screenpipe-api

name

screenpipe-api

description

Query the user's data via the local screenpipe REST API at localhost:3030 — screen recordings, audio, UI elements, usage analytics, meetings, connected services, and the user's persistent memory store. Use for questions about screen activity, meetings, apps, productivity, media export, retranscription, connections, OR to save / remember / store information for later (POST /memories — survives across sessions, queryable by external agents).

Screenpipe API

After completing a complex Screenpipe query, always delegate reusable learning to an asynchronous subagent: have it improve the most relevant existing skill after the user-visible answer so reflection adds no response latency. Create a new skill only when no existing skill fits, and never save one-off facts as skills.

Local REST API at http://localhost:3030.

Authentication

Every request needs auth. $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY is already in your env; without it you get 403.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" "http://localhost:3030/..."

No-auth endpoints: /health, /ws/health, /audio/device/status, /connections/oauth/callback, /frames/*, /notify, /pipes/store/*.

Context Window Protection

Responses can be large. Write curl output to a file (-o /tmp/sp.json), check size (wc -c), and if over ~5KB read only the first 50-100 lines / extract with jq. Never dump full large responses into context.

Cut tokens at the source on list endpoints (/search, /elements): add &format=csv (or tsv) for a columnar table (column names written once instead of per-row keys — ~70% cheaper on uniform rows like elements), and &fields=a,b,c for only the columns you need (dotted paths like content.text). Text-heavy ocr/audio barely benefit — use fields + max_content_length there instead.

---

1. Activity Summary — GET /activity-summary

Default broad-context call. Bundles apps, windows, key_texts, audio, edited_files, recording health, top memories, deduped screen+audio snippets, and a data_status/query_status/guidance triple.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" "http://localhost:3030/activity-summary?start_time=30m%20ago&end_time=now"

Required: start_time, end_time. Optional: app_name, q (filters memories+snippets, drives query_status); include_recording|memories|snippets|guidance=false to slim (each defaults true); max_snippets, max_snippet_chars, max_memories. For a lean time-tracking sweep also set include_key_texts=false (biggest win), include_apps=false, include_windows=false — total_active_minutes + per-app/window minutes + the status triple still return.

• data_status ∈ ok|empty_but_recording|no_capture_in_range|not_recording — check before claiming "no activity".
• query_status ∈ not_requested|matched|no_query_matches; guidance.next_best_query is a ready hint when empty.
• Escalate to /search only for verbatim quotes / frame_ids.

---

2. Search — GET /search

Use when /activity-summary says ok but you need verbatim quotes, media paths, frame IDs, or a specific match.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" "http://localhost:3030/search?q=QUERY&content_type=all&limit=10&start_time=1h%20ago"

Parameter	Required	Description
q	No	Keywords. Avoid for audio — transcriptions are noisy, q over-filters.
content_type	No	all (default), accessibility, audio, input, ocr, memory. Screen text is primarily the accessibility tree; OCR is the fallback for apps without it (videos, games, remote desktops).
limit	No	Default 20. Keep ≤20 to protect context.
offset	No	Pagination. Default 0.
start_time	Yes	ISO 8601 or relative (16h ago, 2d ago, 30m ago).
end_time	No	Defaults to now (now, 1h ago).
app_name	No	Substring, e.g. "Google Chrome", "Slack".
window_name	No	Window title substring.
speaker_name	No	Filter audio by speaker (case-insensitive partial).
focused	No	Only focused windows.
tags	No	Comma-separated; returns items carrying ALL of them (person:ada,project:atlas). Exact match.
include_related	No	With tags, also return a related map of co-occurring tags (people/projects/workflows), most-frequent first.
max_content_length	No	Middle-truncate each result's text.
format	No	json (default), csv, tsv/table. CSV is lossless; TSV collapses newlines.
fields	No	Column allowlist of dotted paths, e.g. type,content.app_name,content.text.

Critical rules: always include start_time (unbounded queries timeout) · "recent" = 30 min, "today" = since midnight, "yesterday" = yesterday's range · if /search is empty, fall back to /activity-summary and check data_status before saying "no data" · on timeout, narrow the range.

Tags link people/projects/topics across screen, audio, and memories under one namespace (person:ada, project:atlas, topic:pricing). Add to a frame/audio: POST /tags/vision/{frame_id} or POST /tags/audio/{chunk_id} body {"tags":["person:ada"]}; to a memory: tags in POST /memories. Retrieve: GET /search?tags=person:ada&start_time=30d%20ago (add content_type=memory for memories). Frames are pruned by retention — tag a memory for durable links (memories carry created_at + a frame_id back to the moment). include_related=true returns co-occurring tags grouped by namespace, replacing 2-3 follow-up calls.

