README.md · nefercap · git.bnema.dev

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[!WARNING] Early alpha. Built for NeferWL. Other compositors can take screenshots but cannot record. Expect bugs and breaking config changes.

Usage

Bind nefercap to a key in your compositor. For NeferWL:

bind.cmd+p = spawn nefercap

Press the key: a selector covers every monitor. Pick what to capture, press Tab to switch between screenshot and recording, then confirm. A badge at the top left shows the mode: SHOT or REC.

While recording, a red border marks the target and a small REC / Stop HUD shows the time. Neither appears in the video. Press the key again, or click Stop, to finish the file.

Input	Action
Drag	Capture a rectangle
Click	Capture the monitor
`W`, then Enter	Capture the current workspace
`M`, then Enter	Capture the monitor
`1`–`9`	Pick that monitor
`R`	Back to rectangle selection
`G`	Show or hide the thirds guides
`Tab`	Switch shot ⇄ rec
`Esc`	Cancel

A workspace recording follows that workspace, even when you switch to another one. A monitor recording follows whatever the monitor shows.

Features

One shortcut. Screenshot and recording share one selector; the same key stops a recording.
Clean video. The compositor keeps the border and HUD out of the recording.
Clipboard. Screenshots can be saved, copied, or both.
Small footprint. One capture in flight, reused buffers, no redraw while idle. Allocation tests guard the hot paths.
Scriptable. nefercap screenshot and nefercap record run without the selector.

Configuration

~/.config/nefercap/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nefercap/config):

selector.grid = on
screenshot.dir = ~/Pictures/Screenshots
screenshot.output = file+clipboard
video.dir = ~/Videos

Key	Values	Default
`selector.grid`	`on`, `off`	`on`
`screenshot.dir`	absolute or `~/` path	`$XDG_PICTURES_DIR/Screenshots`
`screenshot.output`	`file`, `file+clipboard`, `clipboard`	`file`
`video.dir`	absolute or `~/` path	`$XDG_VIDEOS_DIR`

Unknown keys, duplicates and invalid values are reported before the selector opens. Files are private, named with a timestamp, never overwritten, and their path is printed on stdout.

Commands

nefercap              # all-in-one: stop the recording, else open the selector
nefercap shot         # selector, screenshot only
nefercap rec          # selector, recording only
nefercap stop         # stop the active recording
nefercap status       # print the recording state

Scripted commands never open the selector:

nefercap outputs
nefercap screenshot -output DP-1 -file shot.png
nefercap screenshot -output DP-1 -region 0,0,1920x1080 -clipboard
nefercap record -output DP-1 -fps 30 -duration 10s -file clip.mp4

nefercap -h lists every flag. Regions use output-local logical coordinates. -size WxH sets an even output resolution for odd-sized sources.

Requirements

Go 1.27 to build.
A Wayland compositor with zwlr_layer_shell_v1 v4 and zwlr_screencopy_manager_v1.
Vulkan, libxkbcommon, linux-dmabuf and linux-drm-syncobj for the selector.
NeferWL's capture-session protocol to record.
FFmpeg with libx264 to record.
wl-copy (wl-clipboard) for clipboard screenshots.

Output is SDR, and video is silent H.264 in fragmented MP4. Audio, pause and cursor capture are not supported.

Install

make bin    # builds bin/nefercap

Copy bin/nefercap to a directory on your PATH.

Development

internal/core owns capture and selection state and imports only the standard library and internal/ports. internal/adapters holds Wayland, selector, HUD, PNG and FFmpeg code; internal/app wires them.

make check
make race
make mocks-check
staticcheck ./...

Test doubles are generated by Mockery v3.

License

GPL-3.0. See LICENSE.

