--- title: Screen Recorder (record, edit and share your screen) --- # Screen Recorder ## What it is > **The capture itself is desktop-app only** — it needs Electron's `desktopCapturer` plus hidden BrowserWindows to run `MediaRecorder` and the offscreen export bake, none of which exist in a headless process or a browser. **But an agent session does NOT need IPC to drive it:** the CLI control server exposes `/capture/*` routes that ASK the running app to do the work — `POST /capture/recording/start` · `/capture/recording/stop` · `/capture/recording/device-prompt` (answers the "a device you chose did not open" question a take can stop at; `GET /capture/state` shows it as `pendingDevicePrompt`) · `/capture/screenshot`, `GET /capture/state` · `/capture/recordings` · `/capture/:id`, and the frame routes in [Agent frame access](#agent-frame-access-cli) below. Reach for those first; `screen-recorder:*` IPC is for main-process code, not for agents. (This note previously said no CLI route existed and none was planned — that was already wrong when several `/capture/*` routes had shipped, and it sent agents off to build IPC plumbing they did not need.) Screen Recorder is the video-capture half of Omniscio's built-in screen capture — the built-in Loom alternative. Capture your screen (with optional microphone and webcam), review the result, trim/rename it in a built-in editor, and share a public link or upload to Vimeo. Its sibling is the [Screenshot / Snip Tool](screenshot-snip-tool.md) — both store rows in the same `screen_recordings` table (a snip is a row with `type='image'`, a recording is `type='video'`), so the store, editor, review, and share surfaces are shared infrastructure. The **library is NOT shared UI anymore**: each area shows only its own type (see below). The feature appears as a **Screen Recording** entry (Camera icon, red-400) in the Omniscio sidebar under the **Communication** group. Sidebar-name history: it shipped as "Screen Recordings", was rescoped to the unified "Screen Capture" umbrella (v0.1.67, covering snip + record in one panel), then **split apart again 2026-08-03** into two sibling entries — **Screen Recording** (this doc; video only) and **[Screenshots](screenshot-snip-tool.md)** (the snip tool + a snips-only library). The underlying sentinel `__screen_recordings__` and the `screenRecorderEnabled` flag are byte-stable and never change — only the displayName moved. The sibling Screenshots area is a second integration (`__screenshots__`) that shares the same table and store, but as of the **2026-08-08** split it has its **own** `screenshotsEnabled` toggle — each area's toggle shows/hides only that area (Screen Recording stays on `screenRecorderEnabled`; see [Screenshots](screenshot-snip-tool.md)). A recording can also be handed to an AI to review with you — mark the moments that matter while you record, then send the whole thing to one conversation that shows you a cropped screenshot every time it refers to something. That mode is documented separately in [Record for Agent](record-for-agent.md); everything on this page still applies to it, since it is a mode on top of this recorder rather than a second one. All capture is **local-first**. A hidden host renderer streams `MediaRecorder` chunks to the main process, which writes them to `/screen-recordings//segments/`, then a one-shot ffmpeg pass transcodes (and, for multi-source, composites) the WebM chunks into a single H.264 + AAC MP4. The MP4 stays on disk until you share or discard. Sharing uploads to the Omniscio Shares Firebase project and mints a public link; nothing leaves your machine until you explicitly share. While a capture is live, the hidden host renderer is held at **HIGH** CPU priority and Omniscio's own main process is capped one step below it, so the recording outranks the thread that writes its frames — including while you work in the app being recorded, which is the normal case. This is the one place a renderer is allowed to outrank the app's event loop, on the reasoning that a dropped frame cannot be recovered while a late chunk write can. It is released the moment the capture ends (stop, discard, abort, or a crash), works whether or not `boostAmcProcessPriority` is on, and has its own kill switch `AMC_DISABLE_SCREEN_RECORDER_PRIORITY=1`. Disk I/O priority is deliberately NOT raised: Windows refuses a non-elevated process any I/O priority above Normal, and the app already sits there while every agent process sits below it. Governed by `recorder-outranks-the-event-loop-while-recording` in [app-tree-priority-contract.md](/.claude/memory/contracts/app-tree-priority-contract.md); read