README.md

May 30, 2026 · View on GitHub

Snapzy

Native macOS screenshots, recording, annotation, and editing from the menu bar.

Built with SwiftUI, AppKit, ScreenCaptureKit, Vision, and Sparkle.

Features • Install • Shortcuts • Development • Documentation • Community • Security • Contributing • Contributors • Acknowledgments

Features

Screenshot: fullscreen or selected-area capture with manual/application window mode toggle (Application Capture, default A), area capture with inline annotate (annotate before saving), scrolling capture with live stitched preview, OCR text extraction, transparent object cutout capture with optional safe auto-crop, window shadow capture (macOS 14+), multi-format export (PNG/JPG/WebP), hide desktop icons/widgets, quick screenshot during recording
Screen Recording: video or GIF output, system audio + microphone, mouse click highlights, keystroke overlays, live on-screen annotations, remember last area, GIF resizing, Smart Camera metadata for Follow Mouse edits
Annotation Editor: shapes, arrows, text, watermarks, filled rectangles, blur/pixelate, counters, crop, remove background with crop-aware auto-crop support, mockup backgrounds with 3D renderer, zoom/pan (pinch + keyboard), drag-to-app with optional keep-editing and editor reactivation behavior, configurable tool shortcuts
After Capture Settings: per-mode action matrix for save, Quick Access, clipboard copy, and annotate plus a separate global remove-background auto-crop toggle (enabled by default)
Video Editor: trim with visual timeline + frame strip, zoom segments with auto-focus (Follow Mouse), wallpaper backgrounds + padding, custom export dimensions, animated GIF viewer, undo/redo
Quick Access: floating panel after every capture with copy, edit, drag-to-app, open, and delete actions
Capture History: floating history panel + full browser for recent screenshots, videos, and GIFs with type/time filters, filename search, quick copy/open/delete actions, one-click reopen in Annotate or Video Editor, editable annotation restore for committed screenshot edits, configurable panel layout, and retention policies
Shortcuts: fully configurable global shortcuts for capture, recording, and annotation tools, with per-shortcut on/off control and system conflict detection
Onboarding: splash screen, first-run language selection, guided permissions setup, and shortcut configuration for first-time users
Localization: 🇺🇸 English, 🇻🇳 Vietnamese, 🇨🇳 Simplified Chinese, 🇹🇼 Traditional Chinese, 🇪🇸 Spanish, 🇯🇵 Japanese, 🇰🇷 Korean, 🇷🇺 Russian, 🇫🇷 French, and 🇩🇪 German app localization with native macOS per-app language support
Cloud Upload: privacy-first bring-your-own-storage via AWS S3 or Cloudflare R2 — no third-party servers, manual upload from Quick Access for screenshots, videos, and GIFs, or from Annotate for screenshots, credentials stored in the macOS Keychain with optional password protection, manual encrypted credential import/export for faster setup on another Mac, upload history, configurable auto-expiration (1–90 days or permanent), lifecycle rules, custom domain support
Advanced Settings: TOML export/import, one-time config folder grant, debounced background sync, safe sync-before-open, and launch-time auto-apply for portable preferences, dotfiles, backup, and machine-to-machine setup via ~/.config/snapzy/config.toml
Updates & Diagnostics: in-app updates via Sparkle, problem reporting with diagnostic log bundles, cache management
Platform: menu-bar app, appearance theming (light/dark/system), App Sandbox with secure file-access bookmarks

Install

Requires macOS 13.0 or later.

Homebrew

brew tap duongductrong/snapzy https://github.com/duongductrong/Snapzy
brew install --cask snapzy

Shell script

# Install a specific version
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/duongductrong/Snapzy/v1.20.2/install.sh | bash

Download a release

Go to Releases
Download the latest packaged app asset, typically Snapzy-v<version>.dmg
Move Snapzy.app to /Applications
Launch Snapzy
Grant Screen Recording permission when prompted in System Settings
Re-launch Snapzy after granting Screen Recording if macOS asks for it
Grant Microphone permission too if you want voice input in recordings

Note: Snapzy is not notarized by Apple yet, so macOS may block it on first launch. After installing Snapzy to /Applications, run:

sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Snapzy.app

Learn more in Apple Support: Open a Mac app from an unidentified developer.

