XerahS

A cross-platform port of the popular ShareX screen capture and file sharing tool, built with Avalonia UI and .NET 10.

(Note: Project is in active development)

⚠️ About This Project

XerahS is developed using agentic coding workflows. This project embraces AI-assisted development as a first-class engineering practice, leveraging tools like GitHub Copilot, Claude, and other AI agents to accelerate feature development, refactoring, and code quality improvements. The codebase is architected with bleeding-edge technologies (.NET 10, Avalonia 11.3+) and prioritizes patterns that maximize AI comprehension: strict nullability, exhaustive documentation, and standardized MVVM architecture.

XerahS is and will always be free, just like ShareX, built out of passion, not for profit. It's developed entirely through agentic coding as a parallel project to ShareX, designed to align with different user preferences and values. You're welcome to give it a try or stick with whatever tool works best for you.

If agentic coding is not your style, we encourage you to try the original ShareX for Windows, which is developed using traditional methods and has a mature, battle-tested codebase backed by years of community contributions.

Built by the community, for the community. XerahS is a collaborative effort driven by passionate contributors who believe in open-source development. Every feature, every improvement, and every line of code represents a shared vision of making powerful screen capture tools accessible to everyone, everywhere.

For developers interested in AI-first development and cross-platform experimentation, XerahS offers a modern foundation built for the future of software engineering.

✨ Key Features

• Cross-Platform Desktop: Runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS (targeting).
• Mobile Support (Experimental): .NET MAUI implementation for Android and iOS with file upload, share extension, and uploader configuration.
• Modern UI: Reimagined interface inspired by modern design principles.
• Powerful Capture:
  • Region Capture: supports multi-monitor setups with crosshair cursor.
  • Fullscreen & Window capture modes.
• macOS Support (MVP):
  • Screenshot service via native screencapture
  • Global hotkeys powered by SharpHook (requires Accessibility permission)
• Advanced Annotation Tools:
  • 17 Annotation Types: Rectangle, Ellipse, Line, Arrow, Text, Number/Step, Blur, Pixelate, Magnify, Highlight, Freehand, SpeechBalloon, Image/Sticker, Spotlight, SmartEraser, Crop, plus base types
  • Basic Shapes: Rectangle, Ellipse, Line, Arrow, Text, Number/Step
  • Effect Shapes: Blur, Pixelate, Magnify, Highlight with real-time preview
  • Freehand Tools: Pen, Highlighter, Smart Eraser
  • Advanced Shapes: Speech Balloon, Image/Sticker insertion, Spotlight
  • Object-based selection, moving, resizing, and deletion
  • Full Undo/Redo support
  • Keyboard Shortcuts: V(Select), R(Rectangle), E(Ellipse), A(Arrow), L(Line), P(Pen), H(Highlighter), T(Text), B(Balloon), N(Number), C(Crop), M(Magnify), S(Spotlight), F(Effects)
• Workflows (Zero Inheritance):
  • Unique Settings: Each workflow is fully independent with its own hotkeys and tasks.
  • No "Default" Inheritance: Reduces configuration errors by avoiding complex inheritance chains.
  • Task Workflow: Configurable after-capture tasks (Save, Copy, Upload, Image Effects)
• Modern Capture Architecture:
  • Windows: Uses fast Desktop Duplication API (DXGI) for high-performance capture.
  • macOS: Leverages native ScreenCaptureKit for performant, permission-compliant recording.

📱 Mobile (Experimental)

XerahS now includes an experimental .NET MAUI mobile implementation for Android and iOS, bringing ShareX's powerful upload capabilities to mobile devices.

Mobile Features

• File Upload: Upload images, videos, and files from your device
• Share Extension (iOS): Share content directly from other apps into XerahS
• Uploader Support: Configure Amazon S3 and Custom Uploaders
• Settings Sync: Mobile-optimized settings interface

Building Mobile

Prerequisites

• .NET 10.0 SDK
• Android: Android SDK API 21+ with emulator or physical device
• iOS: Xcode 16+ (macOS required), iOS 15.0+ target

Build & Run

# Android
dotnet build src/XerahS.Mobile.Maui/XerahS.Mobile.Maui.csproj -f net10.0-android
dotnet run --project src/XerahS.Mobile.Maui/XerahS.Mobile.Maui.csproj -f net10.0-android

# iOS (macOS only)
dotnet build src/XerahS.Mobile.Maui/XerahS.Mobile.Maui.csproj -f net10.0-ios
dotnet run --project src/XerahS.Mobile.Maui/XerahS.Mobile.Maui.csproj -f net10.0-ios

