# Build brief — a focused alternative to Shotomatic

> **Verdict:** Partly, if you narrow it · **Buildability:** 72/100 · **Category:** Screenshots
> **Source:** https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/shotomatic
> Independent editorial assessment from Can It Be Vibe Coded? Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or derived from Shotomatic. Verify current pricing and capabilities before acting.

## Context

**Shotomatic** — Automated Mac screenshots, website batches, guides, and local exports. It currently costs $7.99/mo.

A personal timed screenshot loop is a realistic contained build. Matching reliable capture across Mac apps, permission recovery, website batches, guide editing, and polished exports is a much larger product.

This brief describes a focused, single-operator replacement for the part of Shotomatic 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

Pick a display or window, capture it on an interval, keep the session local, and export the ordered images.

- 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

- MacOS 14 or later.
- Xcode command line tools.
- Screen Recording permission.

### Data and integrations

- Accessibility permission for optional keypress automation.

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 local macOS screenshot automation app covering Shotomatic's basic loop.
Requirements:

- Use SwiftUI and ScreenCaptureKit in a native macOS 14+ app with no third-party packages.
- Provide a source picker for one display or one visible window, with thumbnail previews.
- Let me set an interval in seconds and stop after a screenshot count or elapsed duration.
- Show a three-second countdown, live running status, captured count, and a clear Stop button.
- Save every capture as PNG or JPEG in ~/Pictures/Capture Sessions/<timestamp>/.
- Keep a local session list with thumbnails; open a session in Finder or delete it with confirmation.
- Add one optional keypress after each capture using CGEvent so paged content can advance.
- Check Screen Recording and Accessibility permission before starting; explain how to grant each.
- Never upload files, add accounts, or collect telemetry. The app must work fully offline.
- Handle a display or window disappearing mid-session without losing images already captured.
- Include a small unit-tested state machine for idle, countdown, running, stopping, and failed states.
- Include a README with build, permission, and signing notes plus a manual smoke-test checklist.
- Out of scope: custom-area capture, website batches, guide editing, annotations, PDF/ZIP/MP4 export.
- Produce an Xcode project that builds and runs, then run the unit tests before finishing.

## 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:

- Polished display, window, and custom-area selection.
- Reliable macOS permission setup and recovery.
- Action Capture guide editing and annotations.
- Batch website capture with per-URL settings.
- The last 20 percent is sync, migration fidelity, speed, and edge cases.

## 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

**Manageable.** A personal version is realistic if you test the critical journey and keep reliable backups.

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:

- [Flameshot](https://github.com/flameshot-org/flameshot) — mature cross-platform screenshot capture, but not a timed Mac automation workflow

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