the applied state from `_debugAppTreePriorityState()` (`recording`, `recordingPid`, `recordingClass`). ## Where to find it ### Opt-in toggle Screen Recording is **off by default for new installs**. Flip **Settings → Features → Enable Screen Recording** (`screenRecorderEnabled`) to turn it on — its own toggle since the **2026-08-08** split from the sibling Screenshots area (each has an independent switch; see [Screenshots](screenshot-snip-tool.md)). When off: the sidebar row is hidden, every `screen-recorder:*` IPC call is rejected at the handler with a `{ success: false }` envelope before the service is touched, and no recorder hotkeys register. Existing MP4s and library rows are left untouched. An in-flight recording started before you flipped the toggle off is left running — the gate fires on new start/quick-start calls, not on active captures. Settings search keywords "screen recorder", "loom", "recording", "capture", "video", "share recording" all land on this toggle. Every OTHER Screen Recording option (shortcuts, quality, webcam, click ring, countdown, watermark, extras, link expiry, Vimeo token) lives IN the tool — the gear icon in the Screen Recording header opens the **Screen Recording settings** page (its own page since the 2026-08-08 split; moved out of Settings 2026-07-07). That page is laid out as **five tabs**, so no single screen is a wall of settings: | Tab | Holds | | --- | --- | | **Recording** | quick-record shortcut · recording defaults · recording quality · countdown before recording · play-a-sound-when-recording-starts · auto-title recordings | | **Webcam & clicks** | webcam shape · webcam preview size · webcam preview corner · click-ring style, colour and size | | **Watermark & intro** | watermark mode, text, image and position · intro card and its name | | **Sharing** | copy-a-share-link-when-I-stop · quick-share link expiry · default link expiry · Vimeo access token | | **Advanced** | auto-zoom to clicks · click sound · Record for Agent · the Record-for-Agent video pass · do-not-disturb while recording · export folder · take the tour | Only the open tab's settings are on screen at a time — that is what keeps the page short — and **Ctrl/Cmd+Tab cycles the tabs** (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Tab goes backwards) from anywhere inside the dialog. The **Screenshots** settings page is deliberately NOT tabbed: it holds only a handful of rows. Every setting id, description and default is unchanged by the tab layout — the shelf a setting sits on is the only thing that moved. ## How it behaves ### How to use it ### Start a recording Two entry points: While Screen Recording is enabled, Omniscio keeps the recorder countdown and controls loaded in the background without capturing screen, microphone, or camera media. Capture cannot begin until the current control HUD has positively confirmed that its React controls mounted and painted. During an unusually slow startup or renderer recovery, Quick Record instead says that nothing was recorded; it never queues a delayed surprise start. - **Quick Record (Fastpath)** — press `Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+R`. It records your **default preset's** exact scene with no picker and no modal; with no default preset it records the built-in default (the last-used source when it's still available, else the primary monitor, + remembered webcam + remembered mic). The hotkey is acted on at once — the take is created immediately — but the first ACTUAL frame lands a few seconds later while the devices and the desktop capturer open (see **When recording actually begins** below), and the HUD says "Starting…" until then. See **Presets & Templates + Quick Capture** below. - **New recording** (library header button) or the picker hotkey — opens the Record tab's **two-step composer**. The live composed canvas preview stays visible on BOTH steps (top of the view, ≥45% height); only the bottom sheet swaps. **Step 1 — Choose what to record:** the grid of capture sources (every screen and window the OS exposes), the webcam toggle and camera picker, plus the presets & templates bar (a preset IS a "what to record" choice — loading one jumps to Step 2 with the restored scene); the **Next** button stays disabled until the composition is startable (same `resolveCompositionStart` rule as Start). **Step 2 — Recording options:** every option — output size, resize mode, layout arrangement, mic/system audio, webcam shape — and the **Start recording** button; **Back** returns to Step 1 with the composed layout kept. Source enumeration is **bounded at ~8 seconds** — Electron's `desktopCapturer.getSources()` can hang on GPU-starved/RDP/locked machines — degrading to a "No capture sources available" empty state rather than an infinite spinner. **Multi-source recording is supported.