# Changelog

All notable changes to Better Shot will be documented in this file.

The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).

## [0.5.9] - 2026-10-11

### Added

- **Settings opens to a new Home page.** Start a Region, Screen, Window, Scrolling, Record, or Text capture with one click, each tile showing its current shortcut. Your five most recent captures are listed below and open directly; one that was moved or deleted points you to the Media Gallery instead. A Setup section shows the status of Screen Recording, Accessibility, Microphone, and Camera access.
- **Freeze the screen while selecting a region.** Turn it on in Settings > Capture > Region to select from a still frame of every display, so video, animations, and other moving content hold still while you choose the area. The screenshot is cropped from that same frame at full resolution, so it shows exactly what you selected from. It works with Capture as soon as I let go, adjusting the area, the remembered area, and the countdown, which finishes before the screen freezes. Window, scrolling, and text capture stay live. Off by default ([#184](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/184), closes [#182](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/182), thanks [@solid-pixel](https://github.com/solid-pixel))
- **Use the native macOS region selector.** Turn it on in Settings > Capture > Region to take region screenshots with the macOS crosshair, so open context menus and menu-bar menus stay visible because BetterShot is not activated. It captures when you release the mouse from the live screen, so Capture as soon as I let go and Freeze the screen while selecting are disabled while it is on. Capture Previous Region keeps the last area chosen with BetterShot's selector, and scrolling capture and recording areas still use it. Off by default ([#176](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/176), closes [#172](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/172) and [#175](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/175), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg) and [@icanhasjonas](https://github.com/icanhasjonas))
- **Choose whether the selector starts with your last area.** BetterShot's area selector still opens with the area you chose last, so Return captures it again. Turn off Start with the last area selected in Settings > Capture > Region to start every region screenshot, scrolling capture, and recording area from an empty selection. Capture Previous Region (`⌘⇧1`) still uses your last area. On by default ([#185](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/185), thanks [@erickhun](https://github.com/erickhun))

### Changed

- **BetterShot runs on macOS 14 Sonoma and macOS 15 Sequoia again.** The minimum is back to macOS 14 after requiring macOS 26 since 0.4.0. A few features need a newer system: microphone narration needs macOS 15, and narration subtitles and teleprompter speech tracking need macOS 26. On older systems the Mic button is disabled and says why, a recording that asks for the microphone continues without narration and tells you so, and Subtitles explains the requirement ([#177](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/177), thanks [@pareshbhangale](https://github.com/pareshbhangale))
- **Settings pages are reorganized** into grouped cards, with a short caption under each option explaining what it does. The sidebar lists Home, then the Settings pages, then About. Its section search field is gone; the Shortcuts page keeps its own search. Shortcuts now shows Accessibility access and tells you when shortcuts need a relaunch to start working. About shows the version, software updates, release notes, and the tour together, with links to the source code and issue tracker. Default Look groups its backgrounds under Color, Gradient, and Image.
- **Shortcuts are recorded in a native field.** Click a shortcut in Settings > Shortcuts and it becomes a standard macOS search-style field with a focus ring and a clear button. It reads Press Shortcut, shows the modifiers you hold as you press them, and records the first key. Escape, clicking away, or leaving the window cancels and keeps the old shortcut, Tab cancels and moves focus, and a held key never records twice. Delete clears a global shortcut, while editor shortcuts can record Delete as their key and use the clear button to remove it. The separate Cancel button and Clear Shortcut menu item are gone; Restore Default stays in the options menu ([#179](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/179), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg); requested in [#165](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/165), thanks [@icanhasjonas](https://github.com/icanhasjonas))
- **Onboarding is rewritten as four short steps.** Welcome, Permissions, Saving, and Try It Now each open with one clear title, and a single bar at the bottom holds Skip or Back, progress dots, and Continue. Permissions asks only for Screen Recording and Accessibility; the microphone and camera are requested the first time a recording uses them. Saving lets you choose your screenshot folder and whether new screenshots are saved there automatically. Try It Now waits for your first screenshot and shows it as soon as you take one, with a practice image if screen access is still off. If macOS asks you to quit after granting access, setup reopens on the step you left. The swipe-through slideshow and its demo videos are gone, and Settings > About > Take the Tour reopens the new flow.

### Fixed

- **Capturing after BetterShot opens at login.** macOS can start login items before it applies their Screen Recording permission, which left BetterShot unable to capture until you quit and reopened it. Now, if BetterShot has captured before and macOS reports the permission missing, a screenshot or recording offers Restart instead of failing. After the restart, try the capture again. If access was actually turned off, BetterShot asks for it as before ([#171](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/171), thanks [@le0hard](https://github.com/le0hard))
- **Settings is always one window.** `⌘,` now opens the same Settings window as the menu bar instead of a second copy, opening Settings to a specific page switches the open window to that page, and a minimized Settings window is restored.
- Typing in one Settings > Sharing field now saves only that field. Previously every keystroke saved all five again, including the keys stored in your Keychain.
- **Capture Text (OCR) is fast and reliable again, including on macOS 27.** Text recognition now uses the same Live Text engine as Preview and Photos, so a scan finishes in a fraction of a second instead of stalling for up to half a minute on the first use after a macOS update, and BetterShot stays responsive while it runs. Languages are detected automatically, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cyrillic, and accented Latin text. QR codes and barcodes in the selection are copied first, followed by the text. Selecting an area with no text still leaves the clipboard unchanged.
- **Save in the video editor now updates your saved video.** Once a recording has been saved or exported to your folder, Save (`⌘S`) renders your edits into that same file, in its format, instead of only saving the project. Closing the editor while Save is still updating that file, or choosing Save when closing, waits for the update and keeps the window open with Retry if it fails. Saving the recording again from its preview also replaces that file instead of adding a copy. Export still writes a new file, and later Saves update the newest one. A recording saved by an earlier version, or whose file was moved, gets a new file the next time you save it from its preview or export it ([#180](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/180), thanks [@AlvaroNistal](https://github.com/AlvaroNistal))
- **3D shots keep their background when depth blur is on.** A 3D shot with depth blur now shows your background in the editor and in exports when keyboard captions or subtitles are on. Previously the frame could turn black for the length of the shot.
- **Blur masks no longer change the rest of an exported video.** While a blur mask was active, sharp edges outside it, such as text and window borders, could turn slightly lighter in exports and return to normal when the mask ended. The frame outside a mask now looks the same whether or not the mask is active.
- Dragging a JPEG screenshot from the preview into a folder now creates `name.jpg` instead of `name.jpg.jpeg` ([#173](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/173), thanks [@ajzrva-sys](https://github.com/ajzrva-sys))
- **Cloud sharing works with R2 buckets created in a jurisdiction.** Settings > Sharing has a Jurisdiction picker (None, European Union, United States, or FedRAMP) that Test Connection, uploads, and deletions all use. When R2 answers `AccessDenied`, the error now suggests checking Jurisdiction and names the endpoint BetterShot used ([#181](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/181), thanks [@apps3000](https://github.com/apps3000))
- **Shortcut labels match your keyboard layout.** Letter and symbol keys show what your current layout types, and labels follow when you switch layouts. Number-row shortcuts keep their digit labels on layouts such as AZERTY, and saved bindings do not change. Return, Tab, Delete, and Escape show as ↩ ⇥ ⌫ ⎋, and VoiceOver still reads their names. Shortcuts on F13 to F20 and the Japanese 英数 and かな keys are labeled instead of showing a key number, and recorded shortcut overlays label F20 and those keys too ([#178](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/178), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg); reported in [#165](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/165), thanks [@icanhasjonas](https://github.com/icanhasjonas))

## [0.5.8] - 2026-09-27

### Fixed

- **Recording confirmations no longer show a black rectangle.** Discard and Start Over now use standalone native macOS alerts instead of SwiftUI alerts attached to the transparent recording bar. Buttons and keyboard shortcuts share the same confirmation; Cancel keeps the current recording.
- Floating screenshot previews now dismiss after Overlay > Hide After. The timer pauses for the live pointer or a focused action, recovers from missed hover/focus events, and keeps saved files. Keep screenshot previews open now holds only unsaved staged captures; saved and retained captures follow Hide After.

### Changed

- Restored native macOS window screenshot selection.
- Simplified region capture to BetterShot’s adjustable selector and removed the separate native region-selector option. Use Settings > Capture > Region > Capture as soon as I let go to capture on mouse release, or leave it off to adjust the area before confirming. Both keep the previous area for reuse. Window screenshots and OCR retain native macOS selection.
- Removed Notch Mode, its shelf, quick editor, capture gestures, and bundled dependencies. Previews use the floating capture deck.

## [0.5.7] - 2026-09-25

### Added

- **Scrolling capture is now available.** The 0.5.5 stitching engine shipped without a way to start it. Choose Scrolling Capture in the menu bar or Scroll in the capture bar, select an area, then scroll down through the content. A compact bar beside the area shows the stitched size; Stop sends the result to the normal capture preview and Cancel or Escape discards it. Stitching handles fixed headers and moving scrollbars, and a capture finishes on its own at 30,000 pixels ([#169](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/169), thanks [@ItisPratham](https://github.com/ItisPratham))
- Scrolling Capture can be assigned a shortcut in Settings > Shortcuts (unassigned by default); triggering it again during a capture stops the capture. It is also available as `bettershot://capture/scroll` for automation.
- **Choose any background color.** Background > Color in the image and video editors now has a Custom color well below the preset swatches, and Settings > General > Default Look has one for new captures. The color is kept in saved projects and exports ([#160](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/160), thanks [@EthanL06](https://github.com/EthanL06))

### Changed

- **Normal screenshots save automatically on new installs.** The default save folder is Desktop; change it or turn automatic saving off in Settings > General > Saving. Upgrades keep their existing behavior, including automatic saving staying off when it was never enabled. Capture & Copy, Edit, and Pin shortcuts still bypass automatic saving. Copying or dismissing an already-saved preview keeps the file. Settings now explains the active saving behavior ([#149](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/149)).
- **Recording zooms now follow Cap's camera model for smoother, steadier zoom in and zoom out.** Zoom level and framing move on separate springs, so every frame stays inside the recording. A zoom now aims at its target before it begins, so it scales straight toward the subject instead of zooming into the middle and panning across. When a zoom ends, the view zooms out in place without drifting back to the center first. Auto focus groups pointer movement into regions, so small cursor jitter no longer shakes the camera and the view only re-aims when the pointer moves into a new area (hovering is enough, no click needed). The pan-widening and click-snap corrections that caused wobble are gone. Instant zooms snap cleanly on both sides of the segment. Adapted from [Cap](https://github.com/CapSoftware/Cap) under AGPLv3.
- Auto Zoom creates zooms at 2x, matching Cap's default. Existing zooms keep their saved level and focus.
- The floating capture preview cards are larger at every size (Small, Medium, and Large), with larger hover actions to match. The preview also appears faster: the deck window is reused between captures and a new card shows the already-rendered image instead of reading it back from disk.
- The image and video editors show a subtle dot grid behind the canvas, in both light and dark appearance.
- Capture Previous Region now defaults to `⌘⇧1`, so the last area can be shot again without opening the selector. `⌘⇧2` stays the capture bar. A custom binding for it is kept, and it stays unassigned if another action already uses `⌘⇧1`.

### Fixed

- **Region screenshots remember your last area again.** `⌘⇧4` and Area in the capture bar open BetterShot's selector with the previous area already selected, as in 0.4: press Return (or double-click inside it) to capture the same area again, drag its edges to resize it, or drag anywhere, even inside it, to draw a new area (so a full-screen previous area never blocks a new selection). Space still switches to window selection and Escape cancels. The app you were using regains focus before the shot, so its windows are captured as active. OCR keeps the native macOS selector.
- **Scrolling capture no longer lags, in Auto Scroll or when scrolling by hand.** It now uses MacShot's capture engine and bar: frames come straight from the window server (about three times faster than before), Vision measures each scroll and joins frames away from the main thread, and a frame is only added once the page has settled. Manual scrolling grabs frames as you go and takes a final settled frame when you pause, so it keeps up with fast scrolling. Auto Scroll warps the pointer to the area, scrolls it in even steps sized to the area, and stops at the bottom of the page or at 30,000 pixels. It also scrolls down with mouse utilities such as Mac Mouse Fix installed, which previously reversed or smoothed its steps so the page never moved. Hover effects in the page are held still while capturing when Accessibility is allowed. The controls are now MacShot's compact bar with the stitched size, Auto Scroll/Scrolling…, Stop, and a Cancel button, placed beside the selection and clear of the notch. Horizontal capture and the "Lost track" message are gone; scrolling back a little lets the capture continue. Adapted from [MacShot](https://github.com/sw33tLie/macshot) under GPLv3.
- **Scrolling captures no longer contain faded sections.** Pages that fade content in as it scrolls into view (and have a fixed header) were stitched with the first, half-faded appearance of each section. Each join now redraws the overlap from the newest frame, and Stop takes one last settled frame at the end of the page. The live preview beside the area is also scaled down away from the main thread, so long captures stay smooth.
- The capture bar no longer shows a dashed "A to capture again" rectangle that could not be moved, resized, or triggered. The previous area is now part of the selector itself, and Capture Previous Region (`⌘⇧1`) captures it without opening the selector.
- Image and video editors open in a normal window after a screenshot or recording instead of entering full screen automatically. Use the window's green full-screen button to enter full screen, or turn on Settings > General > Editor > Open editors in full screen to restore automatic full screen.
- **A capture is named once, when it is taken.** Screenshots get their name from the file name template at capture time, and Copy, Save, Export, Share, and drag-out all use it, so pasted files no longer arrive as `BetterShot-Clipboard-<UUID>.png` and saved files no longer use internal names. Two captures in the same second get a number instead of overwriting each other. Recordings are also named once, so saving again no longer renames them or advances `{counter}`. Saving over an existing export keeps its current name ([#161](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/161), thanks [@icanhasjonas](https://github.com/icanhasjonas); builds on [#167](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/167), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg))
- Region, previous-region, and full-screen screenshots appear as soon as the PNG is written instead of waiting up to 10 seconds for Spotlight. A capture can no longer stay stuck "in progress" when the system screenshot tool writes a lot of error output ([#168](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/168), thanks [@icanhasjonas](https://github.com/icanhasjonas))
- Share only uploads when Upload when I share is on. Setups from 0.4.3 to 0.5.6 that already saved cloud keys have it turned on once during this update; new setups stay off until you turn it on, and Share explains how instead of uploading ([#163](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/163), thanks [@icanhasjonas](https://github.com/icanhasjonas))
- Dragging a clip's Speed slider applies the speed once when you let go: one undo step, no preview stutter, and the speed stays on the clip where the drag started ([#164](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/164), thanks [@icanhasjonas](https://github.com/icanhasjonas))
- WebP is no longer offered as an export format because macOS cannot encode it. A saved WebP choice falls back to PNG ([#162](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/162), thanks [@icanhasjonas](https://github.com/icanhasjonas))
- Custom capture names containing dots keep their full name through Copy, Save, Export, and drag-out instead of losing the last dotted suffix.
- Video saves preserve the previous file if copying or conversion fails. Simultaneous video saves with the same name now create separate numbered files.
- Keep screenshot previews open now also keeps automatically saved previews open; saving to a folder no longer overrides that setting.

