Stashot — 使い方 & FAQ / Help

🔐 First launch & permissions (read this)

macOS asks for a few permissions the first time. Granting them takes 1 minute and is the #1 cause of "the hotkey doesn't work". Here's exactly what to do.

1. Install

Open the downloaded Stashot-x.x.x.dmg and drag Stashot.app onto the Applications folder.
Launch Stashot. It lives in the menu bar (top-right 📷 icon) — there is no Dock icon.

If macOS says it "can't be opened": Stashot is Apple-notarized, so this is rare. If it happens, right-click (or Control-click) the app → Open → Open.

Prefer Homebrew? You can install (and update) from the terminal instead:

# install
brew install --cask tammifull/tap/stashot

# update
brew update && brew upgrade --cask stashot

Homebrew installs the same signed & notarized official DMG. Your screenshot library is stored separately from the app, so a cask upgrade never removes it.

2. Input Monitoring — for the hotkey (most important)

The screenshot hotkey (default: Right Shift) uses a low-level key listener that needs Input Monitoring. Until you grant it, the hotkey does nothing (menu-bar capture still works).

System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring

Open System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring.
Turn Stashot ON (add it with + if it's not listed → choose Stashot in Applications).
If asked, quit & reopen Stashot.

Hotkey still not working? Also allow Stashot under Accessibility (same Privacy & Security screen). Input Monitoring is the key one, but some macOS versions also want Accessibility.

3. Screen Recording — for scrolling capture

Full-page / scrolling capture needs Screen Recording (macOS requirement for stitching the scroll). You'll be asked the first time you use it.

System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording → turn Stashot ON → reopen the app.

📸 Basic usage

Capture: tap Right Shift for a region, hold it for a window — or use the menu-bar 📷 menu.
Scrolling / full-page capture: from the menu-bar menu.
Everything is auto-saved to your stash (not your Photos app) and copied to the clipboard.
Search: open Library and type any word — every capture is auto-OCR'd, so you can find shots by the text inside them.
Settings: menu-bar 📷 → Settings — change the hotkey, save folder, cloud folder, auto-OCR.

⌨️ Keyboard shortcuts

Global

Right Shift (default) — tap = region capture, hold = window capture.

Library & Settings

⌘ , open Settings · ⌘ R refresh Library · ⌘ Q quit.
⏎ copy the previewed image · double-click a list item to copy it.

Annotation editor (Pro)

Tools: V select · C crop · G region text · T text · \ line · A arrow · M box · L ellipse · B blur.
⌘⇧C copy text in the selected region · ⌘⏎ annotate & copy.
⌘Z / ⌘⇧Z undo / redo · Delete remove selection · ⌘+scroll to zoom.

✏️ Pro & license

The Annotation editor (crop, arrows, boxes, text, blur, rotate) is Pro — $5 one-time, up to 5 Macs. Capture, OCR and search are free forever.

Activating Pro

After buying, the app usually unlocks automatically (the purchase page opens Stashot for you).
If not: copy the license key (STASHOT-…) from the confirmation page / email, then in the app go to Settings → About → Buy / Restore Pro and paste it (⌘V) → Activate.

🤖 For developers — CLI & MCP

Stashot ships a CLI (sss) and an MCP server so Claude Code, Codex, Claude Desktop or Cursor can capture and search for you. Requires Node 22.5+.

Enable the command-line tools (one time)

The CLI (sss) and MCP server are bundled inside the app. Link them into your PATH once:

# one time — link the bundled tools into your PATH
D="$(mdfind "kMDItemFSName == 'Stashot.app'" | head -1)/Contents/Resources/cli"
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
sudo ln -sf "$D/cli.js" /usr/local/bin/sss
sudo ln -sf "$D/mcp-server.js" /usr/local/bin/stashot-mcp

CLI commands (sss)

sss                   # latest screenshot path (hand to AI)
sss cap               # capture a region → box + clipboard
sss web <url>         # full-page capture of a web page
sss scroll            # scrolling full-page capture
sss search <word>     # full-text OCR search
sss list              # list recent shots (alias: ssli)
sss latest --out P    # save the latest shot to path P
sss get <id> --out P  # save shot #id to path P
sss open <id>         # open shot #id in a viewer
sss config            # show / change settings

Only sss web needs Playwright (everything else works out of the box). Install: npm install -g playwright && playwright install chromium or brew install playwright && playwright install chromium. Installed but not detected? Set export SHOTSTASH_PLAYWRIGHT=/path/to/playwright.

MCP server (for AI agents)

Use the public npm launcher. It starts the MCP server bundled in the signed app; it does not upload screenshots. Claude Code and Codex take one command, and GUI apps need a small JSON snippet.

Claude Code — just run this, no file editing:

claude mcp add stashot -- npx -y stashot-mcp

Codex — run this in your terminal:

codex mcp add stashot -- npx -y stashot-mcp

Claude Desktop / Cursor — open your config file (Claude Desktop: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json, Cursor: ~/.cursor/mcp.json) and paste this inside the mcpServers object:

{ "mcpServers": { "stashot": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "stashot-mcp"] } } }

After saving, fully quit & reopen the app so it loads Stashot.

MCP tools: capture_screen · search_screenshots · get_latest · get_screenshot_text — ask your AI "take a screenshot" or "find the screenshot with that error".

💻 Requirements

Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or later)
macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
100% local — no account, no cloud, no tracking. Node 22.5+ only if you use the CLI/MCP.

Still stuck? Contact us via the DOGGO Company contact form.