An open-source 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse and SpaceExplorer driver. Axial provides six-axis navigation through native compatibility frameworks for applications such as Autodesk Fusion, PrusaSlicer, and FreeCAD.
3Dconnexion stopped supporting my still-working SpaceExplorer with a current macOS driver. Its last driver release is old and available only for Intel (x86) macOS. Apple Silicon Macs can run that driver through Rosetta today, but Apple has announced that macOS 28 will remove support for x86 apps and drivers. Without a replacement, a perfectly usable SpaceExplorer would become unusable after the upgrade. Axial keeps the device useful with a native ARM64 and Intel implementation that does not depend on the vendor's discontinued driver.
Install the universal Apple Silicon/Intel release on macOS 13 or later:
brew tap consi/homebrew https://github.com/consi/homebrew
brew install --cask consi/homebrew/axial
open /Applications/Axial.appUninstall the 3Dconnexion driver first, and quit Axial and CAD applications before
installing or upgrading. The installer places the app in /Applications and its
compatibility frameworks in /Library/Frameworks; administrator access is required.
Both framework architectures are included for native and Rosetta CAD applications.
Grant Axial Accessibility permission to use keyboard shortcuts.
Release binaries are ad-hoc signed; the installer is not Developer ID signed or notarized. macOS may require approval in System Settings → Privacy & Security before Axial can run. Do not disable Gatekeeper system-wide.
brew update
brew upgrade --cask consi/homebrew/axialTo uninstall, disable Start at login, quit Axial and CAD applications, then run
brew uninstall --cask consi/homebrew/axial. Saved profiles and web navigation setup
are retained. Use brew uninstall --cask --zap consi/homebrew/axial to also remove
Axial's web certificates and loopback configuration; saved profiles are still retained.
The guarded installer and uninstaller refuse to change bundles while Axial or an application using its frameworks is running. The error lists process names and PIDs: quit those applications and retry. Older or incomplete bundles with missing identifiers can be recovered when their surviving files match a known Axial release. Foreign or unidentifiable bundles are rejected before installed files are changed.
Development tools and commands are managed by mise. CMake defines the native build and generates Xcode projects.
The app runs on macOS 13 or later. Building requires Apple development tools with a macOS 26 or newer SDK. Full Xcode is optional for terminal builds. mise installs the pinned CMake and Ninja versions:
mise install
mise run b
mise run tThe app is built at build/native/bin/Axial.app. This preset targets the build
machine's architecture. The intel preset targets x86_64; the xcode preset
creates a universal ARM64/x86_64 Xcode project and requires full Xcode:
mise run xcodemise tasks configure and build prerequisites automatically. b means build and
t means test. Use mise tasks to list commands, including bench (performance
checks), pkg (installer), stage and clean.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for the command table, direct CMake
workflow, Intel and sanitizer builds, signing and packaging.
Axial exposes the compatibility APIs used by supported applications, plus local service APIs for tools and integrations:
| API | Access | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 3Dconnexion Client API | /Library/Frameworks/3DconnexionClient.framework |
Compatibility with applications using the legacy 3Dconnexion client framework |
| Navlib API | /Library/Frameworks/3DconnexionNavlib.framework |
Compatibility with applications using the FreeCAD/3Dconnexion navigation library |
| 3DconnexionJS API | HTTPS discovery at https://127.51.68.120:8181/3dconnexion/nlproxy; WAMP 1.0 at wss://127.51.68.120:8181/ |
Browser-based 3D navigation compatible with 3DconnexionJS |
| Event stream | Unix socket at /tmp/axial-$UID/events |
Subscribe to device, motion and button events, including from a background monitor, or inject events in mock mode; see the event stream API |
| Control API | Unix socket at /tmp/axial-$UID/events.control |
Query status and configuration, update configuration, publish command catalogs, request Accessibility permission, or stop the service |
Here $UID means the numeric Unix user ID. In a shell, get it with id -u (or
use $UID in shells that provide that variable). The socket directory and both
socket names can be relocated together with the AXIAL_SOCKET environment
variable. The socket APIs are local to the logged-in user.