source

1<h1 align="center">nefercap</h1>
2
3<p align="center">
4  <a href="LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-GPLv3-blue?style=flat-square" alt="License: GPLv3"></a>
5  <a href="https://github.com/bnema/nefercap"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/platform-Linux-blue?style=flat-square" alt="Platform: Linux"></a>
6  <a href="https://github.com/bnema/nefercap/commits/main"><img src="https://badgen.net/github/last-commit/bnema/nefercap/main?icon=github" alt="Last commit"></a>
7  <a href="https://github.com/bnema/nefercap/stargazers"><img src="https://badgen.net/github/stars/bnema/nefercap?icon=github" alt="GitHub stars"></a>
8</p>
9
10<p align="center">Screenshots and silent screen recording for Wayland, from one shortcut.</p>
11
12> [!WARNING]
13> **Early alpha.** Built for [NeferWL](https://github.com/bnema/neferwl). Other compositors can take screenshots but cannot record. Expect bugs and breaking config changes.
14
15---
16
17## Usage
18
19Bind `nefercap` to a key in your compositor. For NeferWL:
20
21```text
22bind.cmd+p = spawn nefercap
23```
24
25Press the key: a selector covers every monitor. Pick what to capture, press **Tab** to switch between screenshot and recording, then confirm. A badge at the top left shows the mode: `SHOT` or `REC`.
26
27While recording, a red border marks the target and a small **REC / Stop** HUD shows the time. Neither appears in the video. Press the key again, or click Stop, to finish the file.
28
29| Input | Action |
30| --- | --- |
31| Drag | Capture a rectangle |
32| Click | Capture the monitor |
33| `W`, then Enter | Capture the current workspace |
34| `M`, then Enter | Capture the monitor |
35| `1`–`9` | Pick that monitor |
36| `R` | Back to rectangle selection |
37| `G` | Show or hide the thirds guides |
38| `Tab` | Switch shot ⇄ rec |
39| `Esc` | Cancel |
40
41A workspace recording follows that workspace, even when you switch to another one. A monitor recording follows whatever the monitor shows.
42
43## Features
44
45- **One shortcut.** Screenshot and recording share one selector; the same key stops a recording.
46- **Clean video.** The compositor keeps the border and HUD out of the recording.
47- **Clipboard.** Screenshots can be saved, copied, or both.
48- **Small footprint.** One capture in flight, reused buffers, no redraw while idle. Allocation tests guard the hot paths.
49- **Scriptable.** `nefercap screenshot` and `nefercap record` run without the selector.
50
51## Configuration
52
53`~/.config/nefercap/config` (or `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nefercap/config`):
54
55```ini
56selector.grid = on
57screenshot.dir = ~/Pictures/Screenshots
58screenshot.output = file+clipboard
59video.dir = ~/Videos
60```
61
62| Key | Values | Default |
63| --- | --- | --- |
64| `selector.grid` | `on`, `off` | `on` |
65| `screenshot.dir` | absolute or `~/` path | `$XDG_PICTURES_DIR/Screenshots` |
66| `screenshot.output` | `file`, `file+clipboard`, `clipboard` | `file` |
67| `video.dir` | absolute or `~/` path | `$XDG_VIDEOS_DIR` |
68
69Unknown keys, duplicates and invalid values are reported before the selector opens. Files are private, named with a timestamp, never overwritten, and their path is printed on stdout.
70
71## Commands
72
73```sh
74nefercap              # all-in-one: stop the recording, else open the selector
75nefercap shot         # selector, screenshot only
76nefercap rec          # selector, recording only
77nefercap stop         # stop the active recording
78nefercap status       # print the recording state
79```
80
81Scripted commands never open the selector:
82
83```sh
84nefercap outputs
85nefercap screenshot -output DP-1 -file shot.png
86nefercap screenshot -output DP-1 -region 0,0,1920x1080 -clipboard
87nefercap record -output DP-1 -fps 30 -duration 10s -file clip.mp4
88```
89
90`nefercap -h` lists every flag. Regions use output-local logical coordinates. `-size WxH` sets an even output resolution for odd-sized sources.
91
92## Requirements
93
94- Go 1.27 to build.
95- A Wayland compositor with `zwlr_layer_shell_v1` v4 and `zwlr_screencopy_manager_v1`.
96- Vulkan, libxkbcommon, linux-dmabuf and linux-drm-syncobj for the selector.
97- NeferWL's capture-session protocol to record.
98- FFmpeg with `libx264` to record.
99- `wl-copy` (wl-clipboard) for clipboard screenshots.
100
101Output is SDR, and video is silent H.264 in fragmented MP4. Audio, pause and cursor capture are not supported.
102
103## Install
104
105```sh
106make bin    # builds bin/nefercap
107```
108
109Copy `bin/nefercap` to a directory on your `PATH`.
110
111## Development
112
113`internal/core` owns capture and selection state and imports only the standard library and `internal/ports`. `internal/adapters` holds Wayland, selector, HUD, PNG and FFmpeg code; `internal/app` wires them.
114
115```sh
116make check
117make race
118make mocks-check
119staticcheck ./...
120```
121
122Test doubles are generated by Mockery v3.
123
124## License
125
126GPL-3.0. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).

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