## [0.5.6] - 2026-09-21

### Changed

- Restored the 0.5.4 compact floating recording strip in both capture modes. Its popover again provides Display, Window, Area, Camera, Microphone, System Audio, and Teleprompter controls, while the shared timer menu configures screenshot and recording delays.
- Limited the notch to capture previews, saved shelf items, quick editing, and related status. Capture, recording, countdown, and teleprompter controls remain in their dedicated floating surfaces.
- Moved the customizable Notch capture modifier and hold action to Settings > Shortcuts.

### Fixed

- Bare modifier presses no longer open or expand the notch, Option voice capture is opt-in so it does not conflict with tools such as Wispr Flow, and notch scroll indicators remain hidden.
- Switching between Normal and Notch modes no longer moves the recording bar between unrelated window hierarchies, preventing mode-switch lag and crashes.
- Switching into Notch Mode now opens its preview shelf immediately, even before the first screenshot is taken, then keeps the compact resting notch available while idle.
- Closing the final image preview no longer tears down its SwiftUI/AppKit window during the button event, preventing the close-action crash in Normal and Notch modes.

## [0.5.5] - 2026-09-19

- Added a Capture hold key setting with Control, Option, Shift, and Command choices; Option capture takes priority over the optional voice gesture.
- Refined screenshot/video notch cards with rounded, edge-to-edge thumbnails, a transparent edge, lower title scrim, and actions revealed on hover or keyboard focus; retained consistent circular cloud controls in overlays and Settings, and drag handling confined to the media preview.

### Added

- **Scroll capture:** select a region, then scroll (manually or with auto-scroll) to stitch a full-page screenshot. Uses Vision framework for pixel-precise alignment, TIFF byte comparison for frame settlement, frozen header detection, scrollbar exclusion, and incremental stitching up to 30,000 pixels. Configurable via UserDefaults for auto-scroll speed and max height.
- Restored hold-and-drag area screenshots as the default. Pressing the configured modifier alone leaves the notch hidden; drawing over the screen requires explicitly selecting Draw on screen in Settings.
- Copied hex colors appear as persistent swatches in Notch Mode, with a separate collection setting enabled by default; ordinary text history remains opt-in.
- OCR and Pick Color actions in the notch's folder menu show their configured shortcuts.

- Local voice screenshots: use the quick-editor microphone or opt into holding Option to draw and speak, then release to retain an annotated image with an on-device transcript. Copy image/file/text together or copy the transcript separately. Microphone access is explicit, temporary audio is removed after completion/discard, and failed transcription can retry or keep the image without voice.
- Optional local text history in General > Notch Shelf, with 50-item retention, duplicate removal, private pasteboard-marker exclusions, per-card dismissal, and a confirmed Clear action. Collection starts with the next copy and defaults off.
- A compact quick editor below the notch with drawing, arrows, blur, crop, background and undo. Done preserves full-resolution PNGs and editable source/annotations in the private library; shelf cards open in the full editor.

- **Optional Notch Mode:** choose Normal Mode or Notch Mode in Settings > General > Capture Mode. Normal remains the default, including on upgrade. The notch hosts the shared screenshot tools (Area, Fullscreen, Window, OCR, Color, and timers), recording options and Stop/Pause/Restart/Discard controls, and image/video previews with Copy, Save, Edit, Pin, Cloud Share, and Dismiss. Browse pending captures without opening a separate overlay. Hardware notches can collapse to a compact capture/recording status; other displays use a top-center floating panel.
- Notch mode also hosts countdowns, recording teleprompter text and export/share progress with existing recovery actions. Pending previews stay available until acted on. Switching modes preserves captures and recording state; the notch hides during selection/capture and follows capture-window exclusion settings.

### Changed

- Simplified the notch to saved cards and filters, removing the capture toolbar and grid/viewfinder controls. Hold Control and drag an area to capture on mouse release; a bare modifier press does nothing. Early Control release or Escape cancels; standard region shortcuts keep the native macOS selector.
- Notch OCR text and colors now persist across launches and can be dragged into other apps as text/hex values. Image previews retain file drag-out. New OCR/color/clipboard history is collected only in Notch Mode; switching modes stops clipboard monitoring immediately.

- Reworked the notch into a black horizontal shelf inspired by the supplied reference: a 560-point panel, white selected filter pills, 160-point image/video/OCR/color cards, full-color swatches with contrast-aware hex labels, and a collapsible shared capture toolbar. All/Text/Images/Videos/Colors replace Capture/Recents. Cards keep Copy and media action menus; the library menu retains bulk Save/Dismiss. Pending and recent media are deduplicated, while hover opening/closing, inline failures, and no-toast behavior remain.

- Redesigned the shared capture controls and notch recording setup with native Screen/Window/Area tabs, visible camera and microphone pickers, system audio, recording delay, and an explicit Start Recording action. Screenshot tools stay one click, with a separate visible screenshot timer. Recording controls now label Stop, Paused, Preparing, and Saving; transitions are shorter and respect Reduce Motion.

- Notch Mode never displays toast notifications. Copy confirms directly on the result button; capture and saving failures remain as dismissible inline instructions. Switching modes removes existing toasts immediately. Recent items stay aligned and disabled action icons remain readable.


- The notch groups capture tools and provides actions on each media card. Its compact state shows the BetterShot logo and readiness/editor status, or the recording timer. Short, interruptible transitions respect Reduce Motion.

- The notch opens on hover and collapses after the pointer leaves. Menus, recording options, and confirmations prevent premature closing; non-notched displays also have a compact state. Recent Captures shows saved screenshots and videos with type filters, thumbnails, and the existing gallery actions.

- Expanded and compact Notch Mode use an opaque black surface matching the camera cutout, with native macOS controls and readable dark-appearance labels in either system appearance.

- Refined the notch into a compact black capture shelf with smaller SF Symbol controls, an uncropped preview, a clear Open Editor action, and recent media when idle. Expansion uses a subtle 140 ms ease-out; Reduce Motion disables it.

- OCR and color picking automatically copy their results and keep the recognized text or hex color in the notch with Copy and Dismiss actions. Text supports selection and scrolling; colors show a swatch. Empty OCR preserves the clipboard and offers retry guidance.

### Fixed

- Bare modifier presses no longer open or expand the notch, Option voice capture is opt-in so it does not conflict with tools such as Wispr Flow, hold-gesture controls now live with keyboard shortcuts, and notch scroll indicators remain hidden.
- The notch shelf's All filter now places the newest capture first across screenshots, recordings, text, and colors instead of always leading with text history.
- Screenshot failures now show recovery guidance instead of disappearing silently. Window screenshots now use the native macOS window picker and capture directly through ScreenCaptureKit, avoiding command-line window stream failures. Confirm the selected window with “Share This Window”; Cancel creates no screenshot. Unsigned test builds use a separate directory so they cannot overwrite the running dev app and invalidate its capture permission.

- Fix an editor redraw loop in notch transfer-status routing that could consume a CPU core and make video playback controls and scrubbing lag, even with no transfer in progress. Repeated idle/unchanged status updates no longer publish changes; real progress and current Cancel/Retry actions remain available.

- Image and video editors can enter and leave native full screen again. SwiftUI no longer overrides fullscreen support after the window opens; the automatic fullscreen preference remains supported.
- 3D Scenes now use full-width buttons with readable names, shot counts, and scene descriptions. Consistent padding replaces crowded tiles and clipped shot bars in narrow inspectors.

## [0.5.4] - 2026-09-19

### Added

- **Guided introduction and update notes:** a three-page guide introduces screenshots, video timelines, and 3D shots before the existing optional permission setup. Replay it from Settings > About > Take the Tour. Updates show the bundled changelog once per version, including skipped releases; fresh installs see only the guide. What’s New remains available in Settings > About.
- **Auto Scene and native effect controls:** preview Cap’s automatic sequence before applying it, with one-second minimum shots, weighted scene timing, and nearby boundaries snapped to clip edits. Cancel restores the previous playhead without changing the project; Apply creates one undoable edit. Camera, Depth Blur, Keyframes, Timing, and Looks remain expanded, with fixed section shortcuts, directly visible fold/lens sliders, and one-click selection of animated properties and their granular curve editor. Larger perspective thumbnails include hover/focus previews. Camera endpoints and selected keyframes seek to their actual positions.
- **3D hover preview:** empty space in the 3D timeline shows a dashed shot outline and duration before clicking. The preview fits between neighboring shots, disappears over existing shots, and skims paused footage without changing the project or undo history.

- **3D shots in the video editor**: Effects > 3D Shots adds eight camera moves and five drifting angles, custom start/end positions, easing, transitions, flips, and shot playback. Generate up to six shots across a video or apply a scene within a shot’s range; short ranges use fewer shots. Move and resize shots in their timeline lane or enter exact times in the inspector. Screen, cursor, masks, and camera share the perspective transform over a fixed background; subtitles stay readable. Native GPU preview/export, undo/redo, saved projects, and cloud-share renders carry the edits without modifying source footage.
- **3D timeline workflow:** a visible **+ Add** menu offers Zoom and 3D Shot; empty cut-marker rows collapse so 3D segments sit directly below the filmstrip. All eight moves and five angles now follow the reference camera framing and drift, with independent screen fold, distance, and lens controls, linear preset motion, and weighted scenes. Legacy plane poses retain their appearance.
- **3D depth and animation:** native Camera, Depth Blur, and Keyframes controls add radial, directional, and tilt-shift focus, bokeh highlights, and per-property keyframes with draggable Bézier handles and numeric editing. Curves resize with their shot and survive undo, saving, export, and sharing. Preview reuses the export GPU compositor with bounded frames in flight; legacy plane shots keep their look.

- **Closer Cap rendering:** preserve authored angles and camera distance at the horizon, apply zoom to the whole card, fade flat shadows out during 3D shots, and keep keyboard captions sharp above depth blur. Gaussian weights, three-ring bokeh/highlight gain, motion curves, and independent entry/exit timing follow the upstream renderer. Reference tests compare all 13 presets and 248 camera/framing cases against Cap’s actual Rust code; adapted code includes upstream licensing and attribution.

- Rotate images left or right by 90° and flip horizontally or vertically from the image editor’s native Rotate menu (#144). Full-resolution pixels and editable annotations transform together, persist through saving/reopening, and carry through copy, export, and sharing. Mixed drawing, crop, rotation, and flip edits undo/redo in order; four optional shortcut actions start unassigned.

- Optional automatic screenshot saving in General > Saving (#149). Normal captures can save immediately to the configured folder while keeping the preview or editor available. Defaults off, including on upgrade; explicit Copy, Edit, and Pin shortcuts remain private. Saved files stay linked to their editable originals, and failed saves remain in the deck for retry.

- **File name templates**: Settings > General > Saving takes a template for saved screenshots and recordings. Type any text, and use the + button to add a date, a time, a random hex/base62/digit string, a UUID, a running counter, the capture type, or the file extension. `standup-{date}-{counter:3}` saves `standup-2026-09-17-004.png`, and `hello-{hex:8}` saves `hello-c1786d2a.png`. An example of the finished name sits under the field, and a template that uses `{counter}` gets a Next number readout and a Reset button. Text BetterShot does not recognize is kept exactly as typed. Path separators, colons, leading dots, and over-long names are corrected before anything is written. The default template produces the same names as earlier versions, so upgrading leaves an existing save folder alone.

- Edit Clipboard Image or Last Capture shortcut (unassigned by default): opens an image from the clipboard in the editor, or the most recent capture when the clipboard has no image.

- **Direct file links** toggle in Settings > Sharing (#133). Self-hosting users can copy the raw R2 object URL instead of the bettershot.site viewer page, so links work as `<img src>`, in markdown, and in chat unfurling. Off by default; the viewer page remains the default for everyone else. Public bucket URL validation now rejects embedded credentials.

