A lightweight macOS menu bar app for capturing and annotating screenshots.
- Capture & Annotate - Full-screen, selection, and window captures open directly in the editor
- Annotation Toggle - Turn annotation off to copy a capture directly to the clipboard
- Minimal Red Markup - Add rectangles, arrows, and text without a complicated drawing tool
- Expandable Canvas - Add working room around a screenshot and include a written description
- Copy & Close - Copy the annotated PNG to the clipboard in one step
- Save to Folder & Copy Path - Optionally save annotated screenshots to a custom folder and copy the file path
- Custom Save Location - Choose where your screenshots are saved
- Launch at Login - Registers the installed app as an enabled macOS Login Item
- macOS 15.0 or later
- Xcode 15.0 or later
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Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/Wirenut33/quick-shot.git cd quick-shot -
Open the project in Xcode:
open QuickShot.xcodeproj
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Disable App Sandbox (required for screenshot functionality):
- Select the project in Xcode
- Go to Signing & Capabilities tab
- Remove or disable App Sandbox
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Build and run the project (⌘R), or build a Release app and copy it to
/Applications -
Grant screen recording permission when prompted (required for screenshot functionality)
Once running, QuickShot appears as a camera icon in your menu bar. Click it to access:
- Capture Full Screen - Takes a screenshot of the entire screen
- Capture Selection - Lets you draw a rectangle to capture
- Capture Window - Captures the window you click
- Annotate Before Copying - Opens the editor when enabled; copies the screenshot directly to the clipboard when disabled
- Save to Folder & Copy Path - Controls whether saving from the editor also copies the saved PNG path
- Save Location - Click to choose a custom save folder (defaults to Desktop)
- Launch at Login - Enable or disable automatic launch from the menu
In the editor, choose Rectangle, Arrow, or Text. All markup is red. Add an optional description, then use Copy & Close or Save PNG.
QuickShot requires Screen & System Audio Recording permission to function. Allow it when macOS asks, or enable it manually in:
System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen & System Audio Recording > QuickShot
QuickShot attempts a capture before diagnosing a permission problem, so an outdated permission preflight result cannot block it. If an enabled permission stops working after replacing the app, quit and reopen QuickShot. To preserve permissions reliably across builds, sign each release with the same Apple Development or Developer ID identity; macOS treats ad-hoc signed rebuilds as different code.
Michael Morale
MIT License
- Turn on Collect Snapshots in the camera menu. The count appears beside the camera.
- Use Capture Selection, Capture Window, or Capture Full Screen repeatedly. With Annotate Before Copying off, each capture saves immediately without opening the editor or changing your clipboard. With annotation on, mark up each capture and choose Add to Collection.
- Open Snapshot Collection, select the examples you want (⌘-click / Shift-click, or Select All), and choose Copy Selected.
- Switch to Codex or another app and press ⌘V. QuickShot supplies separate PNG/file attachments. Apps decide how many clipboard items they accept; use Copy as One Image for a single combined image when needed. Large combined images are scaled to bounded dimensions.
Copy All Snapshots is also available directly in the menu. Snapshots remain in ~/Library/Application Support/QuickShot/Snapshots across restarts until you remove them (to Trash). Show Folder opens the PNG files in Finder for dragging or attaching. When Annotate Before Copying is enabled, every capture opens the editor first; use Add to Collection to keep the marked-up version. Turn annotation off to collect captures immediately without opening the editor. With both options off, captures copy directly to the clipboard.
Use Annotate in the collection to edit an example, then Add to Collection in the editor to save the annotated version as a new snapshot. The original remains available.
xcrun swiftc -module-cache-path .build/SwiftModuleCache QuickShot/SnapshotCollection.swift Tests/CollectionTests.swift -o .build/collection-tests
.build/collection-testsRun tests with normal macOS pasteboard access. The tests use a private pasteboard and temporary images. For installed-app capture validation, launch with --collection-capture-test; it captures the screen, verifies two persistent images and two private clipboard attachments, opens a diagnostic collection, and writes QuickShot-collection-test.txt in the app's temporary directory.
QuickShot checks for signed updates hourly, downloads them automatically, and installs when captures and annotation work are finished. Automatic Updates and Check for Updates… are available in the camera menu. Check for Updates… is also in the QuickShot application menu and Settings, where the installed version is shown. A merge to main triggers tests and a signed universal release for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
The first rollout needs the one-time bootstrap install and GitHub signing-secret setup. See Automatic updates for setup, verification, and recovery.
- Draw a Rectangle, Arrow, Highlight, or Text label. New marks become selected automatically.
- Use Select to choose an existing mark. Drag it to move it; drag rectangle/highlight corners to resize. Text corner handles resize the font.
- Select an arrow and drag either endpoint to reposition it, or its middle handle to bend the curve.
- Set Color, Stroke (Thin/Medium/Thick), or Dashed for new or selected shapes. Text supports size 12–144 and Bold; use Apply Text to change a selected label.
- Highlight draws a translucent colored area (yellow by default), preserving the content beneath it.
- Undo/Redo cover drawing, moving, resizing, bending, styling, text edits, deletion, and Clear. Delete removes the selected mark; Escape deselects it when the canvas has focus.
- Copy, PNG export, and Add to Collection include the final styling, without selection handles.