Snap context into your terminal AI. Region screenshots for Claude Code, Cursor, Aider, and any terminal AI agent.
Terminal AI agents can read text but they can't see your screen. Pasting a screenshot into the terminal does nothing — Ctrl+V only handles text.
ctx-shot bridges that gap. Snap a region, the file path lands in your clipboard, paste it into the terminal — Claude Code (or any agent) reads the image automatically.
[ Press hotkey ] → [ Drag a region ] → [ Ctrl+V in terminal ] → [ AI sees it ]
git clone https://github.com/XiamiYoung/ctx-shot.git
cd ctx-shot
npm install
npm startOr use the platform launcher (auto-installs on first run):
# Windows
.\run.bat
# macOS / Linux
./run.shA coral system tray icon appears. The app runs in the background — close the launcher terminal anytime.
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Capture region | Ctrl+PrintScreen or double-tap Ctrl |
Cmd+Shift+1 or double-tap Ctrl |
| Cancel selection | Esc or right-click |
Esc or right-click |
| Quit | Tray → 🚪 Quit | Tray → 🚪 Quit |
| ℹ️ About | App info, hotkeys, GitHub link |
| 📂 Open Folder | Reveals the screenshot directory |
| 🗑️ Clear All | Wipes every saved screenshot (with confirmation) |
| 🚪 Quit | Exit the app |
- Pre-warmed overlay windows — at startup, one hidden
BrowserWindowper display, HTML pre-parsed. Show latency ≈ 0ms. - Capture warmup — a dummy
desktopCapturercall at boot eliminates first-call cold-start. - All-monitor selection overlay — every screen dims simultaneously; drag on whichever screen has your target. The selection is constrained to a single monitor (Snipping Tool style).
- Coral shimmer animation — the selection border uses Anthropic's brand palette: a static coral underline plus a traveling cream-cored halo (2.4s cycle), corner brackets, and a live dimensions pill.
- Clipboard handoff — the cropped PNG is saved, the absolute path is written to the OS clipboard as text. Your terminal AI reads images automatically when it sees a path in your prompt.
| Platform | Path |
|---|---|
| Windows | %LOCALAPPDATA%\ctx-shot\shots\ |
| macOS | ~/Library/Application Support/ctx-shot/shots/ |
| Linux | ~/.local/share/ctx-shot/shots/ |
Screenshots older than 5 minutes are deleted every 5 minutes — and once on startup. Use 🗑️ Clear All in the tray menu for an immediate purge.
This is intentional: your screenshots are ephemeral context for an AI conversation, not a personal archive.
None required.
| Permission | Why | Where to grant |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Recording | desktopCapturer access |
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording |
| Accessibility | Double-tap Ctrl detection |
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility |
After granting, restart the app (an Apple requirement, not ours).
If Accessibility is denied, the Cmd+Shift+1 fallback still works — only the double-tap shortcut is disabled.
Screenshots stay on your machine. ctx-shot does not phone home, upload, or telemeter anything. The only network call is when you click the GitHub button in the About dialog.
The clipboard write contains a local file path. Whether your AI agent uploads that file is determined by your AI's behavior, not ours.
- Electron 31 — cross-platform shell,
globalShortcut,desktopCapturer,nativeImagecropping - uiohook-napi (optional) — global low-level keyboard hook for double-tap
Ctrl - Pure-JS PNG encoder (~50 LOC) — generates the tray icon at runtime, zero asset files
- Canvas2D — selection overlay, shimmer animation, dimensions label
No native modules required for core features. uiohook-napi is an optional dependency — if it fails to install (rare), the keyboard combo Ctrl+PrintScreen / Cmd+Shift+1 keeps working.
Tested with — and the screenshot-path-in-prompt convention works for:
Anything that reads file paths from a prompt and supports image inputs.
Issues and PRs welcome. Some areas where contributions land easily:
- Linux testing & packaging (untested by author)
- Configurable hotkeys (currently hardcoded)
electron-builderpackaging →.exe/.dmgreleases- Settings window (TTL, cleanup interval, hotkey customization)
Chat, agents, voice, and tools — all in one local-first desktop app. Bring your own keys (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Google, OpenRouter, …) and run them side by side.
🌐 clankit.app · 📦 GitHub
- Visual design adapted from the Anthropic / Claude brand palette — coral
#d97757, cream#faf9f5, dark#141413. ctx-shot is not affiliated with Anthropic.
MIT © 2026 XiamiYoung