explaingit

duongductrong/snapzy

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

1,212SwiftAudience · generalComplexity · 2/5Setup · easy

TLDR

A free, open-source menu bar app for macOS that captures screenshots and screen recordings, positioned as an alternative to CleanShot X.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Snapzy))
    What it does
      Screenshots
      Screen recording
      OCR text extraction
    Tech stack
      Swift
      SwiftUI
      ScreenCaptureKit
    Use cases
      Scrolling capture
      Annotated recordings
      Cloud upload
    Audience
      Mac users
      CleanShot alternative seekers

Code map

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Take screenshots of the full screen, a selected area, or a scrolling long page

USE CASE 2

Record screen video or GIFs with system audio, mic, and click highlights

USE CASE 3

Extract text from images using built in OCR

USE CASE 4

Store captures in your own AWS S3 or Cloudflare R2 bucket

What is it built with?

SwiftSwiftUIAppKitScreenCaptureKitVision

How does it compare?

duongductrong/snapzypixel-point/media-downloadersignerlabs/shipswift
Stars1,2121,1321,395
LanguageSwiftSwiftSwift
Last pushed2026-05-07
MaintenanceMaintained
Setup difficultyeasymoderateeasy
Complexity2/52/52/5
Audiencegeneralgeneraldeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Not notarized by Apple, so a one-line terminal command is needed after install to bypass the first-launch security block.

In plain English

Snapzy is a free, open-source screenshot and screen recording app for macOS that lives in the menu bar. It is positioned as an alternative to CleanShot X, a popular paid Mac capture tool. The app is built in Swift using SwiftUI and AppKit (Apple's native UI frameworks) along with ScreenCaptureKit and Vision (Apple's built-in screen capture and image analysis frameworks). The feature set is comprehensive. For screenshots, it supports fullscreen capture, selected-area capture, scrolling capture that stitches a long page together, OCR text extraction (reading text out of images), and transparent object cutout. For screen recording, it can capture video or animated GIFs with system audio, microphone, mouse click highlights, and live annotations. An annotation editor lets you add shapes, arrows, text, blur regions, counters, and remove backgrounds. A video editor handles trimming and export with custom dimensions. After capturing, a Quick Access panel floats onscreen with copy, edit, and share options. A history panel tracks all recent screenshots, videos, and GIFs. Cloud upload is available using your own AWS S3 or Cloudflare R2 storage, no third-party servers involved, with credentials stored in the macOS Keychain. All keyboard shortcuts are fully configurable. The app requires macOS 13.0 or later and can be installed via Homebrew or by downloading a release directly. It is not yet notarized by Apple, so a one-line terminal command is needed after installation to bypass the first-launch security block. The full README is longer than what was provided.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
How do I set up Snapzy to upload my screenshots to my own AWS S3 bucket?
Prompt 2
How do I use Snapzy's scrolling capture to grab a whole webpage?
Prompt 3
How do I bypass the first launch security block since Snapzy is not notarized?
Prompt 4
What keyboard shortcuts does Snapzy support and how do I customize them?

Frequently asked questions

What is snapzy?

A free, open-source menu bar app for macOS that captures screenshots and screen recordings, positioned as an alternative to CleanShot X.

What language is snapzy written in?

Mainly Swift. The stack also includes Swift, SwiftUI, AppKit.

How hard is snapzy to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is snapzy for?

Mainly general.

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