** You can compose several sources (screens/windows + a webcam) into one canvas. Selecting a webcam without an explicit layout auto-generates a picture-in-picture layout (`buildLoomDefaultLayout`); the scene is persisted as a layout sidecar beside the WebM, and ffmpeg composites the sources into a single MP4 on stop. Quality, frame rate, countdown, and delayed-start options come from the recorder settings. ### The video block's shape (rounded by default) A recorded **screen or window** comes in with **softened corners** — a camera-less recording is rounded too. - **Shape + Roundness** (Step 2): **Square / Rounded / Circle** plus a slider, 0–50% of the *shorter* side, so a corner looks identical at any resolution. - Preview, editor and the exported MP4 derive the corner from **one shared value**, so the export matches what you approved. - The shape rides in the scene, so a **preset** brings it back; **Screen Recording → Video block shape / corner radius** sets the standing default (both optional — older scenes still open). - **Camera beside window** — one press pairs camera and window as two equal, resizable tiles; **PiP**/**Pack** puts it back, keeping its shape. ### While recording (the HUD) Window creation and page-load completion do not count as ready. The current hidden HUD generation must prove its controls are rendered before any recording entry point may touch media; a close, failed load, or renderer crash invalidates that proof and starts bounded background recovery. A floating recording HUD shows the elapsed timer and the live controls. It opens on the display where the Omniscio window is (not necessarily the primary monitor), and the pill itself is a **drag handle** — grab anywhere that isn't a button to move it if it's covering something; your placement is kept for the rest of that recording (the next recording re-centers). The HUD window is pre-warmed at recording start so it appears the moment capture begins: - **Pause / resume** — stops capturing but keeps the session live; the MP4 resumes into the same file. - **Stop** — finalizes. Status moves `recording` → `transcoding` → `ready` and the row appears in the library (the review window auto-opens on the transcode→ready edge). With auto-share-on-stop on, the share link is copied to your clipboard **instantly** on Stop (see [Sharing](#sharing) below). - **Stop & share** — Stop AND force the instant-share link + clipboard copy even when auto-share-on-stop is off. - **Settings** (gear) — foregrounds the app and opens Screen Recording settings without ending the recording. - **Discard** — drops the segments and the row (two-step confirm; nothing is written). - **Panic-mute** — instantly mutes mic + camera without stopping. For a **webcam recording**, the small live **self-view** (the Loom-style floating camera pill, content-protected so it's excluded from the capture) is pre-warmed during the countdown the same way the HUD is — so it's on screen and live the instant recording starts, not a few seconds later. Its size and docked corner come from Screen Capture settings, and it's draggable. #### When something you asked for can't be captured The microphone, your computer's sound and the camera are each **optional**: losing one never stops a recording. It does mean the take is missing something you asked for, and the HUD says so as soon as capture is live — the same banner the warnings channel already uses, so you see it while the recording is still running and can still act on it. - **No microphone audio was recorded** — your microphone could not be opened (disconnected, or held by another app). Screen and system audio are unaffected. - **Your computer's sound was not recorded** — the system-audio capture could not start. - **Your chosen camera could not be opened — this recording uses "‹name›" instead** — a camera IS being recorded, just not the one you picked. Each device capture gets one immediate retry first, so a microphone or camera that was only briefly busy records normally and you see no message at all. What the take actually captured is also written beside the recording as `capture-report.json`, next to `layout.json` (which records what you *asked* for) — so a recording made without a microphone is never mistaken for one made with it. ### Review window Click any `ready` recording (or stop a capture) to open the **Review Window**: - Inline `