Shotnix

A fast, focused screenshot and screen recording utility for macOS.
Capture, record, annotate, pin, and extract text — all from your menu bar.

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Note

Shotnix is in beta (v0.14.0-beta). It's fully functional but not yet notarized through Apple's Developer Program, so macOS will show a Gatekeeper warning on first launch. This is standard for open-source apps — Shotnix is safe and the source code is right here. Notarization is on the roadmap.

To open: Right-click → Open → Open (macOS 13–14) or System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway (macOS 15+).

Why Shotnix?

macOS has built-in screenshot tools, but they stop at capture. Shotnix picks up where they leave off — annotate with arrows, blur sensitive info, pin screenshots to your desktop, extract text with OCR, and access everything from a lightweight menu bar app. No subscription. No account. Just a fast tool that stays out of your way.

Visit shotnix.com for the latest download and project overview.

Features

Capture anything

• Area — drag to select any region
• Window — click any window to capture it
• Fullscreen — grab the entire screen instantly
• Previous area — re-capture the last selected region with one shortcut
• Scrolling — capture content beyond the visible area
• Screen recording — record an area, window, or display with system audio, microphone audio, cursor control, quality, and FPS options
• OCR — extract and copy text from any part of the screen
• QR scanning — scan QR codes from a selected screen area

Annotate and edit

• Arrows, rectangles, ellipses, lines, freehand drawing
• Text annotations with customizable font and color
• Highlighter for emphasizing content
• Presentation backdrops for polished screenshot exports, including image presets and custom images
• Blur and pixelate for redacting sensitive info
• Numbered markers for step-by-step guides
• Crop to resize after capture

Stay in flow

• Quick access overlay after every capture — hover to reveal controls (copy, save, edit, pin, close)
• Drag-and-drop from overlay directly into Finder, Slack, or any app
• Swipe-to-dismiss overlay with trackpad gesture
• Copy confirmation badge — visual feedback before closing
• Keyboard shortcuts on overlay — Cmd+C copy, Cmd+S save, Cmd+E edit, Esc dismiss
• Right-click context menu on overlay
• Spring animations and micro-interactions for a premium feel
• Pin screenshots to float on your desktop (draggable, resizable)
• Full capture history with grid browser
• Global hotkeys that work from anywhere

Configurable

• Tabbed settings window (General, Shortcuts, Screenshots, Recording, About)
• Export as PNG, JPEG, or WebP, with a JPEG quality slider
• Auto-save location picker
• After-capture auto-actions (auto-copy, auto-save)
• Configurable overlay position (left or right) and timeout
• Capture sound effects (toggleable)
• Hide desktop icons during capture
• Launch at login
• What's New changelog in the About tab

Install

Download (recommended)

1. Grab the latest .dmg from shotnix.com or Releases
2. Open the DMG and drag Shotnix to your Applications folder
3. Grant Screen Recording permission when prompted

Important

macOS will show a warning on first launch — this is normal for open-source apps that aren't notarized through Apple's $99/year Developer Program. Shotnix is safe and fully open source. Here's how to open it:

macOS Ventura & Sonoma (13–14): Right-click Shotnix.app → click Open → click Open again in the dialog

macOS Sequoia (15+):

1. Try to open the app (it will be blocked)
2. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security
3. Scroll down and click Open Anyway next to "Shotnix was blocked"

If macOS still blocks the app, use System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

If macOS says "Shotnix" is damaged and can't be opened: This can happen because Shotnix is currently unsigned and macOS quarantines unsigned apps by default. After installing Shotnix, run this command in Terminal:

xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Shotnix.app

If the command is blocked, give Terminal Full Disk Access in System Settings → Privacy & Security, then run it again.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/OMARVII/Shotnix.git
cd Shotnix
bash build-app.sh

This compiles a release build, assembles the app bundle, ad-hoc signs the binary, and copies Shotnix.app to /Applications.

Requirements: macOS 13+, Swift 5.9+

Hotkeys

Shortcut	Action
Cmd + Shift + 4	Area capture
Cmd + Shift + 5	Window capture
Cmd + Shift + 3 / Cmd + Shift + 6	Fullscreen capture
Cmd + Shift + 7	Previous area capture
Cmd + Shift + O	OCR text extraction
Cmd + Shift + S	Scrolling capture

On the quick access overlay:

Shortcut	Action
Cmd + C	Copy screenshot to clipboard
Cmd + S	Save to file
Cmd + E	Open in annotation editor
Esc	Dismiss overlay

Architecture

Shotnix is a Swift Package Manager project — no .xcodeproj, no storyboards. Pure AppKit, built from the terminal.

Sources/Shotnix/
├── App/           Application lifecycle, menu bar, preferences
├── Capture/       Screenshot engine (ScreenCaptureKit + CGWindow fallback)
├── Annotation/    Editor with 12 drawing tools and undo/redo
├── History/       Persistent capture history (~Library/Application Support/)
├── Hotkeys/       Global shortcuts via HotKey package
├── OCR/           Text recognition via Vision framework
├── Overlay/       Quick access thumbnail, pinned windows, toasts
└── Utilities/     Image export, permissions, desktop icon toggle

Dependencies

Package	Purpose
HotKey	Global keyboard shortcuts

That's it. One dependency.

Roadmap

• Multi-display capture fixes
• First-launch onboarding
• WebP export
• After-capture auto-actions
• Premium overlay redesign (hover controls, spring animations, swipe-to-dismiss)
• Clean annotation toolbar (contextual buttons, centered canvas, dark editor background)
• Numbered step counter annotation tool
• Premium branding (app icon, menu bar icon, welcome screen)
• Modernized preferences UI and capture engine
• Snappy overlay animations + haptic feedback + pixel-perfect buttons
• Native macOS APIs (replaced legacy shell Process() calls)
• Customizable hotkeys
• Window capture with shadow and padding
• Delay/timer capture (3s, 5s, 10s)
• Auto-update mechanism
• Developer signing + notarization

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Open an issue first to discuss what you'd like to change.

License

MIT