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WaySnip

Lightweight screenshot and annotation tool for Linux Wayland. Captures your screen, lets you select a region, annotate with shapes and text, and saves with a single shortcut. Built for documentation workflows and quick sharing.

Tested on Ubuntu 24.04 with GNOME Shell 46 on Wayland.

Features

  • Region, window, and fullscreen capture with frozen screen (menus don't close)
  • 11 annotation tools: rectangle, ellipse, arrow, line, text, numbered markers, freehand pen, highlight, blur/pixelate, crop
  • Color picker with recent colors, stroke width, opacity, font controls
  • Undo/redo, clone, multi-select, keyboard shortcuts for every tool
  • Re-editable annotations stored as PNG metadata
  • Gallery with thumbnail browser
  • System tray with hotkey support
  • Settings UI backed by TOML config
  • Auto-copy to clipboard on capture and save
  • Dark theme

Install

pipx install waysnip
waysnip setup

waysnip setup binds PrintScreen to region capture, Ctrl+PrintScreen to fullscreen, and enables tray autostart on login.

From source

git clone https://github.com/paalkr/waysnip.git
cd waysnip
python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
waysnip setup

Requirements

  • Linux with Wayland (GNOME recommended)
  • Python 3.12+
  • gnome-screenshot and wl-clipboard (pre-installed on Ubuntu 24.04)

Quick start

Action How
Region capture Press Print or waysnip region
Fullscreen capture Press Ctrl+Print or waysnip fullscreen
Open gallery waysnip gallery
Open settings waysnip config
Start tray only waysnip tray

Editor shortcuts

Key Action
V Select tool
R Rectangle
E Ellipse
A Arrow
L Line
T Text
N Numbered marker
P Freehand pen
H Highlight
B Blur/pixelate
C Crop
Ctrl+Z Undo
Ctrl+Y Redo
Ctrl+S Save
Ctrl+Shift+S Save as
Ctrl+C Copy to clipboard
Ctrl+D Clone selected
Del Delete selected
Ctrl+Shift+] Bring to front
Ctrl+Shift+[ Send to back
Ctrl+] Move up one layer
Ctrl+[ Move down one layer
Ctrl+1 Actual size (100%)
Ctrl+0 Fit to window

Configuration

Config file: ~/.config/waysnip/config.toml

[capture]
after_capture = "editor"    # "editor", "clipboard", "save", "clipboard+save"
auto_copy_clipboard = true
show_cursor = false

[save]
directory = "~/Pictures/Screenshots"
pattern = "Screenshot_%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S.png"
mode = "annotated"          # "annotated" (re-editable) or "editable" (smaller)

[editor]
copy_on_save = true

[tray]
enabled = true
left_click_action = "region"

Edit via GUI: waysnip config Edit directly: waysnip config --edit

Uninstall

waysnip uninstall
pipx uninstall waysnip

waysnip uninstall restores GNOME's default screenshot keys and removes the autostart entry.

License

GPL-3.0

Metadata

Release files for waysnip 0.5.0

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Source distribution for waysnip 0.5.0
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waysnip-0.5.0-py3-none-any.whl Python 3 none any Details

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