Use when the user explicitly asks for a desktop or system screenshot (full screen, specific app or window, or a pixel region), or when tool-specific capture capabilities are unavailable and an OS-level capture is needed.
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Use when the user explicitly asks for a desktop or system screenshot (full screen, specific app or window, or a pixel region), or when tool-specific capture capabilities are unavailable and an OS-level capture is needed.
Screenshot Capture
Follow these save-location rules every time:
If the user specifies a path, save there.
If the user asks for a screenshot without a path, save to the OS default screenshot location.
If Codex needs a screenshot for its own inspection, save to the temp directory.
Tool priority
Prefer tool-specific screenshot capabilities when available (for example: a Figma MCP/skill for Figma files, or Playwright/agent-browser tools for browsers and Electron apps).
Use this skill when explicitly asked, for whole-system desktop captures, or when a tool-specific capture cannot get what you need.
Otherwise, treat this skill as the default for desktop apps without a better-integrated capture tool.
On macOS, run the preflight helper once before window/app capture. It checks
Screen Recording permission, explains why it is needed, and requests it in one
place.
The helpers route Swift's module cache to $TMPDIR/codex-swift-module-cache
to avoid extra sandbox module-cache prompts.
The script prints one path per capture. When multiple windows or displays match, it prints multiple paths (one per line) and adds suffixes like -w<windowId> or -d<display>. View each path sequentially with the image viewer tool, and only manipulate images if needed or requested.
Workflow examples
"Take a look at and tell me what you see": capture to temp, then view each printed path in order.
"The design from Figma is not matching what is implemented": use a Figma MCP/skill to capture the design first, then capture the running app with this skill (typically to temp) and compare the raw screenshots before any manipulation.
Multi-display behavior
On macOS, full-screen captures save one file per display when multiple monitors are connected.
On Linux and Windows, full-screen captures use the virtual desktop (all monitors in one image); use --region to isolate a single display when needed.
Linux prerequisites and selection logic
The helper automatically selects the first available tool:
scrot
gnome-screenshot
ImageMagick import
If none are available, ask the user to install one of them and retry.
Coordinate regions require scrot or ImageMagick import.
--app, --window-name, and --list-windows are macOS-only. On Linux, use
--active-window or provide --window-id when available.
On macOS, run bash <path-to-skill>/scripts/ensure_macos_permissions.sh first to request Screen Recording in one place.
If you see "screen capture checks are blocked in the sandbox", "could not create image from display", or Swift ModuleCache permission errors in a sandboxed run, rerun the command with escalated permissions.
If macOS app/window capture returns no matches, run --list-windows --app "AppName" and retry with --window-id, and make sure the app is visible on screen.
If Linux region/window capture fails, check tool availability with command -v scrot, command -v gnome-screenshot, and command -v import.
If saving to the OS default location fails with permission errors in a sandbox, rerun the command with escalated permissions.
Always report the saved file path in the response.
