macosrec

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• macosrec

Take screenshots or videos of macOS windows from the command line.

See [[https://xenodium.com/recordscreenshot-windows-the-lazy-way][Recording and screenshotting windows: the lazy way]].

#+HTML:

Note: This gif was captured with macosrec

#+begin_src shell $ macosrec USAGE: record-command [--list] [--screenshot ] [--record ] [--mov] [--gif] [--save] [--abort] [--output ]

OPTIONS: -l, --list List recordable windows. -x, --screenshot Take a screenshot. -r, --record Start recording. -m, --mov Record as mov. -g, --gif Record as gif. -s, --save Save active recording. -a, --abort Abort active recording. -o, --output -h, --help Show help information. #+end_src

• Install ** Homebrew #+begin_src sh brew tap xenodium/macosrec brew install macosrec #+end_src ** Build #+begin_src sh swift build #+end_src
• Screenshot

Before taking a screenshot, identify the window number using =--list=.

#+begin_src sh $ macosrec --list

21902 Emacs 22024 Dock - Desktop Picture - Stone.png 22035 Firefox - Planet Emacslife #+end_src

Use =--screenshot= + window number to take a screenshot.

#+begin_src sh ~ $ macosrec --screenshot 21902 ~/Desktop/2023-04-14-08:21:45-Emacs.png #+end_src

• Videos

Before taking a video, identify the window number using =--list=.

#+begin_src sh $ macosrec --list

21902 Emacs 22024 Dock - Desktop Picture - Stone.png 22035 Firefox - Planet Emacslife #+end_src

Use =--record= + window number to start recording a video (gif).

/Note: you can also use application name and it will use the first window it finds belonging to it./

To end recording, send a SIGINT signal (Ctrl+C from terminal). Alternatively, running =macosrec --save= from another session would also end the recording.

#+begin_src sh ~ $ macosrec --record 21902 --gif Saving... ~/Desktop/2023-04-14-08:21:45-Emacs.gif #+end_src

/Note: you can also use application name and it will use the first window it finds belonging to it./

#+begin_src sh ~ $ macosrec --record emacs --mov Saving... ~/Desktop/2023-04-14-08:21:45-Emacs.mov #+end_src

** Optimizing gif

The gifs can get pretty large fairly quickly depending on the lenght of the recording. Consider using something like [[https://www.lcdf.org/gifsicle/][gifsicle]] to reduce size. For example:

#+begin_src sh gifsicle -O3 large.gif --lossy=80 -o smaller.gif #+end_src

• Disclaimer

I built this util to record demos I post at [[https://xenodium.com][xenodium.com]]. Does the job so far, but can likely take improvements, specially around image handling efficiency. PRs totally welcome.

** Resizing windows while recording (not supported)

While a video will be recorded if you resize the window during the recording session, it's unlikely to produce a file with the expected outcome. This feature is currently unsupported and out of scope. Having said that, if anyone's keen to implement it, a PR is totally welcome.

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