MacPilot Screenshot & OCR

Use MacPilot to capture screenshots of the screen, specific regions, or application windows, and extract text from images or screen regions using Apple's built-in Vision OCR.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• You need to capture what's currently on screen
• You need to extract text from an image file
• You need to read text from a specific area of the screen
• You need to capture a specific app window
• You need to verify visual state of an application
• You need to capture screen recordings

Screenshot Commands

Full Screen

macpilot screenshot --json                           # Capture to temp file
macpilot screenshot ~/Desktop/screen.png --json      # Capture to specific path
macpilot screenshot --with-permissions --json        # Use CGWindowListCreateImage directly

Specific Region

macpilot screenshot --region 100,200,800,600 --json
# Region format: x,y,width,height (from top-left corner)

Specific Window

macpilot screenshot --window "Safari" --json         # Capture Safari window
macpilot screenshot --window "Finder" --json         # Capture Finder window

All Windows

macpilot screenshot --all-windows --json             # Each window separately

Specific Display

macpilot screenshot --display 1 --json               # Second display (0-indexed)

Format Options

macpilot screenshot --format png ~/Desktop/shot.png  # PNG (default, lossless)
macpilot screenshot --format jpg ~/Desktop/shot.jpg  # JPEG (smaller files)

OCR Commands

Extract Text from Image File

macpilot ocr scan /path/to/image.png --json
macpilot ocr scan ~/Desktop/screenshot.png --json

Extract Text from Screen Region

macpilot ocr scan 100 200 800 600 --json
# Arguments: x y width height (captures region then OCRs it)

Multi-Language OCR

macpilot ocr scan image.png --language en-US --json       # English
macpilot ocr scan image.png --language ja --json           # Japanese
macpilot ocr scan image.png --language zh-Hans --json      # Simplified Chinese
macpilot ocr scan image.png --language de --json           # German
macpilot ocr scan image.png --language fr --json           # French

OCR Click (Find and Click Text on Screen)

macpilot ocr click "Submit" --json                    # Find text on screen and click it
macpilot ocr click "OK" --app Finder --json           # Click text in specific app
macpilot ocr click "Accept" --timeout 10 --json       # Retry until text appears (10s)

OCR click takes a screenshot, runs OCR, finds the matching text (case-insensitive), and clicks at its center coordinates. Use --timeout to poll and retry when waiting for text to appear.

Screen Recording (ScreenCaptureKit)

Start Recording

macpilot screen record start --output ~/Desktop/recording.mov --json
macpilot screen record start --output rec.mov --region 0,0,1920,1080 --json  # Region
macpilot screen record start --output rec.mov --window Safari --json          # Window
macpilot screen record start --output rec.mov --display 1 --json              # Display
macpilot screen record start --output rec.mov --audio --json                  # With audio
macpilot screen record start --output rec.mov --quality high --fps 60 --json  # Quality

Control Recording

macpilot screen record stop --json         # Stop and save
macpilot screen record status --json       # Check if recording
macpilot screen record pause --json        # Pause recording
macpilot screen record resume --json       # Resume recording

Quality options: low (1 Mbps), medium (5 Mbps, default), high (10 Mbps). FPS default: 30.

Display Information

macpilot display-info --json
# Returns: all displays with resolution, position, scale factor

Workflow Patterns

Capture and OCR in One Flow

# Take screenshot of specific region
macpilot screenshot --region 0,0,1920,1080 ~/tmp/capture.png --json
# Extract text from it
macpilot ocr scan ~/tmp/capture.png --json

Quick Screen Region OCR

# Directly OCR a screen region without saving
macpilot ocr scan 200 100 600 400 --json

Find and Click Text (No Coordinate Math)

# Instead of screenshot > OCR > parse > click, just:
macpilot ocr click "Submit" --json
macpilot ocr click "Next" --timeout 5 --json   # Wait up to 5s for text to appear

Verify UI State

# Screenshot a window to see its current state
macpilot screenshot --window "Safari" ~/tmp/safari.png --json
# Read the image to verify content
macpilot ocr scan ~/tmp/safari.png --json

Record an Automation

macpilot screen record start --output ~/Desktop/demo.mov
macpilot app open Safari
macpilot wait seconds 2
macpilot keyboard key cmd+l
macpilot keyboard type "https://example.com"
macpilot keyboard key enter
macpilot wait seconds 3
macpilot screen record stop

Tips

• Screen Recording permission must be granted to MacPilot.app in System Settings
• PNG format is best for screenshots with text (lossless); JPEG for photos
• OCR works best on high-contrast text; increase screenshot region size if text is small
• Use display-info to get screen dimensions before capturing specific regions
• The coordinate system starts at top-left (0,0) with x increasing right and y increasing down
• On Retina displays, coordinates are in logical points (not physical pixels)