- **Preview follows mouse across displays** (#128). The preview card tracks whichever display the mouse is on, or pins to a chosen display in Settings > Capture. Fixes fullscreen capture grabbing the wrong display on multi-monitor setups, drag/tap gesture interference on preview buttons, and panel reuse across mixed-DPI boundaries.

- **Hide capture bar at launch** (#151). Settings > General > Startup toggle to suppress the capture bar on app start. On by default to preserve current behavior. Global shortcuts remain active regardless of the setting.

- **WebP export format** (#148). Screenshots and recordings can now be saved as WebP alongside PNG and JPEG. WebP produces smaller files than JPEG at similar quality with broad browser and editor support. Select it in Settings > General > File Format; the quality slider applies to both WebP and JPEG.

### Changed

- Media Gallery and Settings now use native navigation columns with resizable, collapsible sidebars and section titles aligned with their content. Gallery icons use Finder-sized previews, more space between rows, and blue filename selection while retaining sortable list view and contextual actions.
- Media Gallery now uses Finder-style icon and list views, native sidebar and toolbar search, compact thumbnails, selection, contextual actions, and a location/status bar.
- Settings now follows the macOS System Settings layout with compact neutral SF Symbol tiles, a native search field, native switches, and grouped controls.

### Fixed

- **Visual 3D controls:** separate Looks, Camera, Depth Blur, Keyframes, and Timing cards, side-by-side Start/End previews, a bounded drag-to-orbit pad, adaptive preset grids, and scene cards with shot counts. Depth blur has an enable switch and focus choices. All numeric camera and curve controls remain available. Close up retains its original Cap framing, motion, and depth-blur settings.

- Image and video editors support native full screen with automatic full-screen opening enabled or disabled, and take focus when opened from the preview overlay. The menu tray dismisses immediately on editor clicks or Escape and closes before screenshot or recording-picker actions, including while an editor is full screen.

- Settings displays the selected section title once using the native toolbar title. Gallery list view uses native sortable Name, Date Created, and Kind columns; compact previews and folder/media SF Symbols bring both views closer to Finder.
- Media Gallery separates On this Mac and Cloud Shares into explicit All Media, Screenshots, and Videos sections with counts. A shared item with a local source appears in both locations; cloud-only links remain available after local deletion.
- Video recognition uses macOS file types for imported and legacy history entries, including missing or stale image labels. Video previews and editor reopening retain their recording package when an export is regenerated or removed.
- Gallery and Settings use macOS sidebar and toolbar materials, native grouped forms, accessible controls, and light/dark support. Displayed-window checks verify these system surfaces instead of relying on offscreen snapshots that can show white placeholders.

## [0.5.3] - 2026-09-11

### Added

- Screen/camera layout presets: Camera Bubble, Overlap, Side-by-Side, Presenter, Camera Only, and Screen Only. Paired layouts support left/right positioning; preview, export, saved projects, and undo/redo retain the same arrangement.

- Video export frame-rate controls (30 or 60 fps) in Export Options and Recording settings. Existing projects retain 60 fps.
- **Faster video exports and sharing**: GPU compositing uses shared IOSurface/NV12 buffers and a three-frame pipeline to overlap decoding, rendering, and hardware encoding. The two-minute heavy-effects benchmark improved from 101.2 s to 32.6 s at 1080p60 (about 3.1× faster); plain export improved from 28.4 s to 26.7 s. The optional 30 fps mode took 16.1 s. Single-run measurements and workload details are in [Export performance](docs/export-performance.md).
- White-outlined stemless Arrow cursor style, matching the requested reference, with a high-resolution raster and arrow-tip hotspot, starting at 2.5× size. It replaces Hand in the style picker; older Hand projects retain their appearance.
- Face-camera aspect ratios: 1:1, 4:3, 3:4, 16:9, 9:16, and 4:5, with adjustable rounding, undo/redo, and matching preview/export geometry. Older projects retain their square frame.
- Whole-video 16:10 and 4:3 presets alongside existing ratios, in a compact native menu under Background.

### Fixed

- Image editor padding now accepts 0% instead of clamping to 4%; camera effects no longer impose hidden minimum padding. General retains zero exactly.
- Explicit No Background controls in General and both editors. Captures and previews agree on an unframed image/video; returning to a fill restores saved framing values.

- Stabilized color-copy toast window sizing to prevent recursive SwiftUI constraint updates. Color picking retains the sampler until completion, safely converts browser/wide-gamut colors to clamped sRGB hex, and reports unsupported samples without crashing.

- Camera Bubble and Overlap use the compact 0.5.2 camera defaults (1:1, 26% size, 25% rounding). Selecting either preset resets an elongated camera, including when reselecting the active preset.

- **Screenshot Copy stays clipboard-only (#134, follow-up to #138)**: All screenshot capture paths now stage privately instead of saving to the configured folder before the preview appears. Opening the editor, pinning, sharing, and dragging keep working copies inside BetterShot. Only explicit Save/Export (including the capture-and-save shortcut) writes a deliverable to the save folder.
- **Save untouched screenshots from the editor**: Save now works before any edits, writes to the configured folder, and updates the associated file on subsequent saves. Copy preserves a private file reference for paste targets after the preview is dismissed.

## [0.5.2] - 2026-09-10

More control over startup, keyboard shortcuts, and the capture overlay, with a clearer installer and simpler onboarding.

### Added

- **Overlay settings and visual layout editor**: A dedicated Settings > Overlay page offers Standard, Sharing, and Minimal presets. Click any of six positions in the preview to move, swap, or hide tools; Dismiss remains available. Quick Setup controls card size and screen position, while Advanced controls edge margin, dismissal timing including Never, and always-visible actions. Changes apply immediately, existing preferences are preserved, and restoring overlay defaults leaves other settings untouched.
- **Cloud sharing from the capture deck**: Share directly from a preview card with processing and upload progress, automatic link copying, and Copy Link/Open actions in the overlay. Finished links are saved in Media Gallery. Sharing errors offer retry or a route to Sharing settings, and recording shares include saved edits, cursor styling, and camera composition.
- **General startup and visibility controls**: Launch at Login uses macOS registration with inline errors and a Login Items settings link when approval is needed. Show in Dock and Show in Menu Bar keep at least one app icon available, preserving BetterShot's clover identity.
- **75 customizable shortcut actions**: Search or filter categories for general actions, screenshots, OCR and color, recording, the capture deck, image tools, and video editing. Open customization from Settings > Shortcuts. Record, disable, clear, or reset each binding with conflict checking. Existing shortcuts are preserved; additional actions start unassigned.
- **More capture and recording shortcuts**: Assign keys for window and previous-region captures, timed region capture, capture-and-copy/save/annotate/pin, OCR without line breaks, area recording, Stop, Pause/Resume, Restart, and Discard. Per-capture actions preserve General preferences, and destructive actions retain native confirmation.
- **Capture on mouse release**: A new Settings > Capture toggle takes the screenshot as soon as you release the mouse, matching the classic draw-and-release gesture. Off by default; the adjustable rectangle remains the default behavior ([#131](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/131), [#132](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/132), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg)).
- **URL scheme for automation**: `bettershot://capture/region`, `bettershot://capture/fullscreen`, `bettershot://capture/window`, `bettershot://ocr`, `bettershot://color-picker`, `bettershot://record`, and `bettershot://settings` trigger actions from Raycast, Shortcuts, Alfred, or shell scripts ([#86](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/86), [#141](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/141), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg)).
- **Auto-save recordings**: A new Recording settings toggle saves finished recordings to the configured folder automatically. Manual Save on deck cards also writes recordings to the save folder using the flattened deliverable ([#136](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/136), [#143](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/143), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg)).

### Changed

- **Capture overlay actions**: Removed the Delete button. The Standard layout puts Pin at the top left and Cloud Share at the bottom right, using the same cloud icon as the editors. Overlay customization lives in its dedicated settings tab. Removed duplicate Overlay navigation from General and Capture, and duplicate Shortcuts navigation from General.
- **DMG installer**: A Retina-ready lavender background, clear drag-to-Applications instructions, aligned native icons, and a clover volume icon replace the plain installation folder. Local and maintainer release packaging share one verified layout.
- **Three-step onboarding**: Welcome → Permissions → First Capture replaces the longer setup. Screenshot and recording examples include optional, silent six-second Hyperframes demos and still previews, with no autoplay or looping. Finish by opening the capture bar or editing a separate practice image. Compact layouts support light and dark appearances.
- **All permissions visible**: Screen Capture, Accessibility, Input Monitoring, Microphone, and Camera appear together without dropdowns. Each row explains its purpose and shows an Allow or Open Settings action, granted status, or restriction guidance. Screen capture is marked required; the other permissions are optional. Granting access does not turn on the microphone or camera.
- **No onboarding reopening controls**: Removed introduction actions from the menu tray, Settings, and the shortcut catalog. The test pilot clearly identifies itself as a preview and disables real permission requests.

### Fixed

- **Overlay sharing recovery and cancellation**: Sharing progress and errors pause automatic dismissal. Closing a sharing error returns to the capture, and cancelling preparation prevents a later upload from starting. Customized tools retain accessible names and keyboard focus, and preview controls stay within the selected card size.
- **First-launch-only onboarding**: Fresh user profiles begin setup; existing profiles and users who completed an older introduction skip it. Skipping, closing, or finishing setup prevents repeat prompts. Unfinished permission setup can still resume after a macOS-requested restart.
- **Permission retries and recovery**: Camera and microphone requests remain retryable until the user makes a decision. Denied access and previously requested system permissions lead to the relevant System Settings page. Permission status refreshes on return, and settings errors appear beside the affected action with retry guidance.
- **Button contrast in both appearances**: Settings uses readable neutral button labels, visible borders and hover feedback, and a blue selection accent. Shared editor buttons respect destructive roles with red styling; clearing locked sharing keys asks for confirmation.
- **Editor shortcut handling**: Image and video editors use the configured bindings instead of parallel hard-coded keys. Active editor shortcuts take priority over matching global shortcuts, including Copy Screenshot versus Pick Color. Text fields retain native typing, copy/paste, and undo; shortcut recording suspends action dispatch.
- **Failed capture-deck saves**: Save and Save All retain captures when saving fails and provide retry guidance instead of discarding unsaved files.
- **Deck Copy no longer saves to folder**: Copying a screenshot from the capture deck puts it on the clipboard without writing to the save directory. Save, Pin, and Edit still promote as before ([#134](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/134), [#138](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/138), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg)).
- **Save updates the exported file**: Pressing Cmd+S in the image editor now updates the previously exported file on disk using an atomic replace, in addition to committing annotations to internal history ([#127](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/127), [#142](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/142), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg)).
- **Drawing cursor matches active tool**: Hovering over an existing shape while a drawing tool is armed now shows the crosshair instead of the grab cursor, matching the actual press behavior ([#129](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/129), [#130](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/130), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg)).

## [0.5.1] - 2026-09-10

### Added

- **Media Gallery**: Open directly from the menu tray or General settings. A resizable native window presents a left sidebar, larger thumbnails, screenshot/video and Local/Cloud filters, search, and newest/oldest sorting. Each card offers Edit, Reveal, and cloud link actions. Confirmed local deletion moves sources and saved edits to Trash while preserving cloud shares; confirmed cloud deletion removes the shared copy while preserving local files. Errors remain beside the action for retry.

### Fixed

- **Cloud share history**: Sharing an untouched screenshot or an imported video now records its cloud link. Cloud links remain available when their local file is missing. The gallery combines capture history, edited images, and recording projects without duplicating their source files.

## [0.5.0] - 2026-09-10

A complete introduction to screenshots, video, and permissions; a simpler capture
bar; clearer editors; and a more flexible screenshot deck.
Release preparation updated September 10, 2026. All pending work remains in this
single unreleased 0.5.0 entry until the release is published.

