# Build brief — a focused alternative to Loom

> **Verdict:** Partly, if you narrow it · **Buildability:** 48/100 · **Category:** Screen Recording
> **Source:** https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/loom
> Independent editorial assessment from Can It Be Vibe Coded? Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or derived from Loom. Verify current pricing and capabilities before acting.

## Context

**Loom** — Async screen recording with instant hosting, transcripts, and team sharing. It currently costs $18/mo.

Local screen recording is easy, but instant hosting, permissions, viewer analytics, comments, trimming, and team libraries push it well beyond the core.

This brief describes a focused, single-operator replacement for the part of Loom that is genuinely reproducible. It is deliberately narrower than the product it replaces, and it says so in writing. Build the useful core; do not pretend to have rebuilt the rest.

## What you are building

Record screen and camera, encode video, upload to storage, generate transcript/summary, and serve a share page.

- Build a focused single-user workflow with real persistence, search, and export.
- A responsive interface with real empty, loading, success, and error states.

## Requirements

### Functional

- Ffmpeg.
- Object storage.
- Hosted app.
- Auth.

### Data and integrations

- Screen capture API.
- Optional transcription API.

Each of these needs a real account, credential, or quota. Set them up before writing feature code.

### Non-functional

- Accessibility: semantic markup, labelled controls, visible focus, and reduced-motion support.
- Security: server-side secrets, validated input, and no credentials in the client bundle.
- Reliability: retries with backoff on external calls, and a clear failure state when a provider is down.
- Portability: the operator can export their data and leave without losing it.

## Implementation brief

Build me a screen-record-and-share tool to replace Loom on macOS. Requirements:

- Two parts: a local recording CLI and a share server on my own VPS.
- Recording: `rec start` / `rec stop` wrapping ffmpeg's avfoundation capture,
  screen plus mic, saved to ~/Recordings/YYYY-MM-DD-HHMM.mp4. No camera bubble.
- On stop: transcode to web-friendly H.264, transcribe with whisper.cpp, then
  upload video and transcript to the server with rsync over SSH.
- The server (Node + Express + better-sqlite3 behind my existing reverse proxy)
  serves each recording at an unguessable /v/<random-id> URL: player, title, date,
  and the transcript below it, searchable in-page.
- `rec stop` ends by printing the share URL and copying it to my clipboard. Target:
  under a minute from stop to link for a 2-minute video.
- The index page listing all recordings stays private (localhost or VPN only); the
  share pages are link-only, no listing anywhere. No accounts, no telemetry.
- Out of scope: viewer analytics, comments, trimming, and team libraries. The
  unlisted URL is the entire permission model.
- README: macOS screen-recording and mic permissions, finding the right ffmpeg
  device index, and the server deploy steps.

## Delivery standard

- Inspect the repository first, then write a short implementation plan before writing code.
- Deliver the smallest complete end-to-end workflow first; every primary control must work against persisted data.
- Use real validation and storage; never substitute fake dashboards, decorative controls, hard-coded success states, or mock integrations.
- Include responsive layouts plus genuine empty, loading, success, validation, and failure states.
- Keep secrets server-side in environment variables, provide .env.example, and never commit credentials or user data.
- Add structured logs around every external call and return actionable errors without leaking sensitive details.
- Write unit tests for the core logic and one automated test of the main user journey.
- Finish with a README covering setup, architecture, data location, backups, tests, deployment, and known limitations.

## Acceptance criteria

- [ ] A clean install starts the app using only the README and .env.example.
- [ ] The primary journey works from first visit through saved result, reload, edit, export, and deletion where applicable.
- [ ] Invalid input, missing configuration, provider failure, and an empty database each have a usable state.
- [ ] The interface works at 390px and 1440px, is keyboard navigable, and shows visible focus on every control.
- [ ] Tests, type checking, linting, and a production build all pass with no ignored failures.
- [ ] No part of the interface implies a live integration, security guarantee, or scale capability that was not actually built and verified.

## Non-goals

Do not build these, and do not claim to have replaced them:

- Instant reliable hosting.
- Permissions.
- Comments.
- Analytics.
- Reliability at the vendor's scale is an operations problem, not a prompt.
- Permissions, presence, and shared workflows are difficult to simplify.

## What you still own after launch

- Secure credentials, rotate secrets, and handle provider rate limits.
- Run migrations, backups, restores, and dependency updates.
- Test the critical journey after every model, API, or hosting change.
- Monitor failures and fix the edge cases a first prompt will miss.

## Risk

**Operational risk.** The code is achievable; dependable data, integrations, and ongoing operations are the real cost.

Editorial confidence in this assessment: high. No independent one-shot implementation is linked yet.

## Prior art

Working open-source software you can read, fork, or borrow from before starting:

- [OBS Studio](https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio) — Excellent open-source recording engine; hosting/sharing remains the DIY gap

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Generated by [Can It Be Vibe Coded?](https://www.canitbevibecoded.com) · Full report: https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/loom