SimpleRecorder

SimpleRecorder is a Windows-first screen recorder designed for fast capture, a clean HUD, and a GPU-first architecture.

This repository currently contains the Phase 1 foundation:

• WinUI 3 HUD shell
• system tray integration
• persisted settings
• managed recorder stub wired through real contracts
• native engine scaffold for future capture, audio, and encode work

Tech Stack

• UI: C# + WinUI 3 + Windows App SDK
• Application architecture: modular monolith
• Contracts: shared .NET interfaces and models
• Infrastructure: settings, tray, native adapter
• Native engine path: C++/WinRT + Direct3D 11 + Windows.Graphics.Capture + Media Foundation + WASAPI

Requirements

• Windows 11 recommended
• .NET 8 SDK
• Visual Studio 2022/2026 with:
  • WinUI / Windows App SDK tooling
  • Desktop C++ workload
  • Windows 11 SDK

Quick Start

Visual Studio

1. Open SimpleRecorder.sln.
2. Set SimpleRecorder.App as the startup project.
3. Select Debug | x64.
4. Press F5.

Command Line

.\build\restore.ps1
dotnet build .\SimpleRecorder.sln -c Debug -p:Platform=x64 -m:1
.\src\SimpleRecorder.App\bin\x64\Debug\net8.0-windows10.0.19041.0\SimpleRecorder.App.exe

Or use the development shortcut:

.\build\run-dev.ps1

Repository Layout

• src/SimpleRecorder.App: WinUI application entrypoint and app lifetime
• src/SimpleRecorder.Presentation: HUD views, styles, state, and viewmodels
• src/SimpleRecorder.Contracts: shared contracts and recorder/settings models
• src/SimpleRecorder.Infrastructure: tray, settings persistence, audio device catalog, and native bridge
• src/SimpleRecorder.Engine.Native: native engine scaffold for future capture and encode work
• build/: restore and environment bootstrap scripts
• docs/: architecture and development documentation

Current Status

Phase 1 is intentionally focused on product shell quality and architecture readiness.

Implemented:

• HUD window and state transitions
• settings persistence
• tray icon with command routing
• recorder controller abstraction with stubbed backend

Not implemented yet:

• real display/window/region capture
• real screenshot pipeline
• hardware encode
• loopback and microphone capture

Important Notes

• The app runs unpackaged in Debug for fast local iteration.
• The native project exists on disk but is not yet part of the managed solution build pipeline.
• Settings are persisted to %LocalAppData%\SimpleRecorder\settings.json.

Documentation

• docs/DEVELOPMENT.md
• docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
• CONTRIBUTING.md

Publishing This Repository

Before the first commit, configure your Git identity:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

Then create the first local commit and connect a remote:

git init -b main
git add .
git commit -m "chore: bootstrap SimpleRecorder repository"
git remote add origin https://github.com/<your-account>/SimpleRecorder.git
git push -u origin main