### Added

- **Focused native onboarding**: Welcome, Permissions, Shortcuts, and First Capture replace the long feature tour with a brief, Raycast-inspired setup. A spacious clover welcome, persistent step navigation, optional permission disclosure, current shortcut bindings, and practice edits make the first capture easier. Skip or reopen from Getting Started or About anytime.
- **Permissions inside onboarding**: Request screen access, Accessibility, Input Monitoring, Microphone, and Camera individually, with a clear explanation of the feature each enables. Screen access is identified as needed for capture; other permissions are optional. Live status, System Settings links, denied/restricted guidance, and Check Permissions Again help resolve setup problems. A permission-related relaunch returns to the Permissions step without resetting preferences.
- **Practice after setup**: Two generated photos open full-resolution working copies in the image editor from the final step, so practice no longer skips the video and permission walkthrough. An Arrow TipKit hint teaches a first edit. No screen permission is required to edit a sample.
- **Simpler landing page**: Removed the five old promotional videos and their files, replaced the empty media layout with feature cards, and added first-capture guidance. Shared recording playback is preserved.
- **Shared soft gradients**: Ten backgrounds—Blush, Peach, Mint, Powder Blue, Butter, Lilac, Sage, Coral, Aqua, and Mauve—replace the previous preset palettes in both editors and Settings, with matching stops and highlights in previews and exports. General > Default Look supplies the shared image and video defaults.
- **Recording shortcut**: `⌘⇧5` opens the Recording section; `⌘⇧2` retains the shared capture bar and `⌘⇧4` uses native macOS region capture.
- **Direct redaction tools**: Blur and Pixelate are visible in both editors. Video effects offer Crop Only or Full Frame coverage.
- **Cursor styles**: A dedicated Cursor tab offers Recorded, Dark, Light, Dot, and native macOS Hand artwork, Natural or Smooth motion, separate press and ripple effects, cursor visibility, and hiding after inactivity. Cursor choices persist with the project and render in previews, exports, and shared videos.
- **Native icons**: Editors, settings, menus, capture controls, recording controls, and sharing feedback use Apple SF Symbols. BetterShot retains its bundled clover app icon and menu-tray icon.
- **Screenshot deck**: Keep up to five captures in a floating stack, each with its own dismiss timer and Copy, Delete, Pin, Edit, and drag-out actions. Clear All dismisses the deck ([#76](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/76)).
- **Save captures when ready**: The new Capture setting keeps screenshots in the deck until saved. Cards stay visible; Save, Copy, dragging out, Pin, or Edit saves the capture, and Save All saves the deck. Dismissing an unsaved card deletes it; leftovers are cleaned up on the next launch ([#76](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/76)).
- **One capture and recording bar**: After onboarding, the floating bar opens at launch with Area, Fullscreen, Window, OCR, Color, Timer, and Recording controls. Recording options include display, window, or area, plus camera, microphone, system audio, and teleprompter (#122).
- **Adjustable recording areas**: Drag or resize the selection, then confirm with Return or a double-click. Escape cancels. The selected display is resolved before capture; an existing BetterShot remembered region can be shown and recaptured from the shared bar.
- **Preview sizes and spacing**: Choose Small, Medium, or Large thumbnails and an edge margin from 0 to 48 points. Images decode at the appropriate size, and hover controls scale with the cards ([#123](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/123), [#124](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/124), thanks [@BradleyAllanDavis](https://github.com/BradleyAllanDavis)).
- **Editor and export preferences**: Image and video editors can open in full screen. Recording settings include render speed, resolution, and codec defaults.

### Changed

- **Shared editor defaults**: Removed Recording's separate background section. New images and videos use General > Default Look for background, padding, corner radius, and shadow; saved project looks are preserved. The tray's Record action opens Recording options and displays its `⌘⇧5` shortcut.
- **Border controls**: A labeled color palette shows all presets and the custom color control in two rows, with the selected color named above. Annotation and text palettes share the same layout. Editor inspectors, timelines, and popovers explicitly hide scrollbars while preserving scrolling.
- **Contributor guidance**: README, contribution instructions, and shared agent rules now describe the current native UI, capture paths, tool toggles, rendering quality, and validation workflow. Claude Code imports the same rules.
- **Capture shortcuts**: `⌘⇧4` starts region capture directly; `⌘⇧2` opens the shared capture/recording bar. Existing default bindings migrate, preserving custom shortcuts and disabled states.
- **Compact classic glass bar**: The capture bar is shorter with smaller labeled controls and a more transparent frosted background. The recording dashboard is now 38 points tall: Stop and the red timer, Pause, Restart, and Discard share one row. Restart and Discard require confirmation; Reduce Transparency remains supported.
- **Simpler left inspectors**: Settings and both editors share the compact 0.4.0 sliders with labels inside the track and exact value entry. Scrollbars are hidden while scrolling remains available. Video effects use lighter grey cards on a darker sidebar; Effect cards stay expanded without dropdowns. Detailed zoom framing remains under Advanced.
- **Focused image editor**: Annotation tools, color, and style share one toolbar. Background owns canvas settings; aspect ratio and redaction remain in the toolbar without sidebar duplicates. Zoom, Copy, and cloud sharing sit in the footer, with a cloud upload icon for sharing.
- **Clearer video editor**: Background, Cursor, Camera, Effects, and Zoom & Clips group related settings. Crop, Blur, and Pixelate live in Effects. Selected blue and unselected grey zoom segments sit above video thumbnails, with a red playhead, centered playback controls, and timeline zoom on the right.
- **Persistent scissors tool**: Scissors starts unselected at the left of the timeline. Selecting it enables repeated cuts until explicitly deselected. Click it again or press S to return to selecting and trimming clips. Scissors badges sit directly below each split, with the removed duration shown when footage was deleted or trimmed. Hovering previews the original footage and source range; clicking seeks to the cut. Secondary editing actions remain in the timeline menu.
- **Recent Captures**: Screenshots and recordings share the existing recent-capture navigation. The interim Media Gallery and Recording Projects browser are removed while captures, share links, and editable projects are preserved.
- **Export and sharing feedback**: A compact frosted corner card uses native progress, clear Copy/Open/Reveal actions, and short fades that respect Reduce Motion.
- **Settings**: Capture and recording options have inline explanations, sharing fields remain editable, and General provides the shared image/video default look.

### Fixed

- **Export toast placement**: Export and sharing feedback now appears in a separate native panel at the top of the editor’s display, like other toasts, instead of covering the preview’s bottom-right corner. Progress, completion, retry, and file/link actions are preserved.

- **Faster local exports**: Video exports reuse unchanged screen and mask rasters and render the camera shadow once, preserving effects and 60 fps. Repeated image Copy/Save/Export actions reuse a full-resolution lossless PNG when source pixels, edits, and wallpaper contents match. Both caches are bounded and local.

- **Custom clip speeds**: Recording clips accept 0.25×–8× playback rates with two decimal places, including 0.5×, 1.25×, 1.5×, and 2.5×. Fractional timing persists through saving, cuts, playback, and export ([#137](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/137)).
- **Image export label**: The image editor now says Export instead of Save as…, matching the video editor.
- **Cursor clarity**: Custom cursors render from a high-resolution vector master with transparent PNG output and unchanged click hotspots. Captured system cursors retain their highest-resolution image representation.
- **Sharp screenshots**: Full-resolution editor previews are now the default, and screenshot framing places source pixels at integer coordinates to avoid softening text.
- **Slider consistency**: Fixed duplicate field labels and clipped values in Settings. JPEG quality, preview margin/dismissal, and timeline zoom now use the same label-in-track scrubber with right-hand value entry, preserving units, increments, and Never dismissal.
- **Menu-tray identity**: Restored the bundled clover in the status item and after drag-target feedback; SF Symbols remain action icons.
- **Tool toggles**: Clicking an active image tool returns to selection. Clicking video Crop again cancels its draft; Blur and Pixelate also toggle out of editing.
- **Recording area selection**: Replaced the separate nonactivating selector with the adjustable AppKit region control, system crosshair, explicit confirmation, and selection on the actual chosen display.
- **System appearance**: Removed the legacy setting that forced light mode, so System appearance follows macOS and responds to live theme changes ([#120](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/120)). Preview-card pill text also stays readable in dark mode ([#121](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/121)).
- **Reliable preview actions**: Failed Copy operations show an error and keep the card open, including missing recordings ([#119](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/119), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg)). Deleting an edited screenshot or recording removes its full history record and associated files. Pinned recordings play in a muted floating panel, and pinned screenshot close buttons stay visible when hovered.
- **Preview placement**: The deck respects Bottom Left placement and the selected edge margin ([#124](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/124), thanks [@BradleyAllanDavis](https://github.com/BradleyAllanDavis)).
- **Capture focus**: Opening the bar gives its A and Escape shortcuts focus; closing it or starting a recording restores the previous app. Area selection retains its crosshair after leaving the bar, and screenshots hide the bar before capture.
- **Recording share history**: Recordings opened from disk resolve their project package and retain uploaded links in Recent Captures, including when autosave runs during an upload.
- **Timeline editing**: Zoom segments resize independently of timeline magnification, interrupted edits close their undo group, and adding zoom to an imported video enables zoom playback. Navigation preserves pointer/playhead anchoring, pinch and modifier-scroll, Fit, and safe zoom limits.
- **Export reliability**: Image and video crop, masking, zoom, and undo/redo use the existing rendering paths. Failed image exports preserve the destination; video exports handle writer failures and cancellation.
- **Capture and history reliability**: Filenames use full UUIDs, failed writes clean up staging files, failed imports cannot reuse an earlier screenshot, and delayed rendering cannot restore deleted captures. History recognizes equivalent paths while keeping similarly named projects separate.
- **Responsive previews**: Recent captures reopen after menu tracking ends, recordings reuse cached posters, and unreadable thumbnails remain actionable. Timeline drawing stays limited to the visible range, with thumbnail sampling deferred during navigation.
- **Consistent preferences**: Shutter sound uses the same setting throughout the app, and disconnected devices remain visible in settings.
- **Build checks**: Build pipelines stop on compiler errors. Automated checks cover editor, timeline, crop, mask, and export behavior without accessing the user's R2 Keychain.

## [0.4.2] - 2026-08-26

The Recording Studio learns to hide things: masks blur or pixelate any region
of a recording, and a mask lane on the timeline gives each one its own start
and end. The image editor's two buttons finally mean two different things:
Save keeps the edit inside BetterShot and the app's library shows it, Export
is the one that writes a file to your Mac, and reopening an edited shot
brings its annotations back. Three community performance passes move
the heavy image and JSON decoding that sat on the main thread into the
background, so the preview card, the Recording Studio and long recordings all
stop stuttering.

### Added

- **Mask video in the Recording Studio**: A Mask button in the toolbar drops a blur over the recording, positioned and resized on the canvas the way a crop box is, with a blur or pixelate effect and a strength slider per mask. Several masks can stack, Cmd Z steps every edit back, and the same masks render in the preview, the export and the shared copy, staying with the project across reopens
- **Masks live on the timeline**: A mask lane under the zoom lane shows every mask as a block. Click an empty spot to add a mask at that moment, drag a block to move it to a different part of the video, drag its edges to trim, so a mask covers exactly the seconds it needs and every scene can carry its own. Masks added from the toolbar keep covering the whole recording

### Changed

- **The studio wallpaper decodes once, not sixty times a second**: With a custom wallpaper set, the Recording Studio preview re-read the file from disk and re-decoded it on every frame of playback and every scrub tick, on the main thread, in the same tick that had to draw the video. The wallpaper now renders through the image editor's cached preview component, so the decode happens once, off the main thread, and both editors share the cached copy ([#113](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/113), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg))
- **The preview card decodes its thumbnail in the background**: The after-capture card decoded the full screenshot on the main thread, tens of megabytes for a 5K shot, just to draw a card a couple of centimeters wide, right while the capture pipeline was still writing the file. Screenshots now go through the same off-main thumbnail decoder recordings already used ([#115](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/115), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg))
- **Long recordings open faster in the studio**: The pointer sidecar, sixty samples a second for the whole recording, so megabytes of JSON on a long take, was read, decoded and thinned on the main thread while the studio window sat unresponsive. All of it now runs in the background before the window fills in ([#117](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/117), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg))

### Fixed

- **Save and Export stopped doing the same job**: Save behaved like a second Export, rewriting the file in your save folder. Save now keeps the edit inside BetterShot only, and the Settings library, the preview and the menu bar recents show the edited image instead of the plain capture; Export stays the one action that writes the finished file to your Mac, and the file in your save folder is never touched by a save
- **Reopening an edited screenshot brings its annotations back**: The editable annotation document lived beside the internal History copy under a fresh name, with nothing linking it to the original capture, so pressing Edit again on the same shot opened the plain image and a second save could wipe the earlier annotations from the saved file. History now remembers which capture an edit came from, and every route into the editor (the preview card, the Library, a drop on the menu bar icon) resolves back to the copy that owns the annotations. Applies to edits made from this version on
- **Export works after a save**: Saving or sharing an annotated screenshot left the editor pointing at a base image that was never written to disk, so the next Export, Copy or Save failed with "The file couldn't be opened because it isn't in the correct format", whether the edit was an annotation or a background effect. The first save now stores the untouched base and the editable document next to the History copy and repoints the editor at it, so every later export renders, and repeated saves stop stacking duplicate copies in History ([#118](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/118), thanks [@erickhun](https://github.com/erickhun))
- **Copy on a recording copies the video**: The preview card's hover Copy put a still frame on the clipboard for recordings. It now copies the video file itself, so the paste lands in Finder or Slack as a movie ([#115](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/115), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg))

## [0.4.1] - 2026-08-26

A quick follow to the rebuild. The Recording Studio learns to crop video the
way the image editor crops a shot, the clip timeline picks up a minimap,
split snapping and mid-drag panning, the app wears a new clover, and two
community fixes bring back Copy and the space key.

