source, but MiddleDrag is actively maintained for modern macOS versions.

• macOS 15.0 (Sequoia) or later
• Built-in trackpad or Magic Trackpad
• Accessibility permissions

MiddleDrag uses Apple's private MultitouchSupport framework to intercept raw touch data before the system gesture recognizer processes it. This allows three-finger gestures to generate middle-mouse events while leaving Mission Control and other system gestures intact.

Technical flow:

1. MultitouchSupport framework provides raw touch coordinates
2. GestureRecognizer detects three-finger tap/drag patterns
3. Accessibility API generates synthetic middle-mouse events
4. CGEventTap suppresses conflicting system click events

git clone https://github.com/NullPointerDepressiveDisorder/MiddleDrag.git

cd MiddleDrag
./build.shh

Or open MiddleDrag.xcodeproj in Xcode 16+.

MiddleDrag/
├── Core/
│   ├── GestureRecognizer.swift    # Gesture detection logic
│   ├── MouseEventGenerator.swift  # Mouse event synthesis
│   └── MultitouchFramework.swift  # Private API bindings
├── Managers/
│   ├── DeviceMonitor.swift        # Trackpad monitoring
│   └── MultitouchManager.swift    # Main coordinator
├── Models/
│   ├── GestureModels.swift        # Configuration types
│   └── TouchModels.swift          # Touch data structures
├── UI/
│   ├── AlertHelper.swift          # Dialog utilities
│   └── MenuBarController.swift    # Menu bar interface
└── Utilities/
    ├── LaunchAtLoginManager.swift # Login item management
    └── PreferencesManager.swift   # Settings persistence
ngs persistence

Works with built-in MacBook trackpads and external Magic Trackpads.

Contributions welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

MiddleDrag uses Sentry for crash reporting and Sparkle for auto-updates. See THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES for full license texts.

MiddleDrag™ is used as a trademark by Karan Kunal Mohindroo. The MIT License grants rights to the code, not the name. You may use the name "MiddleDrag" for:

• Forks intended for contribution back to this project
• Describing compatibility (e.g., "works with MiddleDrag")
• Factual references and reviews

If you distribute a modified version as a separate project, we ask that you choose a different name to avoid user confusion.

MIT License

The middle mouse button your Mac trackpad is missing.