Sniptra documentation

Built in and designed for standalone use

Sniptra is a local screenshot tool organized around capture → edit → deliver. Use it for documentation, issue reports, extracting image text or keeping a reference visible on the desktop.

Included in ArcRelay by default; standalone distribution is planned. It can run independently with its own tray, shortcuts and settings, but this page does not yet offer a standalone installer. Source-level platform adapters are not a release announcement for every platform.

The current ArcRelay bundle integration covers Windows and macOS 12.3+. Bundled does not mean enabled by default: the enhanced-screenshot switch starts off and takes over the relevant capture flow only after you enable it.

Region, window and desktop capture

The shortcut freezes the current desktop into one borderless capture canvas. Selection, annotations, OCR and output happen in that same surface without opening a separate image editor.

• Hover to highlight a discovered window. Click to select it or double-click to copy immediately.
• Drag a custom region, move it from inside the selection, or resize using its eight handles.
• Use arrow keys for physical-pixel adjustments.
• Enter applies the configured default output; Escape cancels the operation.
• Command-line modes also include area, active window, selected window, monitor, desktop and last region. Actual availability is reported by the platform backend.

Multi-display, scaling and window capture vary by system. Windows, macOS and X11 provide native window discovery; Wayland may first delegate target selection to a system Portal.

Editable annotations

Annotations remain separate objects until delivery, so you can select and revise an existing mark instead of starting over.

Express the important part

Use arrows, lines and curves, rectangles and other shapes, text, pen strokes, highlights and pixelation. Lines include straight, waveform and Bézier paths; shapes include rounded rectangles, ellipses, polygons and stars.

Refine precisely

• Change the selected object’s color, width, fill, arrowhead, text styling or pixelation strength.
• Move, resize, duplicate, delete and reorder objects. Rotate vector objects and adjust curve control points.
• Double-click to edit text in place. Command/Ctrl + Enter confirms; Escape cancels the active text edit.
• Arrow keys move one pixel, or ten with Shift. Undo and redo leave room to experiment.

Pixelation is visual obscuring, not irreversible redaction. Use an opaque cover for information that must be hidden and inspect the exported image. Pixelation regions stay axis-aligned and cannot be rotated.

Local OCR text recognition

Select a region and press Shift + O to read and copy recognized text inside the canvas without ending the capture. A bundled worker and local models perform OCR: screenshots are not uploaded, models are not automatically downloaded during recognition, and system Tesseract is not required.

Use it for error messages, screenshots or content that cannot be selected directly. Image quality, fonts and language affect accuracy; review important text before using it.

An OCR failure does not block capture, editing, saving or pinning. If copied text is correct but displayed characters are boxes, check whether the operating system has the appropriate fonts.

Copy, save and pin

Copy the edited image, save it to a file or pin it on the desktop. PNG is the default; JPEG and WebP are also supported. JPEG is not suitable for retaining transparency.

Pinned images help compare designs, transcribe text or reference another window. Adjust zoom, return to actual size and close references when finished. Always-on-top behavior on Wayland depends on the compositor.

Copy, save and other deliveries report separate outcomes. If one fails, other requested outputs can still complete and recoverable output is retained for manual handling. Copy success does not imply that a requested file save also succeeded.

Scrolling capture on macOS

Select a region before adding annotations, then start scrolling capture from the toolbar. Extend a long image upward or downward, avoid duplicating already captured content and retain fixed top/bottom areas only once where matching permits.

• Manual: scroll slowly with the wheel or trackpad; Accessibility permission is not required.
• Automatic: send small scroll steps through the region’s center marker, waiting for reliable visual overlap before advancing.
• Automatic mode requires macOS Accessibility permission and is disabled in Mac App Store sandbox builds. That build distinction is not an App Store release announcement.
• For nested containers, position the selection center over the intended content or use manual scrolling.
• Uncertain overlap pauses without changing the last safe image. Return to a distinctive area and use Space to resume.
• Command + Z removes the latest stitched segment, Enter finishes, and Escape cancels while preserving the original selection.

Scrolling capture is currently a macOS capability, not a promise of Windows or Linux parity.

Common shortcuts

Use Command on macOS and Ctrl on Windows/Linux. Command/Ctrl + / opens the in-app reference. The startup shortcut can be changed in settings.

Platform capabilities and settings

This is an implementation matrix, not a standalone package release list. OS permissions, capture backends and the selected build determine the result. Settings include Simplified Chinese/English, light/dark appearance, shortcuts and output preferences, stored locally.

Scripting and command-line use

When Sniptra is installed and executable, combine capture outputs from the command line. For example, sniptra capture --copy --save Screenshot.png --pin copies, saves and pins the same result.

JSON annotation descriptions also support scripted editing. Embedding applications can use one-shot execution and an isolated profile directory. Ordinary users do not need a terminal, and a single capture does not require a permanently running background service.

Privacy and the ArcRelay boundary

Sniptra itself requires no account, makes no automatic network or update requests, sends no telemetry and records no screenshot history. OCR runs locally on demand.

No history does not mean images never reach disk. Files you explicitly save remain, and failed delivery can retain temporary recovery output; successful delivery cleans up temporary assets. Diagnostic logs exclude screenshot pixels, OCR text, sensitive window titles and complete file paths.

After an embedded capture is copied, ArcRelay may retain it in clipboard history, run background OCR or sync it to authorized peers according to its own settings. The system clipboard and other listening applications can also access it. Sniptra’s no-history statement describes Sniptra, not those other applications.

Common questions

• Capture cannot start: check system capture permission and an available backend. On macOS, grant Screen Recording to the application actually launching the capture.
• Copy fails: another application may hold the clipboard; inspect the message and try saving without discarding the result.
• Automatic scrolling does nothing: check macOS Accessibility permission, non-sandbox mode and the container under the center marker.
• OCR is unavailable: verify that the OCR worker is included in the installation. Other capture and editing actions remain usable.
• Save fails: check directory permissions and free space, then follow the recovery message to save elsewhere.

Return to the product overview, or read about ArcRelay clipboard and collaboration boundaries.