Response: {"data": [{"type":"OCR","content":{"frame_id":...,"text":...,"app_name":...}}, {"type":"Audio","content":{"chunk_id":...,"transcription":...,"speaker":{"name":...}}}, {"type":"Input","content":{...}}], "pagination":{"limit":10,"offset":0,"total":42}}.

---

3. Elements — GET /elements

Lightweight FTS over UI elements (~100-500 bytes each vs 5-20KB from /search). Uniform rows, so format=csv pays off most.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" "http://localhost:3030/elements?frame_id=12345&format=csv&fields=role,text,bounds.left,bounds.top"

Params: q, frame_id, source (accessibility|ocr), role, start_time, end_time, app_name, limit, offset, format, fields.

Frame context (accessibility text, parsed nodes, extracted URLs): GET /frames/{id}/context.

Roles are not normalized across platforms — use the right one for the user's OS:

Concept	macOS	Windows	Linux
Button	AXButton	Button	Button
Static text	AXStaticText	Text	Label
Link	AXLink	Hyperlink	Link
Text field	AXTextField	Edit	Entry
Menu item	AXMenuItem	MenuItem	MenuItem
Checkbox	AXCheckBox	CheckBox	CheckBox
Web area	AXWebArea	Pane	DocumentWeb
Heading	AXHeading	Header	Heading
List item	AXRow	ListItem	ListItem

OCR-only roles (accessibility-unavailable fallback): line, word, block, paragraph, page.

---

4. Frames (Screenshots) — GET /frames/{frame_id}

curl -o /tmp/frame.png "http://localhost:3030/frames/12345"

Raw PNG. Never fetch more than 2-3 frames per query (~1000-2000 tokens each).

---

5. Media Export — POST /export

Real-time MP4 (screen frames at true timestamps + synced mic audio). Duration matches the wall-clock span — NOT a timelapse.

curl -X POST http://localhost:3030/export -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" -d '{"start": "5m ago", "end": "now"}'

Fields: start+end (ISO 8601 or relative; end defaults to now), OR meeting_id for a whole meeting. Optional output_path (absolute, e.g. ~/Downloads/clip.mp4); else lands in the data dir's exports/. Returns {output_path, frame_count, audio_chunk_count, duration_secs, file_size_bytes} — show output_path as inline code. Long ranges take minutes.

ffmpeg on audio file_path from search results (always -y, save to ~/.screenpipe/exports/):

ffmpeg -y -i audio.mp4 -q:a 2 out.mp3                              # convert
ffmpeg -y -i in.mp4 -ss 00:01:00 -to 00:05:00 -q:a 2 clip.mp3      # trim
ffmpeg -y -i in.mp4 -t 10 -vf "fps=10,scale=640:-1" out.gif        # GIF

---

6. Retranscribe — POST /audio/retranscribe

curl -X POST http://localhost:3030/audio/retranscribe -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"start": "1h ago", "end": "now"}'

Optional: engine (deepgram, screenpipe-cloud, whisper-large, whisper-large-v3-turbo, whisper-large-v3-turbo-quantized, qwen3-asr, parakeet, parakeet-mlx, openai-compatible), vocabulary (array of {"word","replacement"}), prompt (Whisper topic context). Keep ranges ≤1h. Show old vs new.

---

7. Raw SQL — POST /raw_sql

curl -X POST http://localhost:3030/raw_sql -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "SELECT ... LIMIT 100"}'

Rules: every SELECT needs LIMIT · always filter by time · read-only. Never use frame counts for time estimates — frames are event-driven; use /activity-summary for screen time.

Timestamp caveat: DB timestamps are stored as RFC3339 strings — usually 2026-06-26T18:01:14.214586+00:00 (frames / audio_transcriptions / ui_events), though some tables (e.g. meetings.meeting_start, memories) use a Z suffix with milliseconds: 2026-06-26T18:01:14.214Z. Do not compare either form directly to SQLite datetime() strings like timestamp > datetime('now','-10 seconds'): the T vs space makes it a lexical string comparison and can include stale same-day rows. Use datetime(timestamp) > datetime('now','-10 seconds') (works for both forms), or for indexed string comparisons use an RFC3339-shaped cutoff: timestamp > strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%f+00:00','now','-10 seconds').

Table	Key Columns	Time Column
frames	app_name, window_name, browser_url, focused	timestamp
ocr_text	text, app_name, window_name	join via frame_id
elements	source, role, text, bounds_*	join via frame_id
audio_transcriptions	transcription, device, speaker_id, is_input_device	timestamp
audio_chunks	file_path	timestamp
speakers	name, metadata	—
ui_events	event_type, app_name, window_title, browser_url	timestamp
accessibility	app_name, window_name, text_content, browser_url	timestamp
meetings	meeting_app, title, attendees, detection_source	meeting_start
memories	content, source, tags, importance	created_at

-- Most used apps (last 24h)
SELECT app_name, COUNT(*) AS frames FROM frames
WHERE timestamp > strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%f+00:00','now','-24 hours') AND app_name IS NOT NULL
GROUP BY app_name ORDER BY frames DESC LIMIT 20;

-- Context switches per hour
SELECT strftime('%H:00', timestamp) AS hour, COUNT(*) AS switches
FROM ui_events WHERE event_type='app_switch' AND timestamp > strftime('%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%f+00:00','now','-24 hours')
GROUP BY hour ORDER BY hour LIMIT 24;

Patterns: GROUP BY date(timestamp) (daily), GROUP BY strftime('%H:00', timestamp) (hourly), HAVING frames > 5 (filter noise).

