Screen Capture Tools — Record demos without leaving the pipeline

[calesthio]

What's new

OpenMontage now has a built-in screen capture layer that plugs directly into the screen-demo pipeline. Two providers, one selector — the agent presents both options and the user picks what fits.

Option 1 — Quick Recording (FFmpeg)

• Works immediately if FFmpeg is installed — no extra setup
• Cross-platform: Windows (gdigrab), macOS (avfoundation), Linux (x11grab)
• Full screen or region capture with system + mic audio
• CLI-driven — perfect for automated pipelines
• Best for: fast captures, CI workflows, headless recording

Option 2 — Pro Recording (Cap)

• Cap is a free, open-source Loom alternative
• Webcam overlay (picture-in-picture), cursor highlight and click effects
• GPU-accelerated capture with built-in editor and auto-captions
• The agent detects if Cap is installed, checks if it's running, and guides setup if needed
• Best for: polished demos, tutorials, anything user-facing

How it works

The screen_capture_selector auto-discovers both providers and presents a recommendation:

Screen Recording Options:

Option 1 — Quick Recording (FFmpeg) [Ready]
  Basic screen capture, works immediately. No webcam or effects.

Option 2 — Pro Recording (Cap) [Not installed]
  Webcam overlay, cursor effects, built-in editor. Professional output.
  Setup takes ~2 minutes. I can guide you through it.

Recommended: ffmpeg

The recording lands in projects/<name>/source/ and the rest of the screen-demo pipeline takes over — transcription, zoom-crop planning, callout overlays, subtitle generation, composition, and publish.

Files added

• tools/capture/screen_recorder.py — FFmpeg cross-platform capture
• tools/capture/cap_recorder.py — Cap detection, setup guidance, recording pickup
• tools/capture/screen_capture_selector.py — Capability-level router

This was the missing first step in the screen-demo pipeline. The post-production pipeline was already production-grade — now the capture layer matches.