### Added

- **Crop video in the Recording Studio**: The video editor now has the same crop the image editor has. Enter crop from the toolbar, drag the box or any handle, and the recording is cropped non-destructively: the full frame stays in the project, so the crop can be adjusted or cleared later, and Cmd Z steps it back. The preview and the export run one shared geometry, auto-zoom anchors are remapped into the cropped frame so zoom and crop now compose instead of zoom overriding the crop, and export sizes round to even pixels so every encoder accepts them
- **Timeline minimap**: Once the timeline is zoomed in, a slim strip under it draws the whole recording with the visible window as a draggable chip and a tick for the playhead, so a zoomed-in timeline never loses its place. At fitted zoom it stays out of the way
- **The timeline pans itself mid-drag**: Dragging a trim handle or scrubbing past the visible edge scrolls the timeline in that direction, faster the further you overshoot, instead of pinning the drag to the edge
- **Split snapping**: The split line snaps to the playhead when the pointer comes within a few pixels of it and refuses to cut right on top of an existing clip boundary, so accidental sliver clips are gone; hold Option to cut exactly where the pointer is. `S` splits at the pointer, `C` splits at the pointer or, with nothing hovered, at the playhead, and the right-click Split item disables itself where a cut is not possible
- **The Copy button is back**: The 0.4.0 toolbar rebuild dropped Copy from the image editor, so an annotated screenshot could only leave through a save panel. It returns beside Export on its old shortcut, and the pasteboard now carries the file, the image and TIFF together, so the paste lands in a terminal as well as in Gmail ([#111](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/111), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg))
- **Delete shared uploads from Settings**: The Cloud tabs in Settings grew a Delete From Cloud button that removes the uploaded copies from your R2 bucket after a confirmation, so their share links stop working while the local files stay on your Mac

### Changed

- **A clover on the icon**: The owl lasted one release. The app icon, the menu bar glyph and the website now carry a new clover logo
- **White clip selection**: The selected clip's outline in the timeline is white instead of yellow, so selection reads as chrome rather than a warning
- **One card for every transfer**: Rendering, uploading, exporting and a failure with retry all report through the same floating status card, replacing the separate share link panel, so a share and an export look and behave the same
- **The playhead pins instead of vanishing**: Scrolling a zoomed timeline away from the current frame keeps the playhead at the near edge, dimmed, so you always know which side the frame is on
- **Timeline edges read as edges**: Content scrolled out of view fades out at the sides instead of hitting a hard clip, and a clip edge under the pointer shows its trim handle before you grab it

### Fixed

- **Annotation tools stay armed**: Drawing a blur, pixelate or any other annotation no longer bounces the editor back to the select tool after one shape, so masking several spots in a row does not mean re-picking the tool each time ([#108](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/108), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg))
- **Space switches region capture to window selection**: Region capture invoked the system tool in mouse-only selection mode, so the space key that flips it over to window selection did nothing. It now opens in the interactive mode that carries the space toggle, pinned to start in selection, and a space-switched shot drops the window shadow to match window capture ([#109](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/109), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg))

## [0.4.0] - 2026-08-26

The rebuild release. Better Shot's capture pipeline, floating recording bar,
and both editors were rebuilt from the ground up. Recording gained
cursor-tracked auto-zoom, self-hosted share links, and a capture core that
survives a crash mid-recording. The editors gained proper tabbed inspectors,
and the parts of a screencast that used to need After Effects (speed ramps,
transitions, scene changes, a tilted 3D card, color) now live in dedicated
tabs.

### Added

- **Recording options in Settings**: Settings > Recording now holds the camera and microphone pickers, the system audio toggle, a 0/1/3/5 second start delay, and the teleprompter switch. They read and write the same preferences the recording bar uses, so a choice made in either place shows up in both
- **Cloud share compresses before it publishes**: Sharing from either editor now runs the file through a local compression pass before a single byte is uploaded. Images are downscaled to 2560 px and encoded as both PNG and JPEG with the lighter file winning, and a shot with real transparency keeps its alpha. Videos are re-encoded to 1080p MP4. Whenever the compressed file does not come out smaller, the original uploads instead. Everything publishes straight to your own R2 bucket, configured in Settings > Sharing
- **A cursor the editor draws**: The pointer is no longer burned into the capture. Its path, its clicks and every shape it wore (arrow, beam, hand, resize) are saved beside the recording, so the editor draws it back and you restyle it after the fact. A spring chases the recorded path, so a shaky hand glides, the pointer never trails behind the motion, and a click lands exactly on the spot instead of arriving late. A Cursor tab holds the type (the pointer you had, or a soft touch ring), size, how far it leans into a fast sweep, whether it fades out once you stop moving, and the motion feel: Relaxed, Smooth, Natural or Snappy. The preview and the exported file draw the same cursor, scaled by the zoom like the rest of the picture
- **Mute the mic mid-recording**: The recording bar grew a microphone button with its own level under the glyph, so a mic that has gone quiet shows up while you record rather than in the finished file. Muting drops the audio instead of writing silence, so a muted stretch leaves nothing in the recording at all
- **Keyboard overlay**: Turn on “The keys I type” in Settings, Recording and BetterShot records your keystrokes beside the recording, then draws them under the video in the editor. Typing collapses into words instead of stuttering key by key, backspace takes the character back, and a shortcut like ⌘S gets its own moment. Every line stays editable or droppable in the Overlay tab, with position, size, weight, color, a backdrop plate and uppercase. Capture is off until you turn it on, asks for Input Monitoring, and never leaves your Mac
- **Captions**: The Overlay tab can transcribe the recording's own audio into timed caption lines, on device where your Mac supports it, so nothing is uploaded. Speech is grouped into readable lines that break on a pause, on a full stop, or when a line gets too long, and every line stays editable in the sidebar. Position, size, weight, color, width, a backdrop plate and uppercase, drawn on the canvas so captions stay readable while the recording zooms
- **Text segments**: Drop a line of text on the canvas for a stretch of the recording. It sits on the background rather than inside the video, so it holds still while the recording zooms under it. Size, weight, alignment, color, width and shadow, plus an entrance and an exit picked from fade, slide, pop or a typewriter reveal. Drag it where you want it on the preview, and one resolve drives both what you see and what the exporter draws
- **Masks**: An Overlay tab holds boxes that either hide part of the frame or spotlight it. Hide blurs or pixelates what is inside the box, and it is destroyed in the export rather than covered, so a password on screen never ships. Spotlight dims everything outside the box and fades in and out so it does not blink. Drag the box on the video, set its start and end from the playhead, and the same math paints the live preview and the exported file
- **Text, blur and caption lanes**: Text overlays, masks and caption lines now sit on the timeline under the zoom lane, one lane per kind, exactly like zoom cues. Drag a segment to move it, drag either edge to retime it, click it to select it in the sidebar. A lane only appears once it has something in it, so a plain recording still gets a plain timeline
- **Color in the image editor**: The screenshot editor gained the same Color section the recorder has, with the nine presets, an intensity slider and the full manual set (exposure, contrast, saturation, warmth, tint, fade, split tone, vignette, grain), so a set of screenshots and a clip can be graded to match
- **Tabbed inspectors**: The video sidebar is six tabs instead of one long scroll: Clip (scissors), Motion (zoom), Cursor (pointer), Camera (person), Overlay (masks) and Style (paintbrush). The screenshot sidebar got the same treatment with three: Annotate, Adjust and Style. Each tab holds only the controls that act on what you selected, so neither sidebar is a wall of disclosure triangles any more
- **Per-clip audio mode**: Speeding a clip up no longer forces one behavior on its audio. Each clip picks Mute, Keep Pitch, or Match Speed, so a 4x skim can stay silent while a 0.5x hold keeps a natural voice
- **Transitions**: Adjacent clips can cross into each other with Crossfade or Fade Through Black, with an adjustable length. The transition is baked into the export rather than faked in the preview
- **Scene modes and split screen**: Every clip carries its own scene: Both (screen with the floating face cam), Screen only, Camera only, or Split, which drops the bubble and gives the screen and the camera a pane each. Change scenes mid-recording and the export cuts between them
- **3D camera**: A Perspective section in the Style tab tips the whole card in space. Drag the tilt pad for pitch and yaw, add Roll, and pull Depth for how hard the lens sells it. One pinhole projection drives both the live preview and the export, so combined tilts stay square and the drop shadow follows the pose
- **Color correction**: Exposure, contrast, saturation, temperature, tint, highlights, shadows, and vignette, with separate grades for the screen and the face cam
- **Click highlights**: Clicks recorded in the pointer sidecar now render as expanding rings in the export, derived from the same capture that drives auto-zoom
- **Export progress**: Exporting shows a live progress overlay instead of a frozen window, with the spring timing and reduced-motion fallback the rest of the app uses
- **Countdown overlay**: The start delay now draws a full-screen countdown so you know exactly when capture begins
- **Escape closes editors**: Escape dismisses the image and video editors, and an unsaved editor asks before it closes rather than discarding your work
- **Split anywhere**: One Split button, on click or with `S`. Turn it on and click a clip where you want the cut; it turns itself off once the cut lands, so you never get stuck in a cutting mode. `Delete` removes the selected clip
- **Inspector tab shortcuts**: Command 1 through Command 6 jump between the video tabs, and Command 1 through Command 3 between the screenshot tabs
- **Annotation keys are visible**: The image editor's tools always had single-key shortcuts, but nothing said so. Each tool now carries its key in the corner of its button and in its tooltip, read from the same table the keyboard uses, so the two cannot drift apart
- **Auto-zoom (virtual camera)**: Recordings now track your cursor and zoom in around it, the way a screencast editor would. Pointer position is sampled at 30 Hz during capture and written to a `.pointer.json` sidecar next to the video; the editor turns clicks into zoom cues, smooths them through a spring-damped viewport timeline, and bakes the motion into the export as per-frame transform ramps. Toggle it in the video editor's Zoom inspector, where each cue can be retimed, rescaled, or deleted, and preview it live before exporting
- **Zoom cue lane**: A second timeline lane under the trim strip shows every zoom cue in place, so you can see where the camera moves relative to the footage
- **Face cam**: A circular camera bubble you can turn on from the recording bar and drag anywhere on screen. It is captured as part of the recording rather than composited afterwards, so what you position is exactly what lands in the video. Right-click the bubble's toolbar button for Small, Medium, and Large. Works with any connected camera, including Continuity Camera with your iPhone
- **Clip timeline**: The trim strip is now a multi-clip editor. Split at the playhead, drag either edge of a clip to trim it, click a clip to select and scrub it, and delete the parts you do not want. The player, zoom preview, and export all follow the edited timeline, so what you scrub is what you get
- **Per-clip speed**: Each clip carries its own speed between 0.25x and 4x, applied to video and audio together, so you can hold on a slow section and skim past a long one in the same recording
- **Undo and redo in the video editor**: `Cmd Z` and `Cmd Shift Z` step through clip edits
- **Share links via Cloudflare R2**: A Share button next to Export uploads the recording to your own R2 bucket and copies the public link to your clipboard. Configure it in Settings > Sharing with your account ID, bucket, public base URL, and an R2 API token scoped to Object Read & Write. Uploads go straight from the app to R2 over a hand-signed AWS SigV4 request (CryptoKit only, no SDK and no proxy worker), so nothing routes through a third-party service
- **Keychain-backed credentials**: The R2 access key ID and secret access key are stored in the macOS Keychain. Only non-secret config (account ID, bucket, public base URL, enable flag) lives in UserDefaults
- **Test Connection button**: Verifies R2 credentials before you rely on them, using an object-scoped probe so an Object Read & Write token passes without needing bucket list permission
- **Source picker bar**: Record no longer starts capturing the instant you click it. It opens a floating bar that lists every connected display and every open window alongside area selection, with microphone and system audio toggles and a 0/1/3/5 second start delay. Choosing a source morphs the same bar in place into the recording controls, so the bar you set up in is the bar you stop in
- **Record a single window**: Window capture uses a window-scoped content filter, so the recording follows that window and excludes whatever is stacked on top of it
- **Recording area highlight**: When recording a region, the area outside it dims and the edge gets a pulsing accent border, so you always know what is in frame. The overlay is click-through and excluded from the capture itself
- **Redesigned recording bar**: The floating bar now uses an `NSVisualEffectView` HUD material with refined corner radius and shadow, an AppKit-tracked hover puck that keeps responding while Better Shot is in the background, spring-based show and hide animations, and drag position that persists between recordings
- **Multi-display capture**: Recording now targets the display under your pointer (or the frontmost window) instead of always grabbing the main display. Region capture carries its own `CGDirectDisplayID`, so selections on secondary and negative-origin displays land in the right place
- **Crash-resilient recording**: Video is written as fragmented MP4 with a 2-second fragment interval, so a crash or force quit mid-recording leaves a playable file instead of a corrupt one
- **Microphone recording**: Turning on the mic in the recording bar records your narration into the video as its own audio track, kept separate from system audio rather than mixed at capture time. Requires macOS 15, which is where ScreenCaptureKit added microphone capture, so the control is hidden on macOS 14
- **Open editor after screenshot**: New setting to jump straight into the editor after taking a screenshot ([#72](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/72), thanks [@y-u-s-u-f](https://github.com/y-u-s-u-f))
- **New owl mascot**: New app icon and logo across the app and website

