Sentinel validates your interview environment before a single question is asked — detecting Cluely, LockedIn AI, Final Round AI, Parakeet AI, Interview Coder, GeekBye, Natively and 14 more invisible overlay tools.
Since Cluely’s April 2025 launch, dozens of clones — commercial, open-source, and free — have flooded the market. Sentinel maintains a live detection database updated monthly.
See Full Detection List →Windows gives AI overlay tools four powerful weapons: the DirectX/DXGI rendering pipeline, the Win32 window manager, virtual audio drivers, and process name spoofing via Toolhelp32Snapshot. Sentinel's native Windows app neutralises every one of them.
IDXGISwapChain::Present() to render their overlay directly on the GPU's swap chain — a layer that Windows screen-capture APIs (DXGI Desktop Duplication) simply never sample. The overlay exists on the display hardware, not in software.WS_EX_LAYERED | WS_EX_TRANSPARENT and SetLayeredWindowAttributes(0, LWA_COLORKEY) — making them click-through and invisible to the BitBlt screen capture used by Zoom and Teams.svchost.exe or RuntimeBroker.exe in Task Manager — names that look like legitimate Windows system processes to any human reviewer.EnumWindows()
CreateToolhelp32Snapshot()
GetWindowLong(GWL_EXSTYLE)
NtQuerySystemInformation()
MMDeviceEnumerator API
Desktop Duplication API
IDXGISwapChain::Present() DirectX hook to render overlay. Process: Cluely.exe or obfuscated variant. Virtual audio driver: ClulyAudioCapture.RuntimeBroker.exe or svchost.exe. Uses WS_EX_LAYERED transparent window. 116ms response from local LLM pipeline. Desktop Duplication API bypass confirmed.pmodule.exe — a known Parakeet Windows signature. Registers a layered window with alpha blending. Zoom requires "Advanced capture" mode to even see its window class.SearchHost.exe or StartMenuExperienceHost.exe — cloned from real Windows 11 process names. VAD name: NativelyNull.ITaskbarList enumeration. Process: FinalRound.exe. Caught by Sentinel's taskbar + Toolhelp32 process scan even before screen share starts.RegisterHotKey() — detectable via Win32 hotkey enumeration. Desktop Duplication API bypassed.These are real questions HR teams, engineering leads, and talent acquisition professionals type in 2026. Sentinel was built to answer every one of them.
Cluely uses DirectX/Metal GPU-level rendering invisible to screen share. Detection requires OS-level process scanning and overlay window enumeration — exactly what Sentinel’s native app does before the interview starts.
No. HackerRank’s browser-based proctoring cannot detect native GPU overlays or virtual audio drivers. Sentinel is platform-agnostic and works alongside any interview platform including Zoom, Meet, and Teams.
The desktop version leaves a visible taskbar icon that Sentinel scans. The web version appears as a browser tab — also flagged. Sentinel catches both modes before the interview starts.
Parakeet hides its dock icon but surfaces as “pmodule” in macOS Activity Monitor — a known signature. Sentinel’s process enumeration catches it immediately at the ready-gate.
Roy Lee’s original tool (pre-Cluely), built to pass Amazon technical interviews. Has a dedicated anti-detection engineering team. Sentinel monitors for its GPU hook pattern and audio driver signature.
Yes — Natively, OpenCluely, GhostBar, Phantom Lens, and dozens of GitHub repos are free, widely used, and harder for candidates to give up than $95/mo Cluely. Sentinel’s database covers open-source tools too.
No software can detect hardware directly. Sentinel uses behavioural analysis — uniform 3–5s response delays and off-screen gaze patterns — to flag likely wearable AI use as a suspicion signal for human review.
Sentinel is the only platform-agnostic, native-app, deterministic environment validator built for post-Cluely threats. Unlike Proctorio or HackerRank, it works with any platform and detects GPU-level overlays.
Validate the environment before the interview. Sentinel’s ready-gate blocks candidates from joining until all non-allowed apps are closed and the environment is certified clean — preventive, not reactive.
We don’t try to detect AI-generated responses. We validate the candidate’s environment is clean before a single question is asked.
Real-time process and window scanning. Instant violation alerts as they happen.
Uniform response timing (Cluely’s 3–5s processing signature), off-screen gaze rate, and audio cadence aggregated into an advisory score. Flags only — never auto-fails.
SwiftUI + CoreGraphics. NSWorkspace, CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo, AVFoundation, ScreenCaptureKit APIs.
WPF/WinUI + C# .NET. EnumWindows, Toolhelp32Snapshot, Desktop Duplication API.
Detects hidden windows rendered outside the display pipeline — the exact technique used by Cluely, LockedIn AI, Linkjob AI, and Interview Coder.
Periodic encrypted screenshots uploaded to S3. Flagged moments highlighted. Full session replay on Enterprise.
09:07 — pmodule overlay active 14s
Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, and 40+ ATS platforms. Evidence links auto-attach to candidate records.
Every existing proctoring tool was built before Cluely existed. None detect GPU-level overlays or virtual audio drivers.
| Capability | Sentinel ✦ | HackerRank | Proctorio | TestGorilla |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU-level overlay detection (Cluely, Linkjob) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Virtual audio driver detection | ✓ | ✗ | Partial | ✗ |
| Process name spoofing (Natively) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 20+ tool detection database | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Works with Zoom / Meet / Teams | ✓ | Own platform only | Partial | Own platform only |
| Pre-interview ready-gate | ✓ | ✗ | Partial | ✗ |
| Native macOS + Windows app | ✓ | Browser only | ✓ | Browser only |
| Deterministic evidence (not ML guesses) | ✓ | ML-heavy | ML-heavy | ML-heavy |
| Open-source clone tracking | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| ATS integration | ✓ | ✓ | Limited | ✓ |
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Sentinel detects Cluely, LockedIn AI, Final Round AI, Parakeet AI, Interview Coder & 15+ more