Support Step Recorder (ssr)
Cross-platform user-action recorder written in Rust — an open clone of Windows'
Problem Steps Recorder (psr.exe) to document a bug or a step-by-step how-to.
🇬🇧 English · 🇫🇷 Français
Community & support
Questions, bug reports, beta testing, or just want to chat? Join the Discord:
🇬🇧 English
Website: le-syl21.github.io/support-step-recorder
(download, how-to, Linux/Wayland setup, FAQ).
On every click, ssr captures the relevant window, records the mouse button,
aggregates typed text between clicks, and — when available — the active
window info. When you stop, you land in the guide editor: rename and
describe steps, reorder or delete them, combine several recordings, then save an
editable project (.ssrproj) and export a .zip bundling the screenshots, a
steps.json, and a self-contained, replayable HTML report.
The interface is available in English and French (auto-detected from your
locale, switchable with the FR/EN button).
Features
- Capture on click: grabs the state at the click (like a real PSR), so a
filled form is captured before it is submitted.
- Wayland-native: screen capture via
xdg-desktop-portal + PipeWire
(works on GNOME, KDE, wlroots…), with a one-time consent dialog and a
reusable token so it isn't asked again.
- Content-cropped screenshots: window captures are trimmed to their content
(no black padding), keeping files small.
- Never blocks: WebP encoding and disk writes happen on a background writer
thread — clicking stays instant.
- Replayable HTML report: step-by-step replay mode, click any screenshot to
zoom it, keyboard navigation, printable.
- Guide editor: custom step titles and multi-line instructions, drag and
drop (or Alt+↑/↓) to reorder, select several steps (Ctrl+click, Shift+click,
Ctrl+A) to move or delete them together, delete a step or only its screenshot, add
PNG/JPEG/WebP images or written steps, redact typed text, undo/redo.
- Reuse earlier recordings: open a ZIP exported by v0.2.0 or later, or import
chosen steps from several recordings into one master guide. Source archives
are never modified; same-named screenshots never collide.
- Projects: save the guide as
.ssrproj, reopen it later, keep editing;
exporting a ZIP is a separate action. Unsaved work is asked about before it is
replaced, and recovered after a crash.
- Multi-OS by design: Windows, macOS, Linux (X11 & Wayland). The macOS window capture
builds in CI but has not been tried on a real Mac yet: reports welcome.
Capture backends
Input and screen capture are abstracted behind backends, chosen at compile time
(cfg) and at runtime (Wayland vs. the rest):
| Component | Windows / macOS / Linux X11 | Linux Wayland |
|---|
| Input (clicks / keys) | device_query | evdev (/dev/input) |
| Screen capture | xcap (active window) | xdg-desktop-portal + PipeWire (user picks a window or screen) |
Why a dedicated Wayland path? Wayland forbids passive global input capture
by a normal client, so we read /dev/input directly (needs a udev rule, see
Linux/Wayland setup). And screen capture must go through
the desktop portal + PipeWire — xcap's Wayland path only works on wlroots
compositors, not GNOME/KDE, so we use the portal for all Wayland.
Workflow
- Start — screenshots are written to a private working folder
(
~/.cache/ssr on Linux, mode 0700).
- Do the actions you want to document (clicks, typing).
- Stop — you land in the editor, nothing is written elsewhere yet.
Rename steps, add instructions, reorder, delete, import steps from other
recordings (Import…), add images.
- Save project (Ctrl+S) writes an editable
.ssrproj; Export guide…
(Ctrl+E) writes the shareable .zip. Both write a temporary file first and
replace the target only once complete.
| File | Contents | Use |
|---|
.ssrproj | project.json, steps.json, assets/<sha256>.<ext> | Reopen and keep editing |
.zip (export) | report.html, steps.json, the referenced images | Send to support / colleagues |
ssr file.ssrproj or ssr recording.zip opens a file at start. Imported
archives are treated as untrusted: only steps.json and the images it names are
read (never report.html), paths, sizes and image formats are checked.
Build & run
cargo run -p support-step-recorder-gui # or: cargo run --bin ssr
cargo test --workspace # run the tests
Linux build dependencies (for the Wayland capture path): libpipewire-0.3-dev,
libspa-0.2-dev, clang (bindgen). On Debian/Ubuntu:
sudo apt install libpipewire-0.3-dev libspa-0.2-dev clang
Linux/Wayland setup
The evdev backend reads /dev/input. To grant access without adding your
user to the input group, install the provided udev rule:
sudo ./packaging/install-linux.sh
It installs /etc/udev/rules.d/60-ssr-input.rules (TAG+="uaccess"), granting
the active-session user read access to input devices. The 60- prefix is
required: the uaccess tag must be set before systemd's seat rules apply.
⚠️ Security: this lets apps run by the active user read keyboard/mouse
input — the assumed trade-off for a PSR-style recorder on Wayland. Screen
capture additionally goes through the portal (consent popup, reusable token).
The rule is only needed to record: opening, editing, merging, saving and
exporting guides work without it.
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