### Changed

- **One toolbar, three buttons**: Both editors now end in the same three actions. Save (Cmd+S) keeps your edits inside BetterShot and flashes a green Saved confirmation, Share uploads and copies a link, and Export, the highlighted button, writes the finished image or video to your Mac. The image editor's confusing extra buttons ("Save As" and the checkmark) are gone
- **Local and Cloud tabs**: The Screenshots and Recordings pages in Settings are now split into a Local tab for files on disk and a Cloud tab listing everything you have shared, with a thumbnail, a copy-link button, and a shortcut to the share page. The old dead Shared Links section is gone
- **Same wallpapers everywhere**: The image editor and the Recording Studio now share one wallpaper library with the same Recent and macOS tabs, so a screenshot and a clip can sit on the same background
- **Share UI polish**: The image editor's share button shows live progress with a cancel, the upload options popover was redesigned, and the share link panel now brings the app forward properly and steps back when closed
- **Everything saves as BetterShot**: Exported screenshots and recordings are named `BetterShot_` plus the timestamp, recording projects use the `.bettershotrec` extension, and the support folders, sidecar files, and alerts all carry the BetterShot name
- **One save folder for everything**: Screenshots and exported recordings land in the same place, your Desktop by default, chosen once under Settings > General > Save to. The format and quality pickers there govern editor exports too, so nothing quietly disappears into a Pictures subfolder any more
- **MP4 is the default everywhere**: Exports, quick saves, and suggested file names all produce MP4, and the cloud copy of a share is always an MP4 even when compression cannot shrink the file, so a shared link plays in any browser, on Windows, and in Slack. A QuickTime master is rewrapped without re-encoding on the way out, and MOV stays one tap away in Export Options
- **Undo and Redo are buttons again**: Both editors carry Undo and Redo in the toolbar, stepping through the same history as ⌘Z and ⇧⌘Z and dimming when there is nothing left to step through
- **The canvas sits on a plain background**: The dotted workspace pattern behind the editors is gone; both now rest on the native window background
- **The upload popover asks one thing**: a title. The comments-and-likes toggle went away with the worker service behind it; share pages are static files served from your own bucket
- **Clip controls moved to the transport bar**: Split, Delete and the clip count sit beside the timecode under the player instead of in a strip above the timeline, which gives the timeline back a row
- **Crop is a mode, not a permanent panel**: Entering crop shows the crop box, and leaving it puts the box away in both the image and the video editor. Crop handles stay flat while cropping even when a 3D pose is applied, so they remain grabbable
- **The face cam bubble is draggable in the editor**: Position it in the preview and the export follows, instead of being locked to where capture left it
- **Rebuilt clip timeline**: Cuts occupy real space on the timeline, delete works on the selected clip, and the drag math for trimming and scrubbing was rewritten so handles track the pointer 1:1
- **Export and Cloud Share sit side by side**: The editor toolbar has two buttons. Export renders and saves locally; Cloud Share uploads and copies a link. With a bucket connected, Cloud Share is a split button whose menu re-copies the last link, opens it, or hands it to Mail, Messages or Slack through the system share sheet. Without one, it opens the cloud settings instead of hiding
- **A share shows you the link**: Finishing an upload used to flash a "Link Copied" toast for two and a half seconds and take the link away with it. It now opens a card that stays: the URL sits in a selectable field with Copy Link, Open and a dismiss, the link is still on the clipboard the moment the card appears, and the card materializes on one critically damped spring, scale, blur and position together, rather than sliding ten pixels on a timed fade
- **The recording bar remembers only positions you chose**: Dragging the bar saves where you put it, but programmatic repositioning no longer counts as a drag, so an automatic placement can no longer be saved and then restored forever. A saved position is also only reused when it fits entirely on a screen
- **Roomier recording bar**: Taller controls, wider spacing between them, more generous padding around the edges, and a softer corner radius. The bar now sits centered above the bottom of the screen with clearance instead of hugging the bottom edge
- **Reduce Motion is respected**: The recording bar's show and hide animations fall back to an instant transition when `accessibilityDisplayShouldReduceMotion` is set
- **Pause and resume rebuilt**: Pausing now compacts presentation timestamps properly instead of leaving a gap, so paused time no longer stretches the exported timeline
- **Restart keeps your source**: Restarting a recording replays whatever you were capturing, including the region you selected, instead of always restarting full screen
- **Capture callbacks off the main actor**: The `SCStream` wrapper is `NSLock`-guarded so ScreenCaptureKit callbacks stay off the main actor under Swift 6 strict concurrency
- **New inspector sliders in both editors**: Padding, Corner Radius, Shadow, Redaction Density, and Zoom Amount are now label-in-track scrubbers instead of stock macOS sliders. The whole row is draggable, so there is no thumb to chase; hovering reveals calibrated tick marks and the current position; and the value beside it is an editable field, so you can type an exact number, or nudge with the arrow keys. Shared by the image editor and the video editor so both read as one control system

### Fixed

- **Image share upload**: Sharing a screenshot that had no annotations silently did nothing, because the editor only uploaded after a successful re-render of edits. An untouched screenshot now uploads the original file, so every image gets compressed, published to your R2 bucket, and hands you a link, exactly like video sharing
- **Default Look actually applies**: The background, padding, and corner radius chosen in Settings > Default Look now seed both the image editor and the Recording Studio. A saved editor document or an explicit style preset still wins, and an untouched Default Look leaves the editors on their own defaults
- **Recordings missing from Settings**: The two history stores were writing incompatible data to the same `history.json`, so each save wiped the other's records. The editor history moved to its own `editorHistory.json` with a one-time migration, and Settings > Recordings now reads the recording packages on disk directly, so every recording, including ones made before this release, shows up in the list
- **Delete stays in sync**: Deleting a recording from Settings removes the whole recording package and its editor project, and deleting from the editor history clears the matching Settings entry, in both directions without leftovers
- **Version shown in the app matches the release**: The build was stamping a version hardcoded in the project file instead of the one in `version.json`, so the menu bar kept saying the wrong number. Every build now syncs its version and build number from `version.json`, and `make run` restarts the app instead of foregrounding the stale copy
- **Dragging the preview hands over the real file**: Dragging a capture out of the floating preview used to give receivers a temporary copy under `~/Library/Caches`, so drops referenced a cache file that could vanish. The drag now delivers the original file itself
- **Export can no longer fire on a failed load**: If the editor opens on a file that has gone missing, Export and Share now disable instead of running and failing with a confusing error
- **Annotations have a visible Delete button**: The image editor toolbar gained a Delete button that removes the selected annotation, enabled only when something is selected. The Delete key still works as before
- **Recording no longer crashes the moment it starts**: With the face cam on, the very first camera frame killed the app. The sidecar writer opened its file before attaching the video input, and `AVAssetWriter` throws an uncaught exception for any input added after `startWriting`, so recording died on frame one with an abort rather than an error. The input is attached first and the file opened second, and appending a frame now happens under the same lock that retires the writer, so stopping a recording can no longer land a frame on an input that has already been finished
- **The face cam mouth matches the microphone**: The cam file was written by one object and timed by another. `AVCaptureMovieFileOutput` decided the sidecar's own zero from the first frame it managed to write, while a second video output reported the first frame it saw, which arrives several frames earlier while the movie writer is still starting up. The editor lined the cam up against that earlier instant, so the face ran ahead of the voice by a variable tenth to a third of a second. The cam is now written by an asset writer fed from the same video output that reports the clock, so the frame that starts the file is the frame the offset is measured from, and the editor's preview resyncs at 80 ms of drift instead of 150 ms
- **The pointer size slider does something**: The drawn cursor was rendered at about three quarters the size of a real macOS pointer and the slider stopped at 2x, so moving it looked like nothing happened. The pointer now starts life-size and the slider runs to 3x
- **Click highlights are visible**: The ring was drawn in plain white for 0.42s, which is invisible on a light window. It now carries a dark halo under the white stroke and lingers 0.55s, in the preview and the export alike
- **Color presets apply while paused**: Picking a grade with the player stopped repainted nothing, because the preview kept the first filter chain it built and the follow-up seek landed on the frame it was already showing. A paused player now gets a fresh chain per change, so every preset shows on the canvas rather than only in its swatch
- **Zoom no longer needs a switch**: The zoom inspector acts on cues directly rather than gating them behind a toggle
- **Exports stop failing silently**: The frame pump treated a reader that gave up mid-render exactly like a reader that finished, so a failed read marked the inputs done and the writer closed a truncated or empty file. It now surfaces the reader's own error, and an export that produced no frames fails instead of writing a stub
- **Export failures say what went wrong**: “The operation could not be completed” is AVFoundation's placeholder, not a diagnosis. The toast now carries the failure reason, the underlying error, and the domain and code behind it
- **Saving to a protected folder reports itself**: The render lands in the temporary directory and only the finished file moves to your save folder, so a Desktop or Documents permission block reads as “could not be saved to /Users/you/Desktop” instead of an opaque AVFoundation code
- **Every recording crashed the instant it started**: A closure written inside a `@MainActor` function inherits main-actor isolation unless its parameter type is `@Sendable`. The pointer sampler's timer handler, the three ScreenCaptureKit sample callbacks, and the updater's download delegate were all assigned that way and then invoked on background queues, so Swift 6's isolation check raised `EXC_BREAKPOINT` on the first pointer sample of every recording, in every mode. All of them are now explicitly `@Sendable`, and the capture callbacks moved behind the stream's existing lock, which also removes an unsynchronized read and write of those properties
- **Every capture was stored up to three times**: A screenshot kept its original in Application Support, its beautified export in the save folder, and a byte-identical second copy of the original under `BetterShot/bases/`. The editor now maps an export back to the original through history instead of that duplicate, recordings are referenced where they are written rather than copied into Application Support (which cost a full second copy of every video), and re-exporting from either editor updates the existing history entry instead of importing another copy ([#99](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/99))
- **History grew without limit**: History now keeps the 100 most recent captures by default, configurable in Settings > General > History (50 to 500, or unlimited). Trimming removes only the originals BetterShot keeps in Application Support, never files in your save folder. Leftover copies in `BetterShot/bases/` from earlier versions are pruned at launch ([#99](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/issues/99))
- **Share uploaded the raw recording**: The Share button uploaded the original capture, so trim, crop, zoom, and background effects were silently dropped from every shared link. It now renders your edits into a temporary file, uploads that, and cleans up afterwards. Unedited recordings still upload the original file with no re-encode
- **Recording bar sat in the bottom-left corner**: The bar measured itself by casting its content view to `NSHostingView<RecordingBarRootView>`, but the view is built with an `.environment` modifier applied, so the real type is `NSHostingView<ModifiedContent<...>>` and the cast always failed. The measurement guard returned early and the bar's frame was never set at all, leaving it at its construction origin in the bottom-left corner. It now measures through `NSView.fittingSize`, which needs no cast, and centers above the bottom edge
- **Microphone and camera entitlements were wiped on every project regeneration**: `project.yml` owns `BetterShot.entitlements`, so XcodeGen rewrote the hand-added microphone entitlement back to an empty dictionary each time the project was regenerated. Both device entitlements are now declared in `project.yml` and survive regeneration
- **Valid R2 credentials reported as invalid**: Test Connection signed a request against the bucket root, which needs list permission that an Object Read & Write token does not have. It now probes an object key inside the bucket instead
- **Zoom followed the cursor to the wrong place on region recordings**: Pointer samples are captured in Quartz global coordinates, but the region rect was being converted to AppKit coordinates before being handed to the sampler, so zoom tracked an inverted Y position on any area recording
- **History and Videos tabs stuttered while scrolling**: `HistoryStore` is `@MainActor`, so thumbnail decoding hopped back onto the main actor and ran `CGImageSource` and `AVAssetImageGenerator` work there. Decoding is now genuinely off the main actor
- **Full-size decode after every screenshot**: The floating preview card decoded the entire screenshot on the main actor for a 130x98 point card, roughly 60 MB per shot on a 5K display. It now decodes a 260 px thumbnail off the main actor
- **Updater leaked a URLSession**: A delegate-based `URLSession` was never invalidated, so it and its delegate outlived every update download ([#90](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/90), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg))
- **Video editor leaked AVPlayer time observers**: The previous observer was not released when loading a new video ([#91](https://github.com/KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot/pull/91), thanks [@zergzorg](https://github.com/zergzorg))

### Known limitations

- Auto-zoom overrides manual crop at export: when zoom is enabled, the crop rectangle is ignored
- The face cam bubble is captured from the screen, so it appears in full screen and area recordings but not in single-window recordings, which capture only that window's own content
- Zoom cues are derived from clicks, so a recording with no clicks produces no cues

## [0.3.7] - 2026-06-07

### Added

- **Screen recording**: Record your screen as MP4 video with ScreenCaptureKit. Includes a floating status bar with timer, pause/resume, stop, and discard controls. Access via the new "Record" button in the menu bar or `⌘⇧2`
- **Restart recording**: New restart button in the recording status bar, cancels the current recording and immediately starts a new one
- **Recording pill redesign**: Minimal icon-only controls (pause, stop, restart, discard) with solid dark background, proper SwiftUI observation for live timer updates, and auto-sized panel
- **Video editor with effects**: Full video editor with padding, corner radius, shadow, and background picker (solid colors, gradients, macOS wallpapers, custom images), matching the image editor's inspector sidebar. Trim timeline with thumbnail strip, transport controls, and export with effects baked in
- **Recording settings tab**: Dedicated settings panel for recording preferences: FPS (24/30/60), show cursor, capture audio, and open editor after recording toggles
- **Record Screen keyboard shortcut** (`⌘⇧2`): Configurable global hotkey for screen recording, shown in Capture settings alongside screenshot shortcuts
- **Separate History and Videos tabs**: Screenshots and recordings are now in separate tabs in Settings. History shows only screenshots, Videos shows only recordings, each with their own clear button and appropriate actions (preview for screenshots, open in editor for recordings)
- **Preview panel for recordings**: After stopping a recording, the floating preview overlay appears (same as screenshots). Click it to open the video editor
- **Drag-to-app from preview**: Dragging from the floating preview card now provides the actual file URL, enabling drop into apps like Figma, Slack, and Finder
- **App appearance setting**: Choose between System, Light, and Dark mode in Settings > General > Appearance. The app no longer forces light mode and respects your macOS setting by default
- **Recent menu with sub-menus**: Single "Recent" button in the menu bar with nested "Screenshots" and "Recordings" sub-menus, each with their own clear option
- **Image crop**: Crop screenshots in the editor with draggable corner and edge handles, dark mask overlay, and rule-of-thirds grid. Crop is applied on export; annotations remain editable on the full image
- **Video crop**: Crop recordings in the video editor with the same overlay UX. Crop is baked into the exported MP4 via AVMutableVideoComposition transform
- **MP4 recording and export**: Screen recording now records directly as MP4 instead of MOV. Video editor also exports as MP4
- **Changelog page**: Dedicated `/changelog` page on the landing site, auto-generated from CHANGELOG.md (single source of truth)

