Shotomatic
Automated Mac screenshots, website batches, guides, and local exports
A personal timed screenshot loop is a realistic weekend build. Matching reliable capture across Mac apps, permission recovery, website batches, guide editing, and polished exports is a much larger product.
Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability
What you give up
- polished display, window, and custom-area selection
- reliable macOS permission setup and recovery
- Action Capture guide editing and annotations
- batch website capture with per-URL settings
- integrated PDF, ZIP, and MP4 export workflows
Why people still pay
They want repeatable capture across Mac apps without maintaining native permission handling, automation edge cases, session history, and several export pipelines themselves.
Your build guide
The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.
Before you start
- Runtime and tools: Swift, SwiftUI/AppKit and SQLite on macOS, with secrets in Keychain where needed.
- Before starting: A Mac, the current Xcode toolchain and a documented permission checklist; distribution signing is a separate delivery task.
Use these project rules and optional skill references alongside the prompt. Review each skill before adding it to your agent; the AGENTS.md export includes the same guidance.
Project rule — domain: Store CaptureSession, SourceIdentity, CaptureIndex and FileReceipt; sequence numbers never imply missing images exist, and stopping preserves every completed file.
Project rule — scope and recovery: Begin with documented ScreenCaptureKit capture and no third-party packages. Optional page-advance keypresses need separate Accessibility permission and explicit focus checks; no covert background capture.
Project rule — acceptance: Close the selected window during capture and revoke permission; stop cleanly, show the gap and retain the captured images in their original order.
Project rule — delivery: document real setup commands and permissions; do not claim a build, accuracy level, performance result or security certification that has not been demonstrated.
Recommended skill: swiftui-expert-skill — design native SwiftUI state, accessible controls and permission/error views for the proposed Apple-platform interface. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
Recommended skill: swift-concurrency — isolate capture, background work and UI updates, and make cancellation invalidate late callbacks. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
Implementation plan
Phase 1
Pin the working slice and create its example input: Select one display or window, capture at a chosen interval, show countdown/status and export the ordered images from a local session. Confirm setup: A Mac, the current Xcode toolchain and a documented permission checklist; distribution signing is a separate delivery task.
Phase 2
Implement persistence and write-time invariants before decorating the UI: Store CaptureSession, SourceIdentity, CaptureIndex and FileReceipt; sequence numbers never imply missing images exist, and stopping preserves every completed file.
Phase 3
Connect the working view to real saved state. Ask for each operating-system permission when its feature is used. Handle denial and revocation without a loop; show permission status and keep local history deletable.
Phase 4
Expose the app-specific limits and recovery path in context: Begin with documented ScreenCaptureKit capture and no third-party packages. Optional page-advance keypresses need separate Accessibility permission and explicit focus checks; no covert background capture.
Phase 5
Walk through this concrete acceptance case and preserve its exported evidence: Close the selected window during capture and revoke permission; stop cleanly, show the gap and retain the captured images in their original order. Finish the README and backup/restore instructions; report unfinished capabilities explicitly.
Build the following focused alternative to Shotomatic. This is a deliberately limited personal or small-team substitute, not parity with the paid service. WORKING SLICE Select one display or window, capture at a chosen interval, show countdown/status and export the ordered images from a local session. SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE Use Swift, SwiftUI/AppKit and SQLite on macOS, with secrets in Keychain where needed. Prerequisites: A Mac, the current Xcode toolchain and a documented permission checklist; distribution signing is a separate delivery task. Before integrating anything, record actual versions and permissions, plus model files or provider limits only where used, in the README; make unavailable dependencies visible rather than simulating success. DOMAIN MODEL AND INVARIANTS Store CaptureSession, SourceIdentity, CaptureIndex and FileReceipt; sequence numbers never imply missing images exist, and stopping preserves every completed file. IMPLEMENTATION CONTRACT Ask for each operating-system permission when its feature is used. Handle denial and revocation without a loop; show permission status and keep local history deletable. Provide an input/setup view, the main work view, and a review/export view appropriate to this workflow. Preserve the last saved state if a job or save fails. Include empty, loading, permission-denied, partial and retryable-error states. Log identifiers and error categories without secret values or unnecessary private content. APP-SPECIFIC BOUNDARY AND RECOVERY Begin with documented ScreenCaptureKit capture and no third-party packages. Optional page-advance keypresses need separate Accessibility permission and explicit focus checks; no covert background capture. ACCEPTANCE SCENARIO Close the selected window during capture and revoke permission; stop cleanly, show the gap and retain the captured images in their original order. Also reopen the app after an interrupted operation, confirm the saved record/export remains inspectable, and document the recovery action. These are implementation acceptance requirements, not a claim that this guide has been tested. DELIVERY Deliver a runnable repository with migrations or project-format versioning, a non-sensitive example, environment/permission setup, the exact manual acceptance steps, and a backup/export-and-restore walkthrough. Implement the working slice before optional integrations; list any deferred paid-product capabilities honestly. Do not add capabilities outside the working slice just to resemble the original product. PROJECT RULES FOR AGENTS.md Keep the domain invariants above executable at the write boundary. Propose scope changes before adding providers or permissions. Never fabricate source evidence, publish results, identity matches or successful delivery. Preserve user originals and require an explicit confirmation for destructive changes or external publication.
$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy or download AGENTS.md
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Shotomatic pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| pro monthly | $7.99 | — | Up to 3 Macs; unlimited screenshots per session. |
| pro yearly | — | $4.08 | Up to 3 Macs; unlimited screenshots per session.Billed $49/year. |
| pro lifetime | — | — | Up to 3 Macs; unlimited screenshots per session.One-time $89 license; not a recurring subscription. |
free tierno free tier
billingMonthly + annual + one-time lifetime license; no permanent free plan.
hidden costsThe lifetime purchase is a separate one-time entitlement rather than an annual subscription; the public page offers a 14-day money-back period.
pricing sources checked 2026-08-12 · pricing source ↗
Questions about Shotomatic
Can you build your own Shotomatic with AI?
Partly. A personal timed screenshot loop is a realistic weekend build. Matching reliable capture across Mac apps, permission recovery, website batches, guide editing, and polished exports is a much larger product.
What does the Shotomatic build prompt cover?
The prompt starts with this scope: Select one display or window, capture at a chosen interval, show countdown/status and export the ordered images from a local session. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: polished display, window, and custom-area selection; reliable macOS permission setup and recovery; Action Capture guide editing and annotations. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.
How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?
Start with the Shotomatic prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.
How long will this Shotomatic project take?
The catalogue estimate is weekend for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.
What would I give up by replacing Shotomatic?
polished display, window, and custom-area selection; reliable macOS permission setup and recovery; Action Capture guide editing and annotations; batch website capture with per-URL settings; integrated PDF, ZIP, and MP4 export workflows. They want repeatable capture across Mac apps without maintaining native permission handling, automation edge cases, session history, and several export pipelines themselves.
What price is this guide comparing against?
The recorded Pro Monthly plan is $7.99/mo (monthly for up to 3 Macs), checked 2026-07-30. Check the linked pricing source before buying. Building your own also has hosting, API and maintenance costs; the recorded amount is not a guaranteed saving.
What can I use instead of building Shotomatic?
The prior-art section lists Flameshot as starting points. Review their current scope, license and maintenance before adopting one.