ShotPolishStudio
🌐 Website: turhe123.github.io/shot-polish-studio
Turn a raw screenshot into a share-ready image with a gradient backdrop, padding, shadow and rounded corners.
🆓 A free, open-source Xnapper alternative for macOS 14+. Native Swift, no accounts, no subscriptions, MIT licensed.
Why
ShotPolishStudio is a free, open-source, 100% native, backend-free alternative to paid utilities in the Menu Bar Utility category. It was inspired by Xnapper ($24.99 one-time), and focuses on the beautifying step: capture or drop in a screenshot, tune the look, and export. Everything runs on your Mac. Your images are never uploaded anywhere.
Features
- Capture a region with the global hotkey
⌥⇧⌘2 or from the menu bar item (ScreenCaptureKit, single frame, with a live size readout while selecting).
- Drop, paste or open an image: drag-and-drop onto the window,
⌘V (files or raw clipboard images), or ⌘O.
- Backgrounds: 8 built-in two-color gradients (Dusk, Ocean, Mint, Sunset, Grape, Peach, Slate, Sky), a solid color, a custom top/bottom color pair, or a transparent background.
- Layout controls: sliders for padding, corner radius and shadow strength, an optional window-style border, and aspect ratio presets (Free, 1:1, 16:9, 4:3).
- Auto-redact (off by default): on-device Vision text recognition finds email addresses, phone numbers and long digit sequences, then covers them with Blur, Pixelate or a Solid Box. Click any box in the preview to remove it, and use Scan Again or Undo (
⌘Z) as needed.
Auto-redaction is a helper, not a guarantee. Always review the preview before sharing.
- Export as PNG or JPEG: Copy to Clipboard (
⌘C), Save As… (⌘S), or Save to Default Folder (⌥⌘S). The default folder is your choice and is remembered.
- Settings are remembered between launches (background, colors, padding, format, and so on).
- Live preview is downscaled for large images; the export is rendered from the full-resolution original.
- Menu bar item with Capture Region, Open Image…, Show Editor, Support and Quit.
Screenshots
Install
-
Download ShotPolishStudio-macOS.zip from the latest release.
-
Unzip it and move ShotPolishStudio.app to /Applications.
-
The app is open source and not notarized, so clear the quarantine flag:
xattr -cr /Applications/ShotPolishStudio.app
-
Right-click the app and choose Open the first time you launch it.
Requires macOS 14.0 or later.
Build from source
You need Xcode and XcodeGen.
brew install xcodegen
xcodegen generate
xcodebuild -project ShotPolishStudio.xcodeproj -scheme ShotPolishStudio -configuration Release -derivedDataPath ./build build
The app is produced at build/Build/Products/Release/ShotPolishStudio.app.
Permissions
- Screen Recording: required only for Capture Region. The app asks lazily, with a plain explanation, the first time you capture. After granting access in System Settings › Privacy & Security you may need to relaunch the app. Dropping, pasting and opening images works without it.
- File access: when you pick a save location or default folder, macOS shows the standard file panels. The chosen folder is remembered as a bookmark.
- Accessibility: not requested. The global hotkey is registered through Carbon, which doesn't need it.
- Microphone, Camera, network: not used.
Built with AI
ShotPolishStudio was written by Claude Code inside an automated pipeline, from a plain-English spec. No code, binaries or assets from any commercial app were used; it is a clean-room reimplementation of a feature set, not a copy.
What that means in practice:
- The full source is in this repo under the MIT license. Read it before you run it.
- No network calls, no analytics, no third-party dependencies. Only Apple frameworks.
- Ad-hoc signed and not notarized, which is why Gatekeeper warns on first launch.
- It has had less human review than a hand-written app. Bug reports and pull requests are welcome.
Support ❤️
If ShotPolishStudio saves you time, you can support its development:
Support Or (Leo) Davidai ❤️
The app also has a Support / Donate ❤️ button in the sidebar, the menu bar menu and the Help menu.
More free Mac apps
ShotPolishStudio is one of a growing collection of free, open-source Mac utilities built the same way: native Swift, no accounts, no telemetry. Browse the full gallery at turhe123.github.io/mac-apps.
Prefer something that runs in the browser? The same pipeline builds free, private web tools: PDF, image, developer, data and audio tools, nothing uploaded.
License
MIT © Or Davidai Bachar