Web navigation is enabled by default. In Service & diagnostics → WebSocket API compatibility, click Set Up… and approve the macOS prompts to configure certificates and the loopback address. Axial checks setup health and offers repair or renewal when needed. No separate OpenSSL installation is required; quitting Axial closes the web listener.
-
Uninstall the 3Dconnexion driver. When updating Axial, quit it and close CAD applications that have loaded its frameworks.
-
Install the completed build:
mise run install open /Applications/Axial.app
-
Use the menu-bar icon → Open Settings…. Closing settings keeps Axial and its service running; Quit Axial stops both. Start at login starts the app hidden and launches its service.
-
Allow Axial in macOS Accessibility settings to use keyboard shortcuts. The settings app provides an Accessibility… button. Changed ad-hoc builds may require renewed permission.
-
Reopen your CAD application. In Fusion select the Latest SpaceMouse driver.
To uninstall, disable Start at login, quit Axial, then run
mise run uninstall. Saved profiles are retained.
Axial recognizes these USB device identities, including the SpaceMouse Wireless through its Universal Receiver. Bluetooth connections are not supported. Counts refer to physical HID controls exposed in Buttons.
| Device | USB vendor:product | Buttons |
|---|---|---|
| Spaceball 5000 USB | 046d:c621 |
12 |
| SpaceTraveler | 046d:c623 |
8 |
| SpacePilot | 046d:c625 |
21 |
| SpaceNavigator | 046d:c626 |
2 |
| SpaceExplorer | 046d:c627 |
15 |
| SpaceNavigator for Notebooks | 046d:c628 |
2 |
| SpacePilot Pro | 046d:c629 |
21 primary controls¹ |
| SpaceMouse Pro | 046d:c62b |
15 |
| SpaceMouse Wireless (USB) | 256f:c62e |
2 |
| SpaceMouse Pro Wireless (USB) | 256f:c631 |
15 |
| SpaceMouse Enterprise | 256f:c633 |
31 |
| SpaceMouse Compact | 256f:c635 |
2 |
| SpaceMouse Module | 256f:c636 |
2 inputs |
| SpaceMouse Pro Wireless BT (USB) | 256f:c638 |
15 |
| SpaceMouse Wireless (Universal Receiver) | 256f:c652 |
2 |
¹ SpacePilot Pro shares physical keys between primary and alternate codes; LCD controls are not implemented. Enterprise's extended buttons have synthetic report coverage. LED support depends on the device's HID output descriptor.
Axial builds on the work and research of these open-source projects:
| Project | Contribution to Axial |
|---|---|
| FreeSpacenav / spacenavd | USB device identities and protocol/button-mapping references |
| PrusaSlicer | macOS client-framework integration used to define compatibility tests |
| FreeCAD | Public Navlib interface declarations, retained under LGPL-2.1 terms |
| Blender | Native SpaceMouse button maps used as hardware references |
| PySpaceMouse | MIT device definitions used by native button-replay tests |
| nytamin/spacemouse | MIT raw-HID test cases adapted into native regression tests |
| ANTz | Enterprise HID report investigation |
| 3dxdisp-pro | SpacePilot Pro hardware and button research |
| Khronos glTF Sample Assets | CC0 Toy Car model by Guido Odendahl, with materials and scene by Eric Chadwick |
3Dconnexion, SpaceMouse, SpaceExplorer, SpacePilot, SpaceNavigator, SpaceTraveler, SpaceBall, and the other 3Dconnexion product names referenced in this README are trademarks or registered trademarks of 3Dconnexion. Axial is independent of and not endorsed by 3Dconnexion.
Axial's original code is MIT licensed. Third-party material retains its own license; see the notices alongside each dependency. Axial is independent of 3Dconnexion, Autodesk and Prusa Research. Proprietary driver binaries and installed proprietary SDK files are not included.