Better Shot

An open-source alternative to CleanShot X for macOS. Capture, edit, and enhance your screenshots with professional quality.

Better Shot is a fast, lightweight screenshot tool built with Tauri and React. It provides a powerful yet simple interface for capturing screenshots, editing them with beautiful backgrounds and effects, and sharing them instantly.

Features

Capture Modes

• Region Capture - Select any area of your screen with pixel-perfect precision (⌘⇧2)
• Fullscreen Capture - Capture your entire screen instantly (⌘⇧F)
• Window Capture - Capture a specific window with one click (⌘⇧D)

Image Editing

• Background Library - Choose from curated wallpapers, Mac assets, and mesh patterns
• Custom Backgrounds - Solid colors, gradients, or transparent checkerboard
• Visual Effects - Adjustable blur and noise for professional polish
• Shadow Effects - Add depth with customizable shadows (blur, offset, opacity)
• Border Radius - Control image roundness for modern aesthetics
• High-Quality Export - Export at maximum quality for presentations and documentation

Annotation Tools

• Drawing Tools - Circle, rectangle, line, and arrow annotations
• Text Annotations - Add customizable text with adjustable font size
• Number Labels - Auto-incrementing numbered badges for step-by-step guides
• Customizable Properties - Full control over colors, opacity, borders, and alignment
• Interactive Editing - Select, move, and delete annotations with mouse or keyboard
• Professional Styling - Fine-tune fill colors, border widths, and opacity for each annotation

Workflow

• Global Hotkeys - Capture from anywhere, even when the app is hidden
• Customizable Shortcuts - Configure your own keyboard shortcuts in Preferences
• Auto-apply Background - Instantly apply default background with shadow effects and save without opening editor
• Clipboard Integration - Automatically copy screenshots to clipboard
• Custom Save Directory - Choose where your screenshots are saved (defaults to Desktop)
• Settings Persistence - All preferences are saved and restored automatically
• System Tray Integration - Access from the menu bar
• Native Performance - Built with Rust and Tauri for minimal resource usage

Preferences

• General Settings - Configure save directory and clipboard behavior
• Default Background - Set a default background for auto-apply mode
• Keyboard Shortcuts - Customize capture shortcuts with enable/disable toggles

Why Better Shot?

• 100% Free & Open Source - No subscriptions, no paywalls
• Lightweight - Minimal resource usage compared to Electron apps
• Beautiful UI - Modern, dark-themed interface
• Privacy First - All processing happens locally, no cloud uploads
• Fast - Native performance with Rust backend

Installation

Download Pre-built Release

1. Go to Releases

2. Download the appropriate DMG file:

   • Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3): bettershot_*_aarch64.dmg
   • Intel Mac: bettershot_*_x64.dmg

3. Open the DMG and drag Better Shot to Applications

4. First Launch:

   Terminal Method** (One command, no dialogs) (recommended)

   xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/bettershot.app

5. Grant Screen Recording permission when prompted

Note: Better Shot is ad-hoc signed (free indie app). macOS Gatekeeper shows a warning for apps not notarized through Apple's $99/year developer program. The app is safe - you can view the source code and build it yourself.

From Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot.git
cd better-shot

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Build the application
pnpm tauri build

The installer will be located in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/

Requirements

• macOS: 10.15 or later
• Node.js: 18 or higher
• pnpm: Latest version
• Rust: Latest stable version (for building from source)

Required Permissions

On first launch, macOS will request Screen Recording permission:

1. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording
2. Enable Better Shot
3. Restart the application if needed

This permission is required for the app to capture screenshots of your screen.

Star History

Usage

Quick Start

1. Launch the app - Open Better Shot from Applications or use the menu bar icon
2. Capture - Use global hotkeys (⌘⇧2, ⌘⇧F, or ⌘⇧D) or click buttons in the app
3. Select - For region capture, click and drag to select the area
4. Edit - Add backgrounds, effects, blur, shadows, and adjust border radius
5. Annotate - Use the annotation toolbar to add shapes, arrows, text, and numbered labels
6. Customize - Select any annotation to adjust colors, opacity, borders, and other properties
7. Export - Press ⌘S to save or ⌘⇧C to copy to clipboard

Quick Workflow with Auto-apply

For faster workflows, enable Auto-apply background on the main screen:

1. Toggle on "Auto-apply background" on the main page
2. Set your preferred default background in Preferences
3. Capture a screenshot - it will automatically apply the background and save instantly
4. No editor needed - perfect for quick captures with consistent styling

Keyboard Shortcuts

The homepage displays a comprehensive keyboard shortcuts reference, organized into Capture and Editor sections. Capture shortcuts are customizable in Preferences.

Capture Shortcuts

Action	Default Shortcut
Capture Region	⌘⇧2
Capture Fullscreen	⌘⇧F
Capture Window	⌘⇧D
Cancel Selection	Esc

Editor Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Save Image	⌘S
Copy to Clipboard	⇧⌘C
Undo	⌘Z
Redo	⇧⌘Z
Delete Annotation	Delete or Backspace
Close Editor	Esc

Typical Workflow

1. Capture: Use global hotkeys from anywhere or click buttons in the app
2. Select: For region capture, click and drag to select the area you want
3. Edit: Customize with backgrounds, gradients, blur effects, shadows, and roundness controls
4. Annotate: Add shapes, arrows, text, and numbered labels to highlight important areas
5. Customize: Select annotations to adjust colors, opacity, borders, and alignment
6. Export: Save to your chosen directory or copy directly to clipboard for instant sharing

Development

To run the app in development mode:

pnpm tauri dev

This will:

• Start the Vite dev server for the frontend
• Compile the Rust backend
• Launch the Tauri application window with hot-reload

Development Setup

See CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed development setup and contribution guidelines.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS 4, Vite
• Backend: Rust, Tauri 2
• Key Libraries:
  • xcap - Screenshot capture
  • image - Image processing
  • @tauri-apps/plugin-store - Settings persistence
  • @tauri-apps/plugin-global-shortcut - Global hotkeys

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our Contributing Guidelines before submitting a pull request.

Ways to Contribute

• Report bugs
• Suggest new features
• Submit pull requests
• Improve documentation
• Star the project

License

This project is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License - see the LICENSE file for details.

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