### Fixed

- **Race condition: `BundledBackgrounds.ImageCache`**: Added `NSLock` to the `@unchecked Sendable` image cache dictionary: concurrent access from multiple threads could crash
- **Race condition: `ShortcutService.cachedShortcuts`**: Protected the static shortcut cache with `NSLock`: the CGEvent tap callback reads it from an arbitrary thread while the main actor writes it
- **Race condition: `RecordingSession.appendVideoSample`**: Moved `writer.startSession(atSourceTime:)` outside the lock to avoid calling AVAssetWriter while holding the lock
- **Race condition: `ScreenRecordingManager` stop/cancel**: Added `.stopping` state guard so concurrent stop calls (e.g. user taps stop while stream error fires) can't both proceed
- **Memory leak: `RecordingStatusBarController`**: Panel was never set to `nil` on dismiss, leaking the NSPanel and its SwiftUI view hierarchy
- **Memory leak: `PreviewOverlay`**: Panel was never released on dismiss, accumulating stale panels
- **Memory leak: `VideoEditorModel.generateThumbnails`**: Changed `Task.detached` to use `[weak self]` to prevent retaining the model after window close
- **Recording timer stuck at 00:00**: `ScreenRecordingManager.shared` was stored as `let` (plain constant): SwiftUI's `@Observable` tracking requires `@State` to trigger re-renders
- **Recording pill invisible/clipped**: Panel used a hardcoded `contentRect` that didn't match SwiftUI content size. Now uses `hostingView.fittingSize` for exact sizing
- **Recording saved to wrong location**: Raw video now stays in the user's save directory after stopping: `importCapture` uses `deleteSource: false` so the file isn't moved away
- **Filename collision on rapid capture**: `HistoryStore.importCapture` now appends a UUID suffix when a file with the same millisecond timestamp already exists
- **Orphaned files on delete**: `deleteRecord` and `deleteAllRecords` now clean up beautified files and base images, not just the raw capture
- **Crash on headless display**: `CountdownOverlay` accessed `NSScreen.screens[0]` without bounds checking, changed to safe `.first` with guard
- **Zero-duration thumbnail generation**: `VideoEditorModel.generateThumbnails` now guards against `duration == 0` to prevent generating 20 useless thumbnails at time zero
- **Windows open on wrong screen**: Editor, video editor, settings, preview overlay, recording status bar, toast, and pinned screenshots now open on the same screen where the menu bar icon was clicked. Previously, all windows sampled `NSEvent.mouseLocation` after the popover dismissed (too late) or hardcoded `NSScreen.main`, causing them to appear on the primary display instead of the active one. The originating screen is now captured from the status bar button before dismissal and threaded through to all window controllers
- **Recording pill visible in recordings**: The floating recording status bar (timer, pause, stop, discard) was being captured in screen recordings. Fixed by setting `sharingType = .none` on the panel so ScreenCaptureKit excludes it from capture
- **Export deletes files from save directory**: Exporting from the screenshot or video editor was deleting the exported file from the save directory via `importCapture(deleteSource: true)` and a redundant `removeItem` call. Now only the old history store record is cleaned up; the exported file stays in the save directory
- **Recent recordings open editor directly**: Clicking a recording in the Recent menu now shows the floating preview overlay (with edit, pin, copy, dismiss actions) instead of jumping straight into the video editor, matching how recent screenshots behave
- **Annotation export positioning**: Annotations (arrows, rectangles, text, all tools) now render at the correct position in the exported image, matching the canvas preview. The export renderer previously used independent Y-axis math from the SwiftUI canvas. Fixed by flipping the CG context to Y-down for annotation rendering, using the same coordinate formulas as the canvas preview
- **Annotations mispositioned with crop**: When crop was active, annotations were rendered using coordinates normalized to the original image size, but the renderer was given the cropped image. Annotations are now remapped from original-image to cropped-image coordinate space before export
- **Duplicate file on Desktop**: Screenshots no longer create a visible `.base` companion file on the Desktop. The raw source image used for re-editing is now stored internally in Application Support, so only the beautified screenshot appears in the save directory
- **Video export missing background**: Background was invisible in exported videos because `AVMutableVideoCompositionInstruction.backgroundColor` defaulted to opaque black, covering the background layer. Fixed by setting it to clear and applying corner radius via `CAShapeLayer` mask on the video layer
- **Video editor not loading default effects**: Video editor now loads user-configured defaults from `AppPreferences.defaultBeautifierConfig` on open, matching the image editor behavior
- **Preview pin button position**: Moved the pin button from bottom-left (next to pencil) to bottom-right corner of the preview overlay
- **Video trim handles**: Fixed coordinate space bug where trim handle drag gestures used the handle's local 8px frame instead of the timeline's coordinate space, making handles unresponsive or inaccurate
- **Recording dimensions in history**: Videos tab now shows correct pixel dimensions instead of "0 x 0": video track dimensions are read via AVFoundation on import

### Removed

- **Auto-export with effects on recording stop**: Removed `VideoEditorModel.autoExportWithDefaults`: recordings are now saved as raw video immediately. Effects (background, padding, corner radius, shadow) are only applied when the user explicitly exports from the video editor. This eliminates the long delay between stopping a recording and seeing the preview
- **Dead code cleanup**: Removed `CountdownOverlay.activeCountdownTask` (was assigned then immediately awaited, served no purpose)

### Changed

- **Recording pill UI**: Icon-only buttons (no text labels), solid `Color(white: 0.1)` background instead of `.ultraThinMaterial`, forced dark color scheme, hover-only button highlights
- Version bumped to 0.3.7 (build 10)

## [0.3.6] - 2026-06-06

### Added

- **Reset to Defaults in Settings**: Added reset buttons throughout settings: "Reset Effects to Defaults" in Default Background section, "Reset All General Settings to Defaults" at the bottom of General tab, "Reset Shortcuts to Defaults" in Keyboard Shortcuts section, and "Reset All Capture Settings to Defaults" at the bottom of Capture tab
- **Preview overlay settings restored**: Position (bottom-right/bottom-left) and auto-dismiss delay (2–15s) are back in Capture settings
- **Shortcut recorder fix**: Recorder now temporarily disables the CGEvent tap so system shortcuts like ⌘⇧4 can be captured without triggering the native macOS screenshot. Uses a local event monitor instead of `keyDown`

### Improved

- **Tab state preserved in settings**: Settings tabs now use ZStack with opacity toggling instead of Group/switch, preserving state when switching between tabs
- **Async history thumbnails**: History tab loads thumbnails asynchronously to avoid blocking the UI on large capture histories

### Fixed

- **Scrollbar hidden in settings**: Removed visible scrollbar from the settings content area
- **Editor & Settings Space switching**: `orderFrontRegardless` before the activation policy change prevents macOS from switching to Desktop

### Changed

- Version bumped to 0.3.6 (build 9)

## [0.3.5] - 2026-06-06

### Changed

- **Inspector panel moved to the left**: The editor inspector (tools, style, effects, background) is now on the left side of the editor window, canvas on the right
- **Recent captures open preview instead of editor**: Clicking a recent capture in the menu bar now shows the floating preview panel instead of opening the editor directly, matching the normal capture flow
- **README updated**: Removed hardcoded version numbers, added Homebrew install instructions, updated feature descriptions to reflect all current capabilities
- **Landing page updated**: Added color picker, self-timer, QR/barcode scanning, spotlight, customizable shortcuts, workflow extras section, and Homebrew install to the landing page. Removed version number from hero badge
- **CONTRIBUTING.md updated**: Editor flow diagram and key files table updated to reflect left-side inspector panel
- **llms.txt rewritten**: Replaced incorrect tech stack (React/Tauri/TypeScript) with accurate Swift 6/SwiftUI architecture and complete feature listing
- Version bumped to 0.3.5 (build 8)

## [0.3.4] - 2026-06-06

### Added

- **Automatic update check on launch**: App checks GitHub releases on startup and shows a toast notification when a new version is available. A blue dot badge appears next to the version label in the menu bar
- **Smart toast after capture**: Toast now shows "Screenshot saved & copied!" when clipboard copy is enabled, or "Screenshot saved!" otherwise

### Changed

- **Simplified capture flow**: Screenshots now always apply default settings (background, padding, corner radius, shadow) and save directly to the gallery. No more editor-first or preview-first workflow, just capture, auto-beautify, and save
- **Removed screenshot mode picker**: The Editor/Gallery segmented control is removed from the menu bar. Default effects configured in Settings are always applied automatically
- **Preview panel restored**: Both a toast notification and the floating preview panel now appear after taking a screenshot
- **Removed overlay settings**: Overlay position and dismiss delay settings removed from Capture settings since the floating preview is no longer shown after capture
- **Recent captures open in editor**: Clicking a recent capture in the menu bar now opens it in the editor instead of showing a floating preview
- Version bumped to 0.3.4 (build 7)

### Fixed

- **Crash on window close**: Fixed `EXC_BREAKPOINT` crash in `_postWindowNeedsUpdateConstraints` caused by `setActivationPolicy(.accessory)` triggering layout updates on a window mid-teardown. Deferred activation policy change to the next run loop iteration for editor, settings, and toast windows
- **Double background on editor open**: A `.base.png` copy of the raw capture is saved alongside every beautified output. The editor now resolves to the base image before loading, making it architecturally impossible to apply background/padding/shadow twice, regardless of which URL is passed to the editor
- **Race condition fixes across the codebase**: Fixed multiple race conditions that could cause crashes:
  - Menu bar popover: eliminated Task wrapper in close animation, captured panel reference before nil'ing to prevent use-after-free
  - Editor window delegate: replaced `Task { @MainActor }` with `DispatchQueue.main.async` for deterministic ordering during window teardown
  - Shortcut service: cached shortcuts on main thread to prevent `@MainActor`-isolated property access from CGEvent tap callback thread
  - Toast window: added generation counter to prevent stale animated-dismiss completion handlers from nil'ing a newly created panel
  - Countdown overlay: added cancellation guard against concurrent `showCountdown` calls that could stack overlapping countdowns
  - Preview overlay: cancel pending dismiss task at the start of `show()` to prevent a stale dismiss from hiding a freshly shown preview
  - Menu bar event monitor: replaced `Task { @MainActor }` with `DispatchQueue.main.async` for consistent dispatch ordering

### Removed

- **Screenshot mode preference** (`ScreenshotMode` enum): No longer needed since capture always uses gallery mode with auto-applied defaults
- **"Show floating preview after capture" toggle**: Removed from General settings

## [0.3.3] - 2026-06-06

### Added

- **Settings sidebar navigation**: Redesigned preferences from top tabs to a left sidebar with right content panel
- **Keyboard shortcut recorder**: Click any shortcut badge to record a new key combination (press Escape to cancel)
- **Default effects configuration**: Padding, corner radius, shadow, and background are now configurable directly in Settings and persist across sessions
- **Live settings preview**: Default Effects section shows a real-time mini preview of how screenshots will look with current padding, corner radius, shadow, and background
- **macOS wallpapers in settings**: Default Background picker now includes bundled macOS wallpaper thumbnails alongside solid colors and gradients
- **Custom image backgrounds in settings**: "Custom Image..." button in Default Background picker lets you choose any image file as your default background
- **Click preview to open editor**: Clicking the floating preview overlay opens the editor
- **Window capture**: Click-to-select window capture available from the menu bar
- **OCR toast notification**: After OCR copies text to clipboard, a toast confirms "Text copied to clipboard"
- **Color picker toast notification**: After color picker copies hex to clipboard, a toast confirms "#HEXCODE copied to clipboard"
- **Custom menu bar popover**: Replaced SwiftUI `MenuBarExtra` with a custom `NSPanel`-based popover with arrow, smooth spring animation, and click-outside-to-dismiss

### Fixed

- **Blur/pixelation invisible in editor**: Fixed `viewScale ≈ 0.16` being multiplied into blur radius and pixel block size, making effects sub-pixel in the canvas preview. Blur radius no longer scales; pixelation computes blocks from view dimensions
- **Spotlight annotation drift**: Canvas preview used `imageFrame` for overlay extent but export used `fullCanvasRect`. Fixed by passing `canvasFrame` through to SpotlightPreview
- **Laggy editor sliders**: Replaced CGContext-based preview render loop with SwiftUI-native layers (CanvasBackgroundView, CanvasScreenshotView), eliminating re-render on every slider change
- **OCR not firing from menu bar**: `dismiss()` was cancelling the async capture task. Fixed by using `Task.detached` so capture survives popover teardown
- **Settings not opening from menu bar**: `@Environment(\.openSettings)` doesn't work from a custom `NSPanel` outside SwiftUI's scene system. Created `SettingsWindowController` that directly manages an `NSWindow` with `PreferencesView`, matching the `EditorWindowController` pattern
- **Editor opens on wrong screen/Space**: `NSApp.activate(ignoringOtherApps:)` would switch macOS Spaces to where the app was last active (typically Desktop). Added `.moveToActiveSpace` collection behavior to editor and settings windows so they appear on the user's current Space
- **Settings sidebar toggle on wrong side**: Sidebar toggle button appeared on the right side of the title bar when hosted in `NSHostingView`. Fixed by adding an `NSToolbar` with `.toggleSidebar` item to the settings window
- **History icon disappearing**: Menu bar "Recent Captures" and dividers no longer vanish when capture history is empty
- **Background picker in settings**: Cleaner grid layout with proper "None" swatch (strikethrough icon)
- **Preview click-to-edit**: Clicking anywhere on the floating preview (including the hover overlay) now opens the editor
- **Custom background image**: Fixed file picker for custom wallpaper backgrounds in editor
- **GitHub link in About tab**: Corrected URL to `KartikLabhshetwar/better-shot`