---

8. Connections — GET /connections

curl http://localhost:3030/connections            # list all integrations (40+)
curl http://localhost:3030/connections/telegram   # saved creds for a webhook/token integration

Each entry's description is self-describing — for control surfaces (browsers, gateways, OAuth proxies) it includes the exact endpoint + body shape. Read it before guessing. If not connected, tell the user to set it up from the Connections page in the desktop app.

Credential integrations — GET /connections/<id> returns fields to call the service directly:

• Telegram: bot_token+chat_id → POST https://api.telegram.org/bot{token}/sendMessage
• Slack / Teams: webhook_url → POST {webhook_url} with {"text":...}
• Discord: webhook_url → POST {webhook_url} with {"content":...}
• Todoist: api_token → POST https://api.todoist.com/api/v1/tasks (Bearer)
• Email: smtp_host, smtp_port, smtp_user, smtp_pass, from_address

OAuth/proxy integrations — tokens live in SecretStore, never exposed via GET. Call the local proxy; it injects auth and forwards upstream. There is no /connections/<id>/token endpoint.

# GitHub create issue (repo from pipe settings). Same shape for comments: .../issues/42/comments {"body":...}
curl -X POST http://localhost:3030/connections/github/proxy/repos/OWNER/REPO/issues \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"title":"Bug","body":"Steps..."}'

# Generic OAuth proxy (Zoom, Vercel, Google Docs, Microsoft 365, ...)
curl -X POST http://localhost:3030/connections/<id>/proxy/<upstream-api-path> \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{...}'

Don't call https://api.github.com/... directly from a pipe — use the proxy.

Calendar — use calendar endpoints for appointments/upcoming events. If /connections shows ics-calendar.connected: true, include ICS results too before saying the calendar is empty:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" \
  "http://localhost:3030/connections/calendar/events?hours_back=0&hours_ahead=72"
# also: /connections/google-calendar/events , /connections/ics-calendar/events

Browser control (owned-default) — an embedded browser, shown in the chat. Cookies persist (isolated profile); password fields are stripped from snapshots. Try snapshot first; reach for eval only when needed.

# Navigate → {"ok":true,"url":"<final>"}
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe"}' \
  http://localhost:3030/connections/browsers/owned-default/navigate

# Snapshot (no JS) → {title, url, tree:"[h1] ...\n  [a] ... → /href", truncated}. Best for "what's on the page?".
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" \
  http://localhost:3030/connections/browsers/owned-default/snapshot

# Eval (escape hatch) — arbitrary JS return value, for clicks / values the snapshot tree omits.
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"code":"return [...document.querySelectorAll(\".title>a\")].slice(0,5).map(a=>a.innerText)"}' \
  http://localhost:3030/connections/browsers/owned-default/eval

---

9. Meetings — GET /meetings, PUT /meetings/:id

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" "http://localhost:3030/meetings?start_time=1d%20ago&end_time=now&limit=10"
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" "http://localhost:3030/meetings/42"

# Partial update — omitted fields stay as-is. Read first and re-include existing `note` so user notes survive.
curl -X PUT http://localhost:3030/meetings/42 -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"title":"Q3 planning","note":"<existing>\n\n## Summary\n<summary>"}'

Detected from calendar, app detection, window titles, UI elements, multi-speaker audio. q is a case-insensitive substring over title/attendees/notes. Uses PUT, not PATCH. Fields: id, meeting_start, meeting_end (null if ongoing), meeting_app, title?, attendees?, note?, detection_source. Also queryable via raw SQL on the meetings table.

---

10. Speakers — POST /speakers/*

All POST with Content-Type: application/json unless noted:

• GET /speakers/search?name=John — search by name
• GET /speakers/unnamed?limit=20 — unnamed speakers (for labeling)
• GET /speakers/similar?speaker_id=29&limit=5 — similar by voice embedding
• /speakers/update {"id":29,"name":"Jordan"} — rename/metadata
• /speakers/reassign {"audio_chunk_id":456,"new_speaker_name":"Jordan","propagate_similar":true} — returns new_speaker_id, transcriptions_updated, old_assignments (for undo)
• /speakers/undo-reassign {"old_assignments":[{"transcription_id":1,"old_speaker_id":29}]}
• /speakers/merge {"speaker_to_keep_id":5,"speaker_to_merge_id":29}
• /speakers/hallucination {"speaker_id":29} — mark false detection
• /speakers/delete {"id":29} — also removes audio chunk files

"That was actually Jordan, not Karishma": find the audio result's chunk_id → POST /speakers/reassign with audio_chunk_id + new_speaker_name; propagate_similar:true (default) also fixes similar chunks.