Uninstall

To completely remove Snapzy, reset all permissions, and clean up app data:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/duongductrong/Snapzy/master/uninstall.sh | bash

Or if you cloned the repo:

./uninstall.sh

This will remove the app from /Applications, delete preferences and caches, and reset TCC permissions (Screen Recording, Microphone, Accessibility). You may need to log out or reboot for permission changes to fully take effect.

Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Fullscreen screenshot	`⇧⌘3`
Area screenshot	`⇧⌘4`
↳ Toggle manual/app window mode (`Application Capture`)	`A`
Area screenshot + inline annotate	`⇧⌘7`
Scrolling screenshot	`⇧⌘6`
Screen recording	`⇧⌘5`
OCR text capture	`⇧⌘2`
Object cutout capture	`⇧⌘1`
Open Annotate	`⇧⌘A`
Open Video Editor	`⇧⌘E`
Open Cloud Uploads	`⇧⌘L`
Show shortcuts list	`⇧⌘K`

Automation

Snapzy registers the snapzy:// URL scheme so launchers and automation tools can trigger capture actions.

Action	URL
Fullscreen screenshot	`snapzy://capture/fullscreen`
Area screenshot	`snapzy://capture/area`
Application window	`snapzy://capture/application`
Area annotate	`snapzy://capture/area-annotate`
Scrolling screenshot	`snapzy://capture/scrolling`
OCR text capture	`snapzy://capture/ocr`
Object cutout capture	`snapzy://capture/object-cutout`
Screen recording	`snapzy://record/screen`
Application recording	`snapzy://record/application`
Open Annotate	`snapzy://open/annotate`
Open Video Editor	`snapzy://open/video-editor`
Open Cloud Uploads	`snapzy://open/cloud-uploads`
Open Capture History	`snapzy://open/history`
Show shortcuts list	`snapzy://show/shortcuts`
Open Settings	`snapzy://settings`
Open Settings tab	`snapzy://settings?tab=annotate`

Development

For local setup, source builds, and first-time development workflow, start with docs/DEVELOPMENT.md.

If you need archive, export, or DMG packaging commands, see docs/BUILD.md. If you want the contribution workflow, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Documentation

Community

Join the Snapzy Discord community for support, feedback, and discussion: https://discord.gg/xkWDAuJkZu

Featured On

Benchmark

OCR

Benchmark date: April 19, 2026. Current OCR numbers come from scripts/run-ocr-readme-benchmark.sh on a clean synthetic wrapped UI/article-text corpus with 12 samples / language across 10 supported languages. Character accuracy is the primary signal, exact match is intentionally strict, and no-output on this corpus is 0% for all languages below.

Language	Character Accuracy	Exact Match
English	100.0%	100.0%
Vietnamese	100.0%	100.0%
Simplified Chinese	99.3%	75.0%
Traditional Chinese	99.0%	66.7%
Spanish	99.9%	91.7%
Japanese	99.4%	66.7%
Korean	99.7%	83.3%
Russian	100.0%	100.0%
French	99.3%	33.3%
German	99.8%	75.0%

Real-world screenshots can score lower, especially with emoji, low-contrast footers, unusual punctuation, gradients, blur, or decorative fonts.

Security

Snapzy runs inside the macOS App Sandbox with minimal entitlements. Network requests are limited to Sparkle update checks and user-initiated cloud uploads to your own S3/R2 bucket — no data is ever sent to third-party servers. Cloud credentials are stored exclusively in the macOS Keychain, can be further protected with an optional password (SHA-256 hashed, never stored in plaintext), and can only be transferred via a manual encrypted export/import flow protected by a user-supplied archive passphrase. Snapzy collects no telemetry.

To report a vulnerability, please use a GitHub Security Advisory or contact the maintainer privately. See SECURITY.md for full details.