The cat that started as a joke
The original Bongo Cat is a two-frame animation: a simple white creature flat on a table, slapping it. StrayRogue posted it on 2018-05-06 with the caption "smack smack". A day later, editor DitzyFlama added bongo drums and music, and the bongo cat was born. The full, source-checked story lives on the meme origin page.
From there the format exploded: the same cat playing guitar, piano, xylophone, full drum kits. The appeal is physical. Every note lands because the cat slams its paws down on cue, and that one idea carried everything that came after.
From GIF to browser toy
In October 2018 the developer Externalizable turned the joke into bongo.cat, a website where your keyboard becomes the cat's instrument. Nothing to install, no account, and the project is open source. Press a key, the cat hits a drum. It remains the purest expression of the meme, and the web toy page covers it in detail.
From toy to desktop pet
The desktop era started in September 2018, when kuroni released bongocat-osu, an open-source overlay that reacted to everything you typed. The project that shaped everything after, though, was Bongo-Cat-Mver, the 2019 Windows overlay by MMmmmoko whose model format the modern pets still use. It inspired a second generation:
- BongoCat by vladelaina: written in C with SDL3 and OpenGL, open source under AGPL-3.0, running on Windows, macOS and Linux. It supports Live2D models, which turned a single cat into a whole cast, and it is the version this wiki follows. Start at the download guide.
- BongoCat by ayangweb: a Tauri-based take with its own community model collection.
The Steam game is a different animal
In March 2025, Irox Games released Bongo Cat on Steam as a free game. Same white cat, same taskbar-slapping gag, but wrapped in a game economy: 28 achievements, five paid DLC item packs and officially published drop rates that run from 90 percent down to one in 500,000. It covers Windows and macOS. The items and skins page explains the economy.
FAQ
Is Bongo Cat free?
Yes, in every form. The desktop pets are free and open source, the web toy is free, and the Steam game is free to play with optional cosmetic DLC.
Which Bongo Cat should I get?
If you want a cat living on your desktop, the vladelaina pet is the most complete: three platforms, Live2D models, frequent updates. If you want the game with items and achievements, that is the Steam version. See the versions explainer for the one-table answer.
Is Bongo Cat a virus?
No. The main versions are open-source projects with large user bases. Any keyboard-reactive app does listen to keyboard input by design, which is worth understanding before you install; the safety page goes through it version by version.
Is there a Bongo Cat plush or merchandise?
No official merchandise line is connected to the projects covered here. The original artwork belongs to StrayRogue, who has at times sold Bongo Cat merchandise directly; community plushies from various sellers are unrelated products, so verify the seller before buying.