---

11. Memories — High-Signal Persistent Knowledge

Memories are the highest-signal source — curated facts, preferences, decisions, project context distilled from hours of data. If you're calling /search, also query /memories: search gives you what happened, memories give you what matters and why. Query memories first when answering about preferences/decisions/past context, building background on a project/person/workflow, or generating any summary/recommendation/plan.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" "http://localhost:3030/memories?q=preference&limit=20"          # FTS search
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SCREENPIPE_LOCAL_API_KEY" "http://localhost:3030/memories?min_importance=0.5&limit=20"    # recent, high importance
curl -X POST http://localhost:3030/memories -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"content":"User prefers dark mode","source":"user","tags":["preference","ui"],"importance":0.7}'                   # create
curl -X PUT http://localhost:3030/memories/1 -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"content":"...","importance":0.8}' # update
curl -X DELETE http://localhost:3030/memories/1                                                                          # delete

GET /memories params: q, source, tags, min_importance, start_time, end_time, limit, offset. Memories also come via GET /search?content_type=memory (NOT included in content_type=all — ask explicitly), which adds tags + include_related. When you learn a genuinely useful long-lived fact, store it with importance 0.0-1.0 — not transient observations.

---

12. Notifications — POST http://localhost:11435/notify

Notify the desktop UI. This is the Tauri sidecar (port 11435), not the main API. body supports markdown (**bold**, `code`, [text](url)).

curl -X POST http://localhost:11435/notify -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"3 new voice memos","body":"found recordings from today"}'

# Markdown body + action buttons. action types: "link" (web), "deeplink" (screenpipe://), "dismiss".
curl -X POST http://localhost:11435/notify -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"Meeting summary","body":"**Q3 Planning** saved\n\nopen [notes](~/Documents/q3.md)","actions":[{"id":"view","label":"view","type":"deeplink","url":"screenpipe://timeline"},{"id":"skip","label":"skip","type":"dismiss"}]}'

# Ask permission, then run a pipe on approval — the opt-in flow. `type:"pipe"`
# runs the TARGET pipe when clicked; `context` is injected into that pipe's
# prompt. Set `pipe` explicitly (omit it and it falls back to the sender = no-op).
# Actions persist to the notification bell, so the user can approve later even
# if the toast already faded. Use `open_in_chat:true` to surface the run live.
curl -X POST http://localhost:11435/notify -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"share meeting notes with the team?","body":"approve to send the adriaan call notes","actions":[{"id":"approve","label":"approve","type":"pipe","primary":true,"pipe":"share-data","context":{"meeting_id":274}},{"id":"no","label":"decline","type":"dismiss"}]}'

# No installed pipe? Use `type:"chat"` to run an inline prompt in a fresh chat
# session — write the whole task in `prompt`, attach data in `context`.
curl -X POST http://localhost:11435/notify -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"summarize this call into a CRM note?","body":"approve to draft it","actions":[{"id":"go","label":"draft it","type":"chat","primary":true,"prompt":"summarize meeting 274 into a short CRM follow-up note and save it to output/","context":{"meeting_id":274}},{"id":"no","label":"no","type":"dismiss"}]}'

Action types: link (web URL), deeplink (screenpipe://), pipe (run an installed pipe — needs pipe, optional context, optional open_in_chat), chat (run an inline prompt in a fresh chat session, no installed pipe needed — optional context, optional auto_send), api (POST a local endpoint — needs url, optional method/body), dismiss. Fields: title* , body* (markdown), type (default "pipe"), timeout/autoDismissMs (ms, default 20000), actions (buttons; up to 5, each needs id/label/type). Body links: web URL → browser, file path (~/notes.md, /var/log/app.log) → default app, screenpipe://... → in-app. Returns {"success":true}.

---

13. Other Endpoints

curl http://localhost:3030/health        # health check
curl http://localhost:3030/audio/list    # audio devices
curl http://localhost:3030/vision/list   # monitors

Deep Links & Videos

Reference real moments with clickable links (only IDs/timestamps from actual results — never fabricate):

• [10:30 AM — Chrome](screenpipe://frame/12345) — screen results (use frame_id)
• [meeting at 3pm](screenpipe://timeline?timestamp=ISO8601) — audio results (use timestamp)

Show a search result's file_path as inline code to make it a playable video: `/Users/name/.screenpipe/data/monitor_1_..._10-30-00.mp4`.