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openscreen

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Create stunning screen recordings and product demos with OpenScreen — open-source, no watermarks, free for commercial use. Use when: recording product demos, creating tutorial videos, building marketing content, screen recording with post-processing effects.

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How to use this skill

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  2. Copy the prompt below and paste it into your agent.
  3. Review the proposed files and risks before you approve installation.
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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/TerminalSkills/skills/blob/HEAD/skills/openscreen/SKILL.md

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OpenScreen

Overview

Open-source screen recording app for creating beautiful product demos and walkthroughs. A free alternative to Screen Studio — no watermarks, no subscriptions, MIT licensed for personal and commercial use.

Repository: siddharthvaddem/openscreen

OpenScreen captures your screen and applies post-processing effects (zoom, cursor highlighting, backgrounds, motion blur) to produce polished demo videos — the kind you'd normally need Screen Studio ($29/month) or a video editor to create.

Key Differentiators

  • Free forever — MIT license, no usage limits, no watermarks
  • Post-processing effects — automatic/manual zooms, motion blur, custom backgrounds
  • Cross-platform — macOS, Windows, Linux
  • Built with Electron — React + TypeScript + PixiJS for rendering

Instructions

Installation

macOS

Download from GitHub Releases.

If macOS Gatekeeper blocks the app:

# Remove quarantine attribute
xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Openscreen.app

Then grant permissions in System Settings → Privacy & Security for:

  • Screen Recording
  • Accessibility

Linux

# Download the AppImage
chmod +x Openscreen-Linux-*.AppImage
./Openscreen-Linux-*.AppImage

# If sandbox error occurs:
./Openscreen-Linux-*.AppImage --no-sandbox

Requires PipeWire for system audio capture (default on Ubuntu 22.04+, Fedora 34+).

Windows

Download and run the installer from GitHub Releases. System audio works out of the box.

Core Features

Screen Capture

  • Full screen or specific window recording
  • Microphone audio and system audio capture simultaneously
  • Region cropping to hide unwanted areas

Zoom Effects

  • Automatic zooms — follows cursor clicks and interactions
  • Manual zooms — place zooms at specific timestamps
  • Customizable depth — control how far each zoom goes
  • Duration & position — fine-tune timing and focal point

Post-Processing

  • Motion blur — smoother pan and zoom transitions
  • Background options — wallpapers, solid colors, gradients, or custom images
  • Annotations — add text, arrows, and images on top of recordings
  • Speed control — vary playback speed at different segments
  • Trimming — cut out unwanted sections

Export

  • Multiple aspect ratios — 16:9, 9:16 (vertical), 1:1 (square)
  • Multiple resolutions — from 720p to 4K
  • Optimized compression for web or social media

Examples

Example 1: Recording a Product Demo

User request: "Record a polished product demo for our landing page."

Steps:

  1. Close unnecessary apps and notifications
  2. Set display to 1920×1080, open the app to demo
  3. Launch OpenScreen, select capture source (full screen or window)
  4. Enable microphone for narration, choose gradient background
  5. Record — walk through the demo naturally, clicking and interacting
  6. Review auto-generated zoom keyframes, adjust depth and timing
  7. Add manual zooms for key moments, set motion blur intensity
  8. Trim dead time, export at 16:9 1080p for web

Example 2: Creating Social Media Content

User request: "Create a short vertical video showing our new feature."

Steps:

  1. Set up recording focused on the specific feature area
  2. Record a concise walkthrough (30-60 seconds)
  3. In post-processing, add text annotations highlighting key moments
  4. Set aspect ratio to 9:16 (vertical) for Instagram/TikTok
  5. Increase speed on setup steps, slow down on the key interaction
  6. Export with optimized compression for social media

Guidelines

  • Use a clean desktop — hide dock/taskbar icons you don't need
  • Increase cursor size — makes zooms look cleaner
  • Move deliberately — slow, purposeful mouse movements record better
  • Use gradient backgrounds — they look professional with minimal effort
  • Record at 60fps — smoother playback, especially with zoom effects
  • Export twice — once for web (compressed, 1080p) and once for presentations (higher quality)
  • Beta software — expect occasional bugs; no webcam overlay yet
  • No CLI currently — GUI-only application