A lightweight macOS screenshot and annotation tool that lives in your menu bar. Trigger a capture with a global hotkey, draw a selection, then annotate and export — all without touching the Dock.
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- Global hotkey capture — press the shortcut (default ⌥⇧P) from any app to start a region screenshot
- Quick Capture — a second hotkey (default ⌥P) captures a region and copies it straight to the clipboard without opening the editor; sends a system notification on copy
- Region selection — drag to select any area of the screen on a full-screen overlay
- File menu — Open… (⌘O), New from Clipboard (⌘N), Close Image (⌘W), Save (⌘S), and Save As… (⌘⇧S); supports PNG, JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, HEIC, and WebP
- Annotation tools
- Arrows — click-drag to draw; drag the tail handle to reposition; drag the body to move
- Text — click to place, double-click to edit inline; configurable font, size, color, and outline
- Shapes — rectangle, circle, rounded rectangle with configurable border and fill
- Blur / Pixelate — draw a rectangle to obscure any region; choose Gaussian Blur or Pixelate style; intensity slider 1–100
- Highlight — draw a semi-transparent color band over any region; configurable color and opacity
- Layer arrangement — right-click any annotation to Bring to Front, Bring Forward, Send Backward, or Send to Back; z-order is respected in both the preview and the exported image
- Clicking to select — click any annotation in no-tool mode to automatically activate the correct tool and select that annotation
- Image effects — optional border and drop shadow (offset, blur, opacity)
- Zoom — 0.1× to 8× magnification with +/− buttons or pinch gesture
- Export — Save As PNG/JPEG/TIFF, or copy to clipboard (⌘C)
- Persistent preferences — all tool settings and hotkeys are saved across launches
- Two configurable shortcuts — change the capture hotkey and the quick-capture hotkey independently in Settings
Pre-built binaries are attached to each GitHub Release.
- Download Grabbit.zip from the latest release and unzip it.
- Move Grabbit.app to your
/Applicationsfolder. - Remove the quarantine attribute. Because Grabbit is unsigned, macOS Gatekeeper will block it on first launch. Run this once in Terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Grabbit.app
- Open Grabbit from
/Applicationsor Spotlight.
macOS will still ask for Screen Recording permission on first launch — this is required for the capture to work. You can also grant it manually in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording.
- macOS 13 Ventura or later
- Xcode command-line tools (
xcode-select --install) — for building from source only - Screen Recording permission (the app will prompt on first launch)
bash build.shThis compiles all Swift sources, generates the app icon, and produces build/Grabbit.app.
To run immediately after building:
open build/Grabbit.appThe build script uses swiftc directly — no Xcode project or Swift Package Manager required.
Without a code signing certificate, macOS TCC will prompt you for Screen Recording permission on every new build because it tracks permission by binary identity, which changes each time you compile.
To fix this, create a local self-signed certificate once. macOS will then recognise the same identity across all future builds and the permission prompt won't reappear.
One-time setup:
- Open Keychain Access (Applications → Utilities → Keychain Access)
- From the menu: Keychain Access → Certificate Assistant → Create a Certificate…
- Fill in the fields:
- Name:
Grabbit Dev(must match exactly) - Identity Type: Self Signed Root
- Certificate Type: Code Signing
- Name:
- Click Create, then Done
That's it. The build script will automatically find and use the certificate on every subsequent build. Grant Screen Recording permission once after the first signed build and it will persist.
Push a version tag to trigger the GitHub Actions workflow, which builds the app and publishes a release with Grabbit.zip attached:
git tag v1.0.0
git push origin v1.0.0- Press the capture hotkey (default ⌥⇧P) from any app.
- The screen dims and a crosshair cursor appears.
- Click and drag to select the region you want to capture.
- Release — the editor opens with your selection.
Press Escape at any point during selection to cancel.
For a faster workflow, press the Quick Capture hotkey (default ⌥P) to capture a region and copy it directly to the clipboard — the editor never opens.
You can also open the editor without capturing: click the menu bar icon and choose Open Editor, then use File → Open… or File → New from Clipboard to load an image.
Select a tool from the toolbar at the top of the editor:
| Tool | How to use |
|---|---|
| Arrow | Click-drag to draw. Drag the tail handle to reposition the start point. Drag the body to move the whole arrow. |
| Text | Click to place a text box. Double-click an existing label to edit it inline. Drag to reposition. |
| Shape | Click-drag to draw. Drag the bottom-right handle to resize. Drag the body to move. |
| Blur / Pixelate | Click-drag to draw a blur region. Choose Gaussian Blur or Pixelate in the sidebar. Use the Intensity slider to control how strongly the content is obscured. |
| Highlight | Click-drag to draw a highlight band. Choose the color and opacity in the sidebar. |
Click any annotation while no tool is active to select it — the correct tool activates automatically. Select any annotation and press Delete or Backspace to remove it. Right-click for a context menu including layer arrangement (Bring to Front, Bring Forward, Send Backward, Send to Back).
The sidebar on the right has two tabs:
- Properties — tool-specific settings (weight, color, font, shape type, etc.)
- Effects — border and drop shadow toggles with sliders for weight, offset, blur, and opacity
All settings are saved automatically and restored on the next launch.
- Save (⌘S) — writes to the last-used file path; falls back to Save As on first save
- Save As… (⌘⇧S) — choose a new path and format (PNG, JPEG, TIFF)
- Copy — press ⌘C or right-click → Copy Image to copy the annotated image to the clipboard
Grabbit has two configurable hotkeys: the main Capture shortcut (opens the editor after capture) and the Quick Capture shortcut (copies to clipboard silently).
- Click the menu bar icon and choose Settings…
- Click the shortcut field you want to change — it enters recording mode.
- Press the new key combination (must include at least one of ⌘, ⌥, or ⌃).
- Click Save.
The menu bar item updates immediately. Press Escape in the recorder to cancel without changing anything.
Both shortcuts are stored in UserDefaults and persist across relaunches.
Sources/
main.swift — entry point, sets up NSApplication
AppDelegate.swift — menu bar icon, status menu, hotkey wiring
HotkeyManager.swift — Carbon hotkey registration + HotkeyConfig model
SettingsWindowController.swift — settings dialog with hotkey recorder
CaptureSession.swift — screen capture via CGDisplayCreateImage
OverlayWindowController.swift — full-screen selection overlay
AnnotationOverlay.swift — annotation rendering and interaction (arrows, text, shapes)
EditorWindowController.swift — editor window, sidebar, zoom, export
Resources/
Info.plist — bundle metadata
build.sh — single-command build script
make_icon.swift — generates the app icon set
Grabbit requires Screen Recording permission to capture the display. On first launch macOS will prompt you. If you decline, you can grant it later in:
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording
The app does not require network access or any other permissions.
MIT
