features

Everything that ships — labeled honestly.

Status words match FEATURES.md: Shipping, Best-effort, Utility, Deferred. Optional deps (ffmpeg, tesseract, AppIndicator) are called out — not hidden.

Quickstart Source
pick-area · pick-window

Capture

Area / window / fullscreen

Shipping

Region picker with size badge, loupe, aspect lock (Free / 16:9 / 4:3 / 1:1 + Shift), rule-of-thirds, multi-monitor strip.

Scrolling stitch

Best-effort

Window scroll capture and stitch; quality is platform-dependent.

Timer & freeze

Shipping

Self-timer (CLI + settings default) and freeze-on-select / Space freeze in area mode.

Crosshair / magnifier

Shipping

Settings toggles for crosshair and magnifier while selecting.

Window chrome options

Shipping

Shadow, padding, and background (transparent / solid / desktop).

All-in-one mode

Shipping

Compact launcher for capture modes from tray or CLI.

overlay

Quick access

Copy / Save / Annotate / Pin / Share

Shipping

Post-capture toast with keyboard C · A · P · O. Share is local; Save reveals folder.

OCR from overlay

Shipping

One-tap text extract when tesseract is available.

Auto-close + corner

Shipping

Configurable timeout and screen-corner memory.

Recent stack

Shipping

Mini thumbs of prior captures on the overlay.

annotate

Annotate

Shapes & arrows

Shipping

Arrow, line, rect, fill, ellipse.

Redact

Shipping

Pixelate, blur, spotlight.

Pencil / highlighter / text / counter

Shipping

Freehand with velocity-style width; font presets; numbered counters.

Backgrounds, layers, project files

Shipping

Presets + aspect, layer reorder, .bdcapture projects, zoom/pan, eyedropper, export PNG / clipboard.

record-hud

Record

GIF

Shipping

Pure Rust encode path — no ffmpeg required.

MP4

Shipping

Requires ffmpeg when installed.

HUD chrome

Shipping

Timer, optional mic meter, pause UI, click/key badges.

Mic / system audio

Best-effort

Settings flags and platform hooks — not guaranteed on every compositor.

Cursor / click / key overlays

Utility

Present for demos; not the deepest polish surface.

Video edit (trim / mute)

Shipping

Library + ffmpeg path when available.

history · pin

Pin & history

Floating pins

Shipping

Always-on-top; opacity, zoom, rotate/flip, multi-tab in one window, shadow control.

History browser

Shipping

Search, filters, grid/list, favorites, tags, multi-select bulk delete/export.

Retention

Shipping

Default 30 days; prune missing files.

tray · palette · settings

Platform & agent

System tray agent

Shipping

No empty main window; A+B hybrid panel (dense menu + last capture).

Global hotkeys

Shipping

Full matrix in Settings; tray reloads ~1s after save.

Command palette

Shipping

Ctrl+K / bytedesk-capture palette.

Open at login

Shipping

Linux / macOS / Windows helpers via login subcommand and tray toggle.

Accessibility

Shipping

Reduced motion, high contrast, large type.

Local share HTTP

Shipping

Binds to 127.0.0.1 only.

Evidence packages

Shipping

Mission/ticket fields; residency labels (Local / Hosted / RedactedSync intent).

CLI for agents

Shipping

Full subcommand surface on the same binary as the tray.

Hosted cloud teams

Deferred

Not sold as available.

optional deps

Honest about system tools

Core stills and annotate do not require a cloud API. Some paths improve when local tools are installed.

ffmpeg

If missing: Stills, GIF, annotate still work; MP4 and video edit paths limited.

tesseract

If missing: OCR quality or availability limited.

AppIndicator (GNOME)

If missing: Tray icon may need a shell extension.

We do not claim identical behavior on every Wayland compositor, guaranteed system audio, cloud sync, or a gpui tray today (egui is the current chrome).

Get started

Run the tray. Try the surface.

Build from the product repo, then bytedesk-capture tray.

Download GitHub Quickstart