Project Structure

• XerahS.Mobile.Maui - Main MAUI application (Android/iOS)
• XerahS.Mobile.UI - Shared mobile UI components
• XerahS.Mobile.Android - Android-specific platform code
• XerahS.Mobile.iOS - iOS-specific platform code
• XerahS.Mobile.iOS.ShareExtension - iOS Share Extension for receiving shared content

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🚀 Getting Started

Downloads and update channels

Channel	Repository	Use it for
Upstream releases	ShareX/XerahS releases	Official upstream release builds.
KovaForge development builds	KovaForge/XerahS releases	This fork's newer fixes and development changes; availability and versions can differ from upstream.

These are two repositories of XerahS, with separate release histories. A larger version number in the fork does not mean the upstream website is out of date. For fixes committed to this repository, use a KovaForge build that includes the commit, or build this fork from source; the same fix may not yet be released upstream.

In Settings > Application > Updates, Release checks ShareX/XerahS. PreRelease checks the selected source (KovaForge by default); you can also choose ShareX, both repositories, or a custom source. Choose the source deliberately when switching builds. Committing a fix does not publish a downloadable release.

Cloning the Repository

XerahS requires the ShareX.ImageEditor and Omacut submodules. Omacut is the KovaForge fork of omacut: a native Avalonia video trimmer that powers the video editor. Clone with:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/KovaForge/XerahS.git

If you already cloned without --recursive, initialize the submodules:

cd XerahS
git submodule update --init --recursive

Desktop Quick Start (Windows)

On Windows, the fastest verified first-run path is:

.\init-submodules.ps1
dotnet build src/desktop/XerahS.sln -m:1 -p:nodeReuse=false -p:UseSharedCompilation=false

If you skip submodule initialization and run dotnet build src/desktop/XerahS.sln immediately after a plain git clone, the build fails with MSB3202 because ShareX.ImageEditor and Omacut are checked out as Git submodules.

Prerequisites

• .NET 10.0 SDK
• FFmpeg (ffmpeg and ffprobe) for recording and the video editor. XerahS can download it for you.

Linux distro repositories

First-party auto-update channels (Launchpad PPA, Fedora COPR, openSUSE OBS) are documented in docs/linux/distro-repos.md. They publish after a maintainer creates the empty projects and sets GitHub secrets.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sharex/xerahs && sudo apt update && sudo apt install xerahs
sudo dnf copr enable sharex/xerahs && sudo dnf install xerahs

Arch Linux (AUR)

Arch Linux users can install the latest development version via the community-maintained AUR package xerahs-git (maintained by @unicxrn).

The fork also maintains a repository-owned Arch recipe and packaging CI. The public AUR listing is separate; its ownership and recipe must be updated by its maintainer.

This package builds directly from the source code and automatically handles dependencies, including the .NET 10 SDK. It can be installed using an AUR helper like yay:

yay -S xerahs-git

Flatpak (FlatPark)

Any Flatpak-capable distro can install XerahS from the community-maintained FlatPark repository (maintained by @jing2uo). It downloads the official XerahS-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz release unmodified at install time and updates automatically with new releases:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flatpark https://dl.flatpark.org/flatpark.flatpakrepo
flatpak install flatpark com.xerahs.XerahS

Screen recording and GIF creation need ffmpeg, which the Flatpak runtime does not ship. See docs/linux/flatpak-permissions.md for the sandbox permissions XerahS expects.

macOS Permissions (Screen Recording)

Screen capture on macOS requires Screen Recording permission:

1. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen Recording.
2. Enable XerahS for screen capture access.
3. Restart the app after granting permission.

macOS Permissions (Global Hotkeys)

Global hotkeys use SharpHook and need Accessibility permission:

1. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility.
2. Enable XerahS (or the published app bundle) for accessibility access.
3. Restart the app and retest hotkeys.

macOS Troubleshooting ("App is damaged")

If you see a message saying "XerahS is damaged and can't be opened", it is due to macOS security (Gatekeeper) on quarantined downloads. To fix it:

1. Open Terminal.
2. Type the following command (do not hit Enter yet):

   xattr -cr 
   

3. Drag the XerahS.app file from Finder into the Terminal window (this pastes the full path).
4. Only now, press Enter.

🛠️ Developer Information

See XerahS Developer Guide for architecture details and contribution guidelines.

📄 License