CS2 Helper

A utility for accessibility in Counter-Strike 2. It automatically reduces only CS2's per-app volume during loud in-game events and restores it afterward.

Features, screenshots and FAQ: homepage.

Download the latest release: CS2.Helper-x64.exe, or pick another one from the Releases page.

Supporters

How it works

flowchart LR
    CS2["CS2"] -- "GSI HTTP POST" --> GSI
    subgraph Helper["CS2-Helper"]
        direction LR
        GSI["GSI server"] --> Events["Event engine"]
        Events --> Audio["Audio engine"]
    end
    Audio -- "reduce / restore" --> CoreAudio["Windows Core Audio"]
    CoreAudio -- "set cs2.exe session volume" --> CS2

Loading

• GSI: the app writes gamestate_integration_cs2helper.cfg into <CS2 install>\game\csgo\cfg (found through the Steam registry and libraryfolders.vdf). CS2 then posts game state to a local server on 127.0.0.1:31211, authenticated with a per-install token.
• Audio: only the cs2.exe session is touched, through Windows Core Audio. Volumes are absolute targets (not relative to your current level). When several reductions overlap, the lowest one wins, and the volume always restores to 100%.
• Overlay: a separate transparent, click-through, always-on-top window, driven by the same GSI data. No injection, memory reads or game file changes.

Configuration

Settings live in %APPDATA%\com.jackblk.cs2-helper\config.toml.

• The app saves every change automatically, keeping the file's comments.
• The file is human-editable. After editing it by hand, use Reload config (the ⋯ menu or the tray).
• Settings added in a new version are appended to your file on load; existing values are never touched.
• Reset to defaults backs up the old file to config.toml.bak first.

Notes

• Windows 11 only. The audio backend is Windows-specific.
• The overlay needs borderless windowed (fullscreen windowed). Exclusive fullscreen hides any external overlay.
• The bomb timer is approximate. CS2 adds a small random detonation delay and GSI does not report the exact plant time, so treat it as a guide, not an exact clock.
• Hotkeys are captured system-wide (Win32 RegisterHotKey, no keyboard hooks), so CS2 never receives a key bound in the app.
• Deathmatch mode is manual. Community deathmatch servers report their mode as custom, so it cannot be detected reliably. It is off at every launch.

FAQ

The common questions (anti-cheat, safety, Linux) are answered on the homepage.

Did you use AI?

Yes, it's just a tool. I'm a dev myself, I came up with the architecture, decisions. Feel free to contribute if you want to add features or improve the codebase.

I want to add X feature

Feel free to create an issue or, better, a pull request. I can't promise I'll merge every contribution, but I'm open to new features and improvements.

Development

Stack

• App: Tauri v2 (Rust) + React, Vite, Tailwind, shadcn/ui, react-i18next
• Audio: windows-rs (Core Audio)
• Homepage: Astro, in site/ (a pnpm workspace package)

Architecture and conventions are in AGENTS.md.

Commands

pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev           # run the app with hot reload (Vite + Rust)
pnpm build               # typecheck + build the frontend
pnpm test                # frontend unit tests (Vitest)
pnpm format              # format with Biome
pnpm tauri build         # build the Tauri app (release mode)
pnpm site:dev            # run the homepage locally
pnpm screenshot:windows  # capture the running app into site/public/screenshot.png

Rust typecheck and tests:

cargo check --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml
cargo test --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml

Releasing

package.json holds the version; pnpm bump keeps Cargo.toml and Cargo.lock in sync.

pnpm bump 0.4.1   # set the version everywhere, then commit and push
pnpm release      # confirm, then tag and push; CI builds a draft GitHub release

References

• Inspired by PatrikZeros CSGO Sound Fix
• GSI API reference from u/Bkid
• CS2 GSI docs