A screenshot tool, rewritten.
The first MacShot ran on Electron. Every feature worked, but every launch waited for a browser engine, and the bundle was 242 MB. The native rewrite keeps the features and brings the app down to 724 KB.
Not worth booting a browser to take a screenshot.
Electron lowered the barrier for desktop tools, at the cost of shipping Chromium and Node with each one. For a tool whose whole promise is "press a key, get an image", that trade never made sense.
The rewrite follows three rules: no third-party libraries, no Xcode project (one swiftc command produces the app), and nothing about your captures leaves the machine. As of v1.2.2 it's twelve source files and a 724 KB binary.
The settings window is still HTML — forms are genuinely nicer to build that way. Native code handles what it's better at: file pickers, global hotkey recording, and real watermark rendering.
| Layer | Built with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Overlay | AppKit, custom drawing | Must sit above the menu bar and Dock, with precise hit testing |
| Capture | CoreGraphics | ~20 ms for a full 2880×1800 screen; ScreenCaptureKit starts at 300 ms per frame |
| Settings UI | WKWebView | Form-heavy screens are faster to build in HTML |
| Global hotkeys | Carbon | Still the most reliable system-wide registration |
| Launch at login | ServiceManagement | The standard approach since MacOS 13 |
| Dependencies | None | One less supply chain, one less thing to break |
Who maintains it, and how to reach them.
MacShot is designed, written, documented and maintained by one person, Daniel_Yen. Feature requests and bug reports are welcome — especially reproducible ones.
- Author
- Daniel_Yen
- Role
- Independent development and maintenance
- Feedback
- In-app: Settings → About → scan the author's WeChat code
- To be added
- Response
- Usually within 24 hours on weekdays; faster with reproduction steps
- Version
- v1.2.2
The app uploads nothing, collects no usage data and requires no account. See the privacy note for details.
Licensing
The current build is free to use. Once the release channel is settled, licensing terms will be documented here and on the download page.
One less app between you and the send button.
724 KB, lives in the menu bar. No account, no subscription, no uploads.
- Four capture modes: area, full screen, window, smart
- Rectangle, pen, text and mosaic — press Return to export
- Brand watermark with timestamp and QR code
- Everything runs on your Mac. Nothing is uploaded.
Get notified when it ships
Release announcements only. No marketing email.
See download requirementsCurrent version 1.2.2 · Requires MacOS 13 or later. No payment is collected before release.