### Changed

- **Menu bar icon redesigned**: Converted to a proper template image (black on transparent) that automatically renders white in dark mode and black in light mode, matching native macOS menu bar icon behavior. Icon now fills the full menu bar height instead of being undersized
- **Menu bar redesigned**: Custom `NSPanel` popover with arrow, 2-column grid buttons (Region, Screen, Window, Pick Color), screenshot mode toggle (Editor/Gallery), utility grid (OCR, Recent Captures), and footer grid (Settings, Quit). Shortcut badges on each button
- **About page redesigned**: Left-aligned sectioned layout (Updates, Project, Credits) with horizontal icon+title header. Includes GitHub and X links
- **Settings window enlarged**: 680×560 (was 620×440) so Default Effects preview and sliders are visible without scrolling
- **Settings window title**: Shortened to "Settings" (was "BetterShot Settings") to prevent title bar truncation
- **Toast notifications generalized**: `ToastWindow` now accepts a custom title (was hardcoded "Saved") and supports SF Symbol icons alongside app icons
- **Color picker feedback**: Replaced the cursor-anchored dark HUD panel with a standard toast notification matching the app's toast style
- **Editor canvas rewritten**: SwiftUI-native rendering with `CanvasBackgroundView` and `CanvasScreenshotView` instead of CGContext re-renders. `UnevenRoundedRectangle` for per-corner radius clipping
- **Capture engine rewritten**: Region, fullscreen, and window capture now use the native macOS `screencapture` CLI for maximum reliability across all displays and configurations
- **Layout section improved**: Single "Ratio" row with dropdown, larger alignment grid with 28pt cells and hover highlights
- Default beautifier config now uses a centralized `AppPreferences.defaultBeautifierConfig` accessor across editor, settings, and auto-apply

### Removed

- **Pixelate annotation tool**: Removed from the toolbar (blur tool remains). Keyboard shortcut `P` removed
- **"Save as Default" button**: Removed from editor Effects section; defaults are now managed in Settings
- **Bundled background images**: Removed Wallpapers and Gradients image assets from the editor. Only solid colors, code-generated gradients, macOS assets, and custom images remain
- **Repeat Region shortcut from settings**: Removed from the Keyboard Shortcuts section in Capture settings

## [0.3.2] - 2026-06-03

### Added

- **In-app auto-update**: Updates now download the DMG in-app with a progress bar, mount it, replace the running app, and relaunch. No more opening Chrome to download manually. New states: downloading (with cancel), ready to install, installing.
- **Makefile**: `make build`, `make run`, `make dmg`, `make release`, `make clean`, `make lint`, `make test-build`, `make version` for local development and testing without opening Xcode.

### Fixed

- **History tab empty state not centered**: `ContentUnavailableView` was inside a `List`, constraining it to a row. Moved it outside the `List` with `frame(maxWidth: .infinity, maxHeight: .infinity)` so it centers properly in the tab.

## [0.3.1] - 2026-06-03

### Fixed

- **Window capture not working**: The window picker used a plain `NSWindow` with borderless style, which can't become key; mouse and keyboard events were unreliable. Replaced with a custom `PickerWindow` subclass that overrides `canBecomeKey`/`canBecomeMain`, matching how the region selection overlay works.
- **Window picker hit-test**: Replaced NSScreen-based coordinate conversion with `CGEvent.location` for reliable cursor-to-window matching across all monitors.
- **Window capture stale reference**: After the picker closes, the app now re-fetches `SCShareableContent` and looks up the selected window by ID to get a fresh `SCWindow` reference before capturing.

## [0.3.0] - 2026-06-03

### Added

- **In-app update checker**: Check for Updates button in Preferences > About that queries GitHub releases API and links to the latest download
- **Version tracking**: `version.json` file at project root for release management
- **Professional annotation system**: Complete rewrite of annotation tools
  - **Interactive canvas**: Annotations render as live SwiftUI views: click to select, drag to move, handles to resize
  - **Selection system**: Single select, multi-select (Shift/Cmd+click), marquee drag selection, select all (Cmd+A)
  - **Curved arrows**: Quadratic Bézier arrows with draggable curve control handle and snap-to-straight
  - **Live text editing**: Text annotations use inline NSTextView with full font family, size, bold/italic/underline, and alignment controls
  - **Numbered circles**: Auto-incrementing numbered badges with proper outline and contrast text
  - **Redaction tools**: Pixelate and blur with adjustable density slider and cached preview generation
  - **Resize handles**: Corner handles for shapes, endpoint handles for lines/arrows, curve handle for arrows
  - **Color picker**: 10 named color presets with popover selector + custom ColorPicker
  - **Stroke width picker**: Visual popover with 5 presets (2/4/6/8/12px)
- **Aspect-ratio locking**: Hold Shift while drawing rectangles/ellipses to constrain to square/circle
- **Arrow snap-to-straight**: Arrow curves snap to a straight line when dragged near the start-end axis
- **Color Picker** (Cmd+Shift+C): Uses macOS native `NSColorSampler` for pixel-perfect color picking on any monitor. After picking, a floating HUD shows the color swatch and hex code (#RRGGBB) near the cursor. Hex is copied to clipboard.
- **OCR with QR/Barcode detection**: The OCR capture action now runs both `VNRecognizeTextRequest` and `VNDetectBarcodesRequest` together. Detects QR codes, barcodes, and text in a single pass. QR/barcode payloads appear first in the copied result.
- **Delayed Screenshot countdown overlay**: When the self-timer is set, a fullscreen translucent overlay shows large countdown numbers (3, 2, 1) with scale-down and fade animation. The overlay dismisses before the screenshot fires so it never appears in the capture.
- **Spotlight annotation tool** (G): Darkens everything outside a selected rectangular region to draw focus. Adjustable opacity via the density slider. Uses even-odd fill for both SwiftUI preview and CGContext export rendering.
- **Pinned Floating Screenshots**: Pin any capture as a borderless, always-on-top floating window. Drag to move anywhere, scroll wheel to resize (0.25x–4.0x), hover to reveal close button. Pin from the floating preview card or from the editor. "Unpin All" appears in the menu bar when pins exist.
- **Layout controls**: New LAYOUT section in the editor inspector with aspect ratio dropdown (Auto, 1:1, 4:3, 3:2, 16:9, 9:16) and a visual 3x3 alignment grid picker. Canvas expands to fit the selected ratio without cropping the image.
- **Canvas Expansion**: Annotations can now be drawn into the padding area beyond the screenshot boundaries, enabling margin annotations and callouts outside the image.
- **Repeat Area Capture** (Ctrl+Cmd+Shift+4): Re-captures the exact same screen region as your last region capture without reselecting. Falls back to normal region selection if no previous region exists.
- **Image Overlay** (Cmd+Shift+V): Paste any image from clipboard onto the current screenshot. The pasted image is composited at center, scaled to fit within 80% of the canvas.
- **Option+Drag to Duplicate**: Hold Option and drag any annotation to create a copy. The original stays in place while the duplicate moves with the cursor.
- **Persistent Tool Selection**: The text tool now stays armed after committing a text annotation, so you can immediately click to place another text box without reselecting the tool.
- **Expanded keyboard shortcuts**: V (select), R (rectangle), F (filled rectangle), O (ellipse), L (line), A (arrow), D (freehand), N (numbered circle), P (pixelate), B (blur), G (spotlight), T (text)
- **Toast notifications**: Editor shows a brief HUD when exporting ("Exported"), copying ("Copied to clipboard"), or saving defaults ("Saved as default"). Auto-dismisses after 1.5 seconds.
- **Save as Default**: Button in the Effects section saves current padding, corner radius, shadow, background, alignment, and aspect ratio as the default for all new captures.
- **Export preserves in history**: Exported images (with annotations baked in) are added to Recent Captures so reopening shows the final result, not the raw capture.
- **Save directory picker**: Replaced the raw text field with a native macOS folder picker (`NSOpenPanel`) in Preferences.

### Fixed

- **Menu bar icon template rendering**: Changed `template-rendering-intent` from `"original"` to `"template"` so the icon adapts to light mode, dark mode, and high-contrast accessibility settings, matching how native macOS system utilities render menu bar icons
- **Keyboard shortcut override**: Fixed the accessibility permission flow: the CGEvent tap now only registers after accessibility permission is confirmed, with polling to detect when the user grants permission
- **Annotation coordinate system**: Gesture tracking now normalizes against the actual image display rect (accounting for aspect-fit letterboxing), not the full view bounds
- **Blur edge darkening**: Export-time Gaussian blur now pads the crop rect by `ceil(radius * 2)` on all sides before applying the filter, eliminating fringe artifacts at region boundaries
- **Export redaction performance**: Replaced per-item `ctx.makeImage()` (full canvas snapshot for each blur/pixelate region) with a single shared canvas snapshot, reducing export time proportionally to the number of redaction annotations
- **Spotlight export positioning**: Rewrote `AnnotationDrawing` to use explicit `imageRect`/`fullCanvasRect` parameters instead of context translation. Spotlight overlay now correctly covers the full canvas while the cutout aligns with the image position.
- **Annotation export positioning**: All annotations now render at the correct position within the canvas padding area, not offset by the image origin.
- **Multi-monitor capture**: Fullscreen and region capture now correctly identify the display under the cursor using `CGEvent.location` and `CGDisplayBounds` instead of NSScreen coordinate conversion.
- **Settings reactivity**: Capture settings (self timer, overlay position, dismiss delay, export format/quality) now use `@AppStorage` so changes reflect immediately in the UI.
- **Alignment Y-axis**: Fixed inverted Y-axis in the export renderer: clicking "bottom" in the alignment grid now correctly places the image at the bottom of the canvas.

### Changed

- **Menu bar UI redesigned**: Grouped by intent: "Open Last Capture" quick access at top, capture modes (Region, Full Screen, Window), utilities (OCR, Color Picker), contextual actions (Unpin All when pins exist), Recent Captures submenu (up to 8 items). Removed "Check for Updates" from menu (lives in Preferences > About). Shortened labels.
- **Inspector panel redesigned**: Sidebar with sections for Tools, Style, Text, Effects, Layout, and Background, each with proper spacing, section headers, and dividers
- **Canvas rendering**: Annotations now render directly as SwiftUI views on the canvas (not baked into a preview image), enabling real-time interaction without re-render delays
- **Live beautifier preview**: Canvas shows the full rendered preview (background, padding, shadow, corner radius) with a 30ms debounced render pipeline. Redundant re-renders are skipped when config hasn't changed.
- **Performance optimizations**: Cached font family list (static lazy), TransparencyGrid rasterized via `.drawingGroup()`, arrow hit-test sampling halved (32→16 points), text style dirty-check guards redundant `setAttributes` calls, GPU memory cleanup after blur export
- Version bumped to 0.3.0
- Deployment target remains macOS 14.0
- Simplified BetterShotDelegate, removed all video recording callback and frame extraction code

### Removed

- **Screen recording**: Removed ScreenRecorder, VideoProcessor, RecordingControlPanel, and the bundled videokit binary. Video features will return in a future release
- **Old annotation system**: Replaced `ColorSwatch`, `StrokeWidth` enum, `AnnotationGestureView`, and basic `AnnotationItem` with the full interactive model

## [0.2.0] - 2026-06-02

### Added

- **Native Swift/SwiftUI rewrite**: Complete rewrite from Electron/Rust to pure Swift/SwiftUI + Go for video processing
- **Screen recording**: Full screen and window recording via ScreenCaptureKit
  - Floating control pill with pause/resume, stop, and discard controls
  - Pulsing red dot indicator with MM:SS timer
  - HEVC encoding at 60fps Retina resolution
  - Post-recording compression via videokit (FFmpeg)
  - Recordings saved to user's configured save directory
- **Preview overlay with editor access**: Floating preview card appears after capture
  - Hover to reveal actions: edit (pencil), delete, dismiss
  - Copy and Save pill buttons
  - Draggable thumbnail
  - Clicking pencil icon opens the annotation editor
- **Annotation editor window**: Opens from preview overlay with full beautifier controls
  - Switches app to regular activation policy (visible in Dock/Cmd-Tab) while editing
- **Override macOS screenshot shortcuts**:
  - Cmd+Shift+3 = Capture Screen
  - Cmd+Shift+4 = Capture Region
  - Cmd+Shift+5 = Capture Window
  - Cmd+Shift+6 = Toggle Screen Recording
  - Cmd+Shift+O = OCR Region
- **Bundled background images**: Wallpapers, mesh gradients, and macOS assets now ship inside the app bundle
- **videokit bundled**: Go-based FFmpeg wrapper included in the app for video compression

### Fixed

- **Background images not loading in editor**: Resources weren't being copied into the app bundle; fixed project config and file lookup to use direct path construction
- **Screenshot sound**: Now plays the actual macOS screenshot sound (`Screen Capture.aif`) instead of the generic "Blow" sound
- **Editor image caching**: Added `.onChange(of: imageURL)` and `.id()` to prevent stale images when editor window is reused

### Changed

- App target deployment raised to macOS 14.0
- Swift 6 strict concurrency throughout

## [0.1.0] - Previous

### Added

- **Background Border slider**: Adjustable padding around screenshots (0–200px)
- **Frontend test framework**: Vitest with React Testing Library (19 tests)
- **Rust unit tests**: CropRegion bounds, filename generation (13 tests)

### Fixed

- Background visible at 0px border setting

### Changed

- Padding now stored in EditorSettings (previously hardcoded to 100px)