flipshot

Grab one frame from a Flipper Zero's screen over USB serial and save it as a native-resolution (128x64) black & white PNG — no qFlipper, no companion app, just a serial cable and this script.

Installation

flipshot is available from a variety of sources. pip or brew is recommended, because they have a convenient way to manage updates automatically.

1. pip (Recommended for everyone with a Python environment)
   • You can check if you have Python installed by running python --version in the Terminal or cmd.
   • For Mac and Linux users, there is a high chance that you already have Python installed on your system.
   • For Windows users, you can download Python from the official website.
   • After confirmation, install flipshot through the PyPI package manager, typing pip install flipshot in the Terminal. For Mac users, you may need to use pip3 instead of pip.
   • Verify the installation with flipshot --version.
   • You are perfect, you can use the app with flipshot [port] [output.png] from any folder in your system.
2. brew (Recommended for Mac and Linux users)
   • Type brew tap manefunction/tap in your Terminal to add my custom tap (app source) to your brew sources, if you haven't already.
   • Type brew install flipshot to install the application itself.
   • Verify the installation with flipshot --version.
   • You are perfect, you can use the app with flipshot [port] [output.png] from any folder in your system.
3. Python package (manual installation, for advanced users)
   • Clone the repository or download the source code from GitHub.
   • Go to the folder with the script in your Terminal.
   • Run pip install . to install flipshot to your system.
   • Run flipshot --version to verify the script is working.
4. Ready-to-use Windows binary (for Windows users without Python)
   • Download flipshot.exe from the GitHub Releases page.
   • Since it isn't code-signed, Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognized publisher the first time you run it — click "More info" → "Run anyway" to proceed.
   • Open Command Prompt or PowerShell, cd to the folder with flipshot.exe, and run .\flipshot.exe --version to verify it works.
   • You are perfect, you can use the app with .\flipshot.exe [port] [output.png].
5. Python script (manual usage, for advanced users)
   • If you are familiar with Python scripts, venv, and dependencies, you can simply clone the repository, pip3 install pyserial, and run src/flipshot.py directly. Feel free to modify the script for yourself.

Usage

flipshot [-h] [-v] [-b [N] [M]] [serial_port] [output.png]

• -h, --help — show the help text and exit.
• -v, --version — print the version and exit.
• serial_port is optional — flipshot auto-detects a connected Flipper Zero over USB. Pass it explicitly if auto-detection fails, e.g. flipshot /dev/cu.usbmodemflip_XXXX1.
• output.png is optional — defaults to flipshot-<device-name>-<YYYY-MM-DD--HH-MM-SS-MSS>.png in the current folder. With --burst and an explicit path, files are numbered: shot.png becomes shot-1.png, shot-2.png, and so on.
• -b, --burst [N] [M] — take N screenshots, pausing M milliseconds between them. N defaults to 10. -1 keeps capturing until you stop the script (Ctrl+C). M defaults to 1000 and must be between 100 and 5000.

flipshot -b
flipshot -b 20 250
flipshot --burst -1 100

Close qFlipper or any other serial terminal connected to the Flipper before running flipshot — only one process can hold the serial port at a time.

How it works

flipshot switches the Flipper's CLI into its length-prefixed protobuf RPC mode over the same USB-serial connection qFlipper uses, requests a screen-stream frame and the device's hardware name, and encodes the resulting 1-bit framebuffer as a PNG — all with the Python standard library plus pyserial; no image library required.

Repository info

This repo follows the Conventional Commits specification.