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ScreenSearch v0.2.1 Right on Cue

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@nicolasestrem nicolasestrem released this 29 Jun 17:12
v0.2.1
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Learn about vigilant mode.

ScreenSearch v0.2.1 Right on Cue

ScreenSearch is a Windows-only, fully local desktop app that captures your screen, makes it
searchable by text and meaning, and answers questions about it entirely on-device. No cloud, no
account, no telemetry.

Right on Cue makes ScreenSearch feel more aware of the work happening in front of you: capture
can now react to real activity, text extraction can read the focused window more directly, and heavy
background enrichment can ease off when your machine is under pressure.

⚠️ Pre-release & unsigned. Early build for testing. The installer is not code-signed, so
Windows SmartScreen will warn on first launch click More info → Run anyway. Treat it as beta.

Install

  1. Download ScreenSearch_0.2.1_x64-setup.exe below.
  2. Run it (SmartScreen → More info → Run anyway), then launch ScreenSearch.

First run what to expect

  • Internet is required on first run. The app downloads its inference engine and local ML models
    into its per-user app-data folder (%APPDATA%\app.screensearchv2c.desktop\). Downloads show
    progress in-app and are resumable.
  • Model downloads use the faster parallel/chunked downloader introduced in v0.2.0 when the host
    supports it, with single-stream download as a fallback.
  • Only one instance runs at a time if you launch it again, it focuses the existing window
    instead of starting a second copy.

Requirements

  • Windows 10/11 x64 with the WebView2 runtime.
  • A Vulkan-capable GPU is recommended for fast local inference; a CPU fallback exists but is
    slower.
  • ~50 GB free disk recommended for models and captured frames.

What’s in it

ScreenSearch now has an opt-in event-driven capture mode. Instead of relying only on timer-based
sampling, capture can fire on foreground/app changes, clipboard-change signals, idle/typing-pause
edges, clicks, and scroll-stop events. It stays privacy-conscious: no raw keystrokes, clipboard
contents, cursor coordinates, or scroll details are stored.

Text capture also gets a major upgrade: ScreenSearch can now read the target foreground window via
Windows UI Automation, then fall back to OCR when UIA is unavailable, too thin, too slow, or unsafe
to use. Moment details show whether a frame was read through UIA or OCR.

This release also adds an optional Performance throttle. When enabled, ScreenSearch watches
system pressure and backs off background enrichment under load: vision tagging and image embeddings
pause first, then text embedding narrows if pressure is sustained. Capture, OCR, and storage never
pause, so the app keeps recording while heavier AI work waits its turn.

And importantly: v0.2.1 fixes a UIA hang where Chromium/Electron apps like Chrome, Edge, and Claude
Desktop could become unresponsive while UI Automation walked very large pages. UIA now avoids
high-frequency scroll/click paths by default, skips shortly after recent input, limits backlog, and
uses a lighter control-view traversal.

Known limitations

  • Unsigned installer → SmartScreen warning.
  • Windows-only by design.
  • First run still downloads several GB of local models.
  • Event-driven capture is opt-in; timer capture remains the default.
  • UIA may intentionally fall back to OCR during active scrolling/clicking or on complex windows.
  • The Performance throttle is opt-in and may defer on-demand vision tagging while pressure is high.
  • A deeper cached UIA traversal optimization remains deferred.

Full Changelog: v0.2.0...v0.2.1

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