Documentation.

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A studio that stays on your Mac.

Recora Screen records your screen, camera, microphone and system audio as separate sources. You can edit without changing the original media, save any number of local projects, and export H.264/AAC MP4 in 1080p or 4K.

CREATOR GUIDE · CAPTURE

Record your first take.

1. Choose Record screen. Capture setup opens with a new draft; no project name is required first. Rename it from the editor header when ready.
2. Choose a source. Capture an entire display, one window or a selected region.
3. Select sources. Enable a camera, microphone and system audio only when the take needs them.
4. Grant macOS access. Screen Recording is required for capture. Camera and Microphone are requested when selected.
5. Start the take. Pause, resume or hide the camera bubble while recording. The source tracks remain separate.
6. Finish when ready. Finalizing can continue in the background while you work in another project.

Start with an existing video

Choose Import video on the Projects screen for an MP4, MOV or M4V. The app copies it into a new editable project with its duration, dimensions, frame rate and embedded audio intact. This does not start a recording or require capture permissions. Its soundtrack appears as Video audio; a separate camera or cursor track is not created. Open project instead reopens a saved Recora Screen project folder.

CREATOR GUIDE · EDIT

Shape the story.

Your first edit

Follow the first-edit guide above the preview: play, split/delete, then export. Quick start stays in the header after dismissing the guide. Click a clip to see its properties on the right. The selection label names the object and its time range, so you can check what an action will affect before applying it.

Edits save automatically. Project options → Save now and ⌘S remain available for manual saving. Export video makes a separate MP4 or GIF; the saved project remains editable.

Timeline

Drag the playhead to scrub with a live preview. Click a video, camera, zoom, layer or imported audio clip to select it and see its controls. Drag an empty timeline area or Shift-drag across clips to select a range. Every row has a context menu. Selection actions keep their own row, so the tracks stay in place when a selection changes.

Filmstrips from the original footage and waveforms from decoded audio help locate content. Use Preview to check the finished composition. Zoom and Layers use separate rows. The delete button follows the selection: Delete video clip, Delete zoom, Delete layer or Delete audio clip removes that object; Hide camera clip affects only the camera. A time-range selection instead offers Delete time range or Keep only this range. Split video cuts at the playhead.

Delete or Backspace removes an object selected in the timeline, inspector or preview. Deleting a camera clip only hides that camera interval; restore it with the camera visibility switch or Undo. Deleting a time range with the keyboard requires timeline focus. These shortcuts leave timeline items alone while you edit a text or number field. Drag the timeline’s top boundary to adjust its height, or focus the boundary and use the Up/Down arrow keys. Escape cancels a resize drag.

The timeline must retain some footage: split or trim the final video to remove only part of it, or add another clip before deleting it entirely.

• Cut/delete or keep a selection, split at the playhead, trim clip edges, merge adjacent clips, change speed, and undo or redo.
• Add a manual zoom to a range, then adjust depth, position, motion and cursor following.
• Hide, show or reposition the camera for a selected interval or the entire video.
• Adjust microphone and system audio independently.

Zoom settings and split clips

Continuous typing near the same target holds one automatic zoom; pauses and target changes create separate moments. Hold controls how long a zoom remains after activity. New recordings use this automatically. On an existing recording, open Automatic zoom settings in Zoom and choose Redetect automatic zooms to replace the current zooms, including manual ones, in one undoable step.

Click a zoom in the list to open its settings in a dialog without scrolling the list. On the timeline, click once to select, then double-click or choose Edit selected zoom to open settings. Done or Escape returns to your list position. Appearance changes save immediately; use Update timing for start and duration changes.

Select a split camera clip and use This selection for independent position, size, shape, mirror, shadow and visibility. Video default changes the base appearance for footage without its own layout; existing clip layouts and hidden ranges stay intact. Split at the playhead separates a crossing zoom into independently editable zooms. Canvas, cursor styling and master audio volumes remain global; repeated source footage shares its source-bound effects.

Move clips and insert media

Right-click a clip or open Selected clip actions. Move earlier and Move later swap its place with the next clip in that direction; Clip position moves it to a chosen position. Original zooms, camera layouts, captions and layers follow their footage. Cuts and splits affect only the selected occurrence in the output timeline.

Choose Add media at playhead → Insert video… or Insert image… to add an intro, cutaway or closing card. Inserting inside a clip splits it around the new media. Videos support MP4, MOV and M4V up to 2 GB; images support PNG, JPEG and WebP. Files are copied into the project. Images start at three seconds: adjust Source in / Source out and choose Apply trim to extend them up to 60 seconds.

Inserted videos keep their embedded audio, trim and speed, using the system-audio volume setting. Inserted media uses the global canvas, without the original recording’s camera, cursor effects, captions or layers. Imported music and voiceovers stay at their output times, so review their timing after rearranging video.

