screenwire

Native screen recording for Node.js and Electron — macOS and Windows.

• macOS — ScreenCaptureKit (macOS 13+, Apple Silicon)
• Windows — WASAPI loopback + GDI screen capture via NativeAOT C# bridge (Windows 10/11 x64)

Prebuilt binaries are included. No Xcode, no .NET SDK, no node-gyp required on the user's machine.

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or newer
• macOS 13.0+ on Apple Silicon or Windows 10/11 x64
• Screen Recording permission granted in System Settings (macOS only — the OS will prompt on first run)

Installation

npm install screenwire

No native compilation happens during install. The prebuilt .node addon and all native dependencies are bundled with the package.

Usage

Async / await (recommended)

const recorder = require('screenwire')
const path = require('path')

const outputPath = path.join(require('os').homedir(), 'Desktop', 'recording.mp4')
const sleep = (ms) => new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, ms))

async function main() {
  await recorder.startAsync(outputPath)

  await sleep(5000)

  const status = await recorder.stopAsync()
  console.log(status) // "Saved recording to /Users/.../recording.mp4"
}

main()

Callback

const recorder = require('screenwire')
const path = require('path')

const outputPath = path.join(require('os').homedir(), 'Desktop', 'recording.mp4')

recorder.start(outputPath, (status) => {
  console.log('[status]', status)
})

setTimeout(() => {
  recorder.stop((status) => {
    console.log('[done]', status)
  })
}, 5000)

API

recorder.startAsync(outputPath) → Promise<string>

Starts recording to the given .mp4 file path. Resolves once recording is active.

recorder.stopAsync() → Promise<string>

Stops recording and finalizes the file. Resolves with the final status string once the file is saved.

recorder.start(outputPath, onStatus)

Callback version of startAsync. onStatus(message) is called with progress strings as recording proceeds.

recorder.stop(onStatus)

Callback version of stopAsync. onStatus(message) is called with the final status string.

recorder.isRecording()

Returns true if a recording is currently in progress.

Status strings

String	Meaning
"Checking permissions..."	Verifying screen recording permission (macOS)
"Preparing screen capture..."	Setting up the capture pipeline
"Recording to /path/file.mp4"	Recording is active
"Stopping recording..."	Stop called, finalizing the file
"Saved recording to /path/file.mp4"	File successfully written

Platform notes

macOS captures screen, system audio, and microphone using ScreenCaptureKit. The OS will show a permission prompt on first use — grant Screen Recording access to your terminal or app in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

Windows captures screen via GDI/ffmpeg and system audio via direct WASAPI loopback COM P/Invoke. Microphone is captured via NAudio if a device is present. All native DLLs and ffmpeg are bundled inside the package.

License

MIT — built and maintained by BreakingPoint