io.github.linhnnmt/genai-capture (MCP Server)

The io.github.linhnnmt/genai-capture MCP server captures and annotates your screen for use with an AI agent. It supports visual overlay tools including arrows, boxes, text, highlights, and blur/redaction, enabling captured screen content to be augmented with emphasis or privacy controls.

🛠️ Key Features

Capture screen content from an AI agent workflow
Annotate with arrows
Draw boxes
Add text overlays
Highlight regions
Blur or redact content

🚀 Use Cases

Creating annotated screen captures for AI-assisted understanding
Emphasizing specific UI elements via arrows, boxes, and highlights
Protecting sensitive information using blur/redaction

⚡ Developer Benefits

Consistent annotation primitives (arrows, boxes, text, highlight)
Screen capture plus annotation in a single server capability
Blur/redact support for privacy needs

GenAI Capture

Screen capture + annotation, two ways:

Desktop app — capture the whole desktop, annotate (arrows, shapes, text, highlighter, mosaic redaction, watermark), then copy / save / pin. Global hotkeys, gallery, themes. Cross-platform (Java).
JetBrains IDE plugin (this repo's source) — the same engine inside any JetBrains IDE: GoLand, PhpStorm, PyCharm, WebStorm, IntelliJ, CLion, Rider, …

Download the desktop app

Grab the installer for your OS from Releases:

OS	File
macOS	`GenAI Capture-<version>.dmg`
Windows (installer)	`GenAI Capture-<version>.exe`
Windows (portable)	`GenAI-Capture-portable-win.zip`

macOS note: the app isn't notarized yet. If macOS blocks the first launch, allow it under System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ "Open Anyway", and grant Screen Recording permission when asked. Details ship in the DMG's First Launch.txt.

The plugin is on the JetBrains Marketplace — search for GenAI Capture (or install the zip from Releases by hand).

Use with AI agents (MCP)

The desktop app (v1.2.0+) doubles as an MCP server: AI agents that speak the Model Context Protocol — Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, … — can capture your screen, look at the image, annotate it (arrows, boxes, text, highlight, blur/redact), and save the result. Visual bug reports and before/after proof, driven by one sentence to your AI.

Install the desktop app, then add the server to your client. Easiest (cross-platform, via the genai-capture-mcp launcher on npm):

bash

claude mcp add genai-capture -- npx -y genai-capture-mcp

Or point directly at the installed binary (no Node needed):

bash

claude mcp add genai-capture -- \
  "/Applications/GenAI Capture.app/Contents/MacOS/GenAI Capture" --mcp

Tools: capture_fullscreen, capture_region, annotate, get_image, save_image. Captures play an audible cue; everything runs locally — images only go to the AI client you connected.

JetBrains IDE plugin

Brings the screenshot capture + annotation engine inside any JetBrains IDE (GoLand, PhpStorm, PyCharm, WebStorm, IntelliJ, CLion, Rider, …).

Features

Tools ▸ Take Screenshot — ⌘⇧1 (macOS) / Ctrl+Shift+1 (Win/Linux). Captures the whole desktop (IDE included) and opens the annotation overlay.
Tools ▸ Capture Desktop (Hide IDE) — ⌘⇧2 / Ctrl+Shift+2. Temporarily hides the IDE, captures the desktop behind it, and keeps the IDE hidden until you dismiss the overlay (ESC / save / copy / pin / close).
Tools ▸ Take Delayed Screenshot ▸ 3s / 5s / 10s — shows an on-screen countdown, then captures (time to switch windows or open a menu first).
Status-bar buttons — a camera icon (immediate capture) and a monitor icon (hide-IDE desktop capture). Toggle either via the status-bar right-click menu.
Annotation overlay — arrows, shapes, text, highlighter, mosaic redaction, watermark, with copy / save / pin.
Settings ▸ Tools ▸ GenAI Capture — a Watermark page (appearance, default text, behaviour, live preview) and a Toolbar page (choose/reorder the tools on the capture toolbar). All shortcuts are rebindable in Settings ▸ Keymap.

On macOS, grant the IDE Screen Recording permission (System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Screen Recording) or the capture comes back black — same requirement as any screen-capture tool.

How it's built

It reuses the desktop app's code (../src/main/java + ../src/main/resources) via a Gradle Copy step that filters out the app shell and the parts that don't load inside the IDE's JBR (the osystem/ FFM code, jnativehook global-hotkey, tray, and the desktop-themed Settings panels). Thin FFM-free shims under src/main/java/io/genai/screenshot/ (osystem/AbstractOs, CaptureController, ScreenshotApp) satisfy the few OS calls the overlay makes. The capture itself uses java.awt.Robot (no native code). The plugin's own actions, settings pages, and status-bar widgets live under src/main/java/io/genai/screenshot/plugin/.

Built against the platform module only (com.intellij.modules.platform), so a single build runs in every JetBrains IDE.

Prerequisites

JDK 17+ (a JBR or any JDK 17+).
A JetBrains IDE installed (the build targets your local GoLand by default — see build.gradle.kts). To use a different IDE, edit the local("…") line, or switch to a downloaded one, e.g. intellijIdeaCommunity("2024.1").
Gradle: easiest is to open this jetbrains-plugin/ folder in IntelliJ IDEA (it imports the Gradle project and provides the wrapper). Or brew install gradle and run gradle wrapper once.

Run it (sandbox IDE)

bash

cd jetbrains-plugin
./gradlew runIde          # launches GoLand with the plugin loaded

Then use Tools ▸ Take Screenshot (⌘⇧1) or the status-bar camera icon.

Build an installable plugin

bash

cd jetbrains-plugin
./gradlew buildPlugin      # -> build/distributions/genai-capture-plugin-1.0.0.zip

Install in any IDE: Settings ▸ Plugins ▸ ⚙ ▸ Install Plugin from Disk… → pick the zip.

Notes / next steps

The reused overlay code is verified to compile at Java 17 with no FFM / jnativehook dependency.
First runIde may need minor tweaks to the IntelliJ Platform Gradle DSL or the local(...) IDE path for your exact versions — iterate from there.
Possible future options: capture a chosen region only, or a configurable default delay.