AI Overlay for RPNow (PSI) on Mac

· 3 min read
RPNow · PSI Services

RPNow is PSI Services' record-and-review proctoring product. It is widely deployed for IT and professional certification exams plus a number of US universities. RPNow uses a downloadable secure browser plus an automated AI review of the recording.

RPNow's secure browser is a Chromium fork that does its own screen recording rather than using a separate app. The recording uses ScreenCaptureKit on modern macOS, which is the same pipeline OnVUE and most other vendors funnel through. macOS produces a frame buffer per capture call with privacy-flagged windows already removed; RPNow's recorder receives that filtered buffer. LDBypass sets the flag the moment its window is shown, so even if you toggle the overlay during the exam, the recording skips those frames' overlay content.

Key points

How it works

┌── macOS host ─────────────────────────────────┐
│  ┌── proctor desktop app ───────┐             │
│  │  Calls ScreenCaptureKit /    │  ← misses   │
│  │  CGWindowListCreateImage     │    flagged  │
│  └──────────────────────────────┘    windows  │
│                                               │
│  ┌── LDBypass overlay window ───┐             │
│  │  sharingType = .none         │ ← invisible │
│  └──────────────────────────────┘   to capture│
└───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Compatibility on Mac

macOS 14 Sonoma+Yes (required for window-privacy API)
Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)Native arm64 build
Intel Macs (2019+)Universal binary supported
RPNow secure browser (Mac)macOS 12+ supported
Live proctor variant (RPProctor)Same capture, plus live link

Common questions

Will RPNow flag the recording for "unusual screen activity"?

The reviewer sees only what the recording contains. The overlay is not in the recording, so there is no anomaly to flag from the screen channel.

Can I take RPNow in a virtual machine instead?

RPNow has VM detection. LDBypass does not need a VM; it runs on bare-metal macOS and the overlay is invisible without one.

Does RPNow disable Cmd-Tab or Mission Control?

It tries to. The overlay does not need Cmd-Tab; you toggle it with a global Carbon hot-key (Ctrl-Cmd-L) that survives application-level lockdowns.