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VisionPiper

Standalone macOS menu bar app for screen capture, recording, GIF conversion, and live WebSocket streaming.

Capabilities

Region Capture

Select any screen region with an 8-window border architecture (4 edges + 4 corners) and pass-through interior.

Recording

SCStream + AVAssetWriter for H.264 .mp4 output. GIF conversion via vendored cgif + libimagequant.

Live Streaming

WebSocket on port 10000 serving Metal-encoded JPEG frames to a local client.

Install & Permissions

VisionPiper is a free download on the Mac App Store and runs on macOS 26 or later. It lives in the menu bar; there is no dock icon and no account to create.

  1. Install from the Mac App Store and launch it. The icon appears in the menu bar.
  2. On first capture macOS asks for Screen Recording permission. Approve it in System Settings under Privacy & Security, then Screen Recording.
  3. Quit and reopen VisionPiper once after granting access. macOS only hands the new permission to a fresh launch.

If capture returns a black frame, macOS is holding a stale permission. Remove VisionPiper from the Screen Recording list, re-add it, and relaunch.