Use Restore deleted footage at playhead to insert a missing original interval without reordering the remaining clips. Undo and redo cover timeline edits; source files remain intact. Editing uses one video sequence with cuts, without stacked video tracks or transition effects.

Direct manipulation

Select the camera, text or an image in the preview. Drag to move it and use corner handles to resize it. Slider and pointer changes render immediately and create one undo step when the gesture ends. Press Escape during a gesture to restore its starting value.

Arrows and privacy covers

Select an interval, open Layers, and choose Add arrow, Add blur or Add solid cover. Drag the layer in the preview; adjust width, height, arrow direction, color or blur strength in its properties. Use selected time range changes its timing.

Blur softens details; choose a solid cover for sensitive information. Covers are opaque and unanimated, stay fixed on the output canvas, and render over the camera and captions. Review every covered interval through zooms and layout changes. Original media remains in the editable project.

Imported audio

Select an interval and choose Audio → Add audio to selection. Supported files are MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, AIFF and CAF up to 500 MB. Each file is copied into the project. Adjust Start, End, Skip into audio and Clip volume, or remove the clip. Imported clips appear on the Audio timeline row.

Music and voiceovers use output time: screen cuts and speed changes do not retime them. Playback is clipped at the current video end. Move a clip back into the video if a trim leaves it outside the timeline. Undo restores edits; removing a clip retains its file in the project.

Cursor and camera effects

In Zoom → Cursor → Cursor effects and style, enable motion blur, click bounce, sway or Loop cursor path, and choose a light or dark pointer. Cursor effects need recorded pointer metadata. Loop blends the last 350 ms toward the first visible pointer position; it does not loop the screen footage.

In Camera, enable Mirror camera or Shrink camera during zoom. Square cameras have an adjustable corner radius, and shadows have an opacity slider. These settings follow This selection or Video default just like camera position and size. Saved range layouts retain their settings. Canvas → Frame and spacing holds advanced canvas controls.

Captions and export

Edit transcript cues, burn captions into the video or save SRT/VTT. Export produces a separate MP4 or GIF, so the project and original media remain editable. MP4 keeps audio and supports up to 4K. GIF is silent: choose 640 or 1280 pixels on the longest edge, 15/20/25/30 FPS and continuous looping or one play. GIF supports up to 60 seconds; trim longer timelines or choose MP4. Export progress and cancellation are available for both formats.

LOCAL AI

Remove busywork, keep control.

Download the multilingual Whisper small model from Settings, or choose base on a lower-resource Mac. After the model download, transcription runs offline. Select transcript text to navigate the timeline and review every suggested edit before applying it.

Silence cleanup uses the microphone track. Its default analysis keeps 150 ms around speech, requires a 700 ms gap, and protects ranges with audible system audio. Suggested cuts can be reviewed, applied as one undoable action or discarded.

MODEL CONTEXT PROTOCOL

Connect Claude or Codex.

The bundled local MCP server exposes the same validated project, recording, timeline, preview, AI and export commands as the UI. Keep the desktop app open, then go to Settings & MCP → MCP & shortcuts. Select Codex, Claude Code or Claude Desktop and copy the generated configuration for the current installation. The server blocks mounted-DMG and AppTranslocation paths, so run Recora Screen from /Applications first. It appears as recora-screen. Remove an older screen-recorder, screenRecorder or screen_recorder entry before adding it.

Try a complete request

Open my tutorial project. Suggest silence cuts and let me review them.
Hide my camera between 10 and 20 seconds, add a title for the first 3 seconds,
and export a 1080p MP4 to Movies.

Command groups

• Projects: list, create, open, rename, import, save and delete.
• Recording: inspect capabilities, request permissions, start, pause, resume and stop.
• Editing: atomic timeline batches, camera layouts, assets and undo/redo.
• Preview & export: load, seek, render frames, play and start cancellable export jobs.
• AI: download models, transcribe, suggest silence cuts and run the optional assistant.

Choose MCP access in the app under Settings & MCP → MCP & shortcuts. Connected clients cannot change those switches themselves. Recording and destructive commands stay off by default; model downloads, the cloud assistant, Keychain changes and macOS permission prompts require sensitive access.

Read a project before editing and use its latest revision as expectedRevision. Mutations accept a retry-safe request ID. Long operations return a job ID for status checks and cancellation. See the complete MCP contract and setup guide.

DATA, RECOVERY & PRIVACY

Your projects remain yours.

For upgrade compatibility, project folders remain under ~/Movies/Screen Recorder Projects/. Each folder contains the project document, a previous valid backup, original media and imported assets. Saves are atomic. Deleting a project moves its folder and owned source media to macOS Trash; previously exported videos stay where you saved them.

Recording, editing and local AI do not upload your footage. A connected model client may send requested transcripts or preview frames to its own provider. Review that client's privacy policy before connecting sensitive work. Read the full privacy model.