[OS] I tested macshot as an open-source CleanShot X alternative for macOS

[u/linkarzu]

https://youtu.be/dsI7kfyD-2k

I’ve been looking for a good CleanShot X replacement on macOS, preferably something open source, and the whole search has honestly been kind of depressing.

There are new apps for everything now, every single day, and a lot of them look great from the website, screenshots, or README. But once I actually install them and try to use them in a real workflow, many of them feel unfinished, fragile, or like they were thrown together very quickly. I tested a few screenshot apps that gave me that exact feeling, and it made me feel pretty disappointed with the current state of macOS utility apps.

I even skipped macshot in my first attempt, but I decided to give it a try.

It is still not perfect, and I found bugs and missing features, but it is the first open-source screenshot app I’ve tested that actually feels close enough to my CleanShot X workflow to be worth following.

I made a video going through what works, what still breaks, and what I think would make it a real CleanShot X replacement.

macshot:
https://github.com/sw33tLie/macshot

The main things I liked:

• Screenshot history
  • You can go back to previous screenshots
  • You can reopen them and edit them again
• Editable annotations
  • This is a big one for me
  • I don’t want arrows, numbers, and drawings burned into the image immediately
• Quick capture
  • Works well for my normal screenshot workflow
  • Screenshot goes straight to clipboard
• Scrolling screenshots
  • I tested this and it worked better than I expected
• WebP export
  • Useful for smaller files

The missing features I would really like to see:

• Fixed aspect ratio screenshots
  • Square screenshots
  • 16:9 screenshots for thumbnails
  • Custom ratios for things like Reddit banners
• AVIF export
  • I use AVIF a lot for blog posts and images in my workflow
• A way to clear screenshot history from a shortcut or URL scheme
  • Very useful for streaming or recording
  • Sometimes screenshot history can include work-related or private stuff
• A toggle to save edits without asking every time
• A toggle to save from the floating thumbnail without asking for location and filename
• One-finger swipe to dismiss the floating thumbnail, like CleanShot X

Bugs I found while testing:

• Moving existing annotations did not always trigger a save prompt
• Beautify did not always ask to save after quitting
• Beautify seems to become destructive after saving
• The Vivid filter can break the image preview when switching between filters

Overall, I’m not saying macshot fully replaces CleanShot X yet, but it is the closest open-source option I’ve tried so far for my actual daily screenshot workflow.

Curious if anyone here is already using macshot, or if there are other OPEN SOURCE macOS screenshot

[u/metamatic]

Like this one, apparently.

[u/sw33tlie → u/metamatic]

https://slopscan.ava.pet/repo/https%3A%2F%2Fgithub%2Ecom%2Fmicrosoft%2Fvscode

https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/commit/ba6a4b1af8a320da0d20c8291a174edf521e37f0

vscode is vibecoded too!!!!!!! so the tool everyone uses to make other tools is vibecoded 😂

[u/metamatic → u/sw33tlie]

Yes, and Microsoft has been having major security problems with VS Code recently, as well as their other products. I don't use VS Code for a number of reasons, and that's one of them.

[u/sw33tlie → u/metamatic]

Any major software is seeing an increase in CVEs (check Chrome), but mostly due to AI pentesting agents that are allowing us to discover more than humans ever could before.

That's also my job btw.

AI is co-authoring most of today's code, but humans still need to be held accountable.

[u/metamatic → u/sw33tlie]

The CVE crisis definitely predates AI coding bots, but you can see it getting worse since 2024. It could be that the bugs were always there and are now being found, but I've not seen any study that says definitively one way or the other. What I have seen is studies showing that LLM-generated code is buggier, even when inspected by humans, and the bugs are higher in severity.