ScreenshotsCAN I VIBECODE
Shotomatic?
BUILD FIRST
- One specific customer type and one primary use case
- A vertical slice that completes the main job without manual workarounds
- Visible limits, review steps, and a fallback when an external dependency fails
LEAVE FOR LATER
- Broad third-party integrations
- High-scale collaboration, syncing, and permissions
- Automation that can cause harm without human review
RESEARCH NOTES
What this tool actually does.
Shotomatic is a commercial, closed-source macOS app for automating screenshots by collecting repeated captures into revisionable local sessions. Its core 'Auto Capture' mode records a screen, window, or custom region at a user-set interval until a stop condition (max frame count, session duration, or end time), with an optional countdown and an optional keypress sent after each frame to advance to the next page, enabling page-sequence archiving. Two other modes are offered: click-driven step-by-step guide capture and website screenshot batches. Captured sessions appear in a Capture History view where users review frames and export selected ones as JPG/PNG images, ZIP, PDF, or MP4. All captures and exports are stored locally on the Mac; the app does not upload data unless the user moves or shares exports. Positioning emphasizes Mac privacy and lighter-weight automation than manual screens
RESEARCHED BUILD PROMPT
Give this to your coding agent.
Build a desktop app in the style of Shotomatic, a macOS screenshot automation tool: it captures a screen, window, or custom region at a set interval until a stop condition, optionally pressing a key between frames to advance pages, and exports the sequence as a local archive. Use an original name, branding, and layout — do not copy Shotomatic's brand, logo, marketing copy, visual design, or assets.
Core workflow: (1) user chooses a capture source (full screen, active window, or drawn region); (2) sets interval (seconds), countdown delay, an optional keypress sent after each capture (for paging through slides/documents), and a stop condition (max frame count, total duration, or end time); (3) frames are captured locally in order with per-frame timestamps, shown in a session history list; (4) user selects frames and exports as JPG, PNG, ZIP, PDF, or MP4. Secondary mode: 'website batch' takes a list of URLs and captures each at a fixed viewport.
Technical approach: Electron or Tauri app. On macOS use the native screencapture binary/API for window and region capture; on Windows/Linux use platform capture libraries or fall back to full-screen only with a visible limitation note. Main-process timer loop with stop-condition checks; session metadata persisted in local JSON or SQLite with a frames directory. Keypress automation via platform tools (osascript on macOS, pyautogui-style elsewhere), optional and documented. PDF export from an image list (e.g., pdf-lib); MP4 via spawned ffmpeg with graceful degradation if ffmpeg is missing.
Out of scope: cloud uploads, accounts, subscriptions/licensing, click-recording guided tutorials, image annotation or pixel-diff editing, and any reuse of Shotomatic's UI or assets.
Deliver a runnable project plus a README covering setup, macOS/Windows/Linux screen-capture permission steps, the ffmpeg dependency, and known platform limitations.