QuickSnap

QuickSnap is a minimal screenshot tool for Linux.

Its goal is simple:

Press a shortcut.

Drag a rectangle.

The screenshot is immediately copied to the clipboard.

That's it.

No editor. No floating toolbar. No save dialog. No unnecessary clicks.

Features

• Instant area selection — the rectangle starts at zero, where you press
• Direct clipboard copy — the moment you release the button
• Super+Shift+S by default, rebindable
• Lightweight — no helper process, no dependencies beyond GNOME itself
• Native Wayland support
• Open source

Requirements

• GNOME Shell 46 — the only version this has actually been run on (Zorin OS 18.1, Wayland). metadata.json deliberately declares nothing else.
• Wayland. X11 is untested, and GNOME dropped X11 sessions in Shell 49 anyway.

None of the APIs QuickSnap uses appear in the GNOME 47, 48, 49 or 50 porting guides, so it is likely to work there — but likely is not tested. To widen support, run it on that version and add the number to shell-version.

Install

git clone https://github.com/SnowTimSwiss/QuickSnap.git
cd QuickSnap
./install.sh

On Wayland, GNOME Shell only scans for extensions when the session starts, so log out and back in once after the first install. QuickSnap comes up automatically with the new session.

Verify:

gnome-extensions info quicksnap@snowtimswiss.github.io   # State: ACTIVE

Uninstall with ./uninstall.sh.

Usage

Action	Result
Super+Shift+S	Start the selection
Drag, then release	Region is on the clipboard
Esc or right-click	Cancel
Click without dragging	Cancel

Paste anywhere that accepts an image. The clipboard is owned by GNOME Shell, so the image survives for as long as your session runs — no clipboard manager daemon required.

Settings

gnome-extensions prefs quicksnap@snowtimswiss.github.io

• Capture shortcut
• Dim the area outside the selection
• Show the selection size while dragging
• Flash the captured area
• Play the shutter sound

Or straight from the command line:

gsettings --schemadir ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/quicksnap@snowtimswiss.github.io/schemas \
    set org.gnome.shell.extensions.quicksnap capture-area "['<Super><Shift>s']"

Why a GNOME Shell extension?

On GNOME under Wayland, a normal application cannot read the screen. The org.gnome.Shell.Screenshot D-Bus API rejects outside callers (AccessDenied), and wlr-screencopy tools such as grim do not work because Mutter does not implement that protocol. The remaining public route is the XDG desktop portal — which opens exactly the GNOME screenshot UI with its pre-sized floating rectangle and shutter button that QuickSnap exists to avoid.

An extension runs inside GNOME Shell itself. It can draw its own overlay, take a real input grab, capture pixels directly and put them on the clipboard, with no helper process and no extra dependencies.

How it works

1. A keybinding registered through Main.wm.addKeybinding starts the capture.
2. A fullscreen St.Widget takes a modal grab and dims everything outside the selection while you drag.
3. On release the overlay hides, and after the next compositor frame Shell.Screenshot.screenshot_area() renders the region into a PNG.
4. St.Clipboard.set_content() puts the PNG on the clipboard as image/png.

Provenance

The initial implementation of QuickSnap was written with AI assistance. It has since been reviewed line by line by the author, who understands it and maintains it. The source files carry the same statement.

This is stated openly because the extensions.gnome.org review guidelines do not ban AI tooling but do require that "extension developers should be able to justify and explain the code they submit" — and because publishing there is an undertaking to maintain the extension for other people across GNOME releases. Both hold here.

License

GPL-3.0 See LICENSE.

Philosophy

Modern screenshot tools have become image editors.

QuickSnap focuses on doing one thing well:

Capture a selected screen region as fast as possible.