DMS Quick Capture & Annotate

Interactive Wayland-centric screen capture and instant vector annotation plugin for DankMaterialShell (DMS).

Install

Use the DMS CLI:

dms plugins install quickCapture

Or manually:

git clone https://github.com/hthienloc/dms-quick-capture ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/plugins/quickCapture

Features

• High-Performance Capture: Decoupled rendering layers for smooth 60fps interaction even on 4K displays.
• Radial Menu: Right-click anywhere during capture to access 8 customizable tool presets instantly.
• Rich Annotation Suite: Pen, highlighter, lines, arrows, shapes, text notes, stamps, redaction, and pixelation.
• Workflow Focused: One-key tool switching, mouse-wheel thickness control, and customizable "Enter" actions.
• Seamless Integration: IPC, Control Center, and Niri-ready keybindings.

Bar Interactions

Action	Result
Left Click	Trigger interactive screenshot capture
Right Click	Annotate image from clipboard (supports raw images, paths, and URLs)
Drop Image	Drag any image file onto the icon to annotate it

Capture Workflow

1. Trigger: Use the bar icon, Control Center, or your Print key.
2. Select Area: Drag to select the screenshot region.
3. Annotate:
   • Switch Tools: Use keyboard shortcuts (1-4, Q-R, A-D, V for Select, or Tab to toggle latest presets).
   • Copy/Duplicate Vector: Press V to switch to the select tool, click a vector to grab it, then press C to duplicate it instantly. Pressing C without a selection will paste the last copied vector at the cursor position.
   • Radial Menu: Right-click to open custom presets.
   • Thickness: Use the Mouse Wheel to scale the brush size.
   • Zoom / Magnify: Hold Z to activate the magnifying circular lens under the cursor, and scroll the Mouse Wheel while holding Z to adjust the zoom factor (1.5x - 4x).
   • Quick Erase: Middle-click on any element to erase it.
   • Shift Constraint: Hold Shift while drawing to modify vector output:
     • Pen: Draws straight lines instead of freeform drawings.
     • Highlighter, Line, Arrow: Locks and snaps the drawing angle to 45-degree increments.
     • Ellipse: Constrains the shape to draw a perfect circle.
     • Rectangle, Redact, Pixelate: Constrains the shape to draw a perfect square.
4. Finish:
   • Press Ctrl + S to force save, Ctrl + C to copy to clipboard, or Ctrl + A to copy and save simultaneously.
   • Press Ctrl + F to float the image on your desktop.
   • Press Ctrl + X to enter crop / resize mode.
   • Press Enter to save/copy (based on settings) or Esc to discard.

Pin-to-Desktop (Float Screen)

To pin your captured and annotated screenshots as borderless, floating desktop widgets (always-on-top picture-in-picture windows), you can use the companion dms-floaty plugin. Floaty integrates seamlessly with dms-quick-capture out-of-the-box, allowing you to reference your screenshots side-by-side while writing code or designing.

• Press Ctrl + F in the annotator to export and float the image instantly.
• Left-click on any floating image in Floaty to return it to the dms-quick-capture annotator interface for further editing.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Tool / Action
Tab	Toggle between 2 latest radial presets
Z	Hold Zoom / Magnify under cursor
X	Toggle Hide/Show Annotations
V	Switch to Select Tool
C	Copy vector / Paste / Duplicate
1 - 4	Pen, Line, Arrow, Rect
Q - R	Ellipse, Text, Pixelate, Redact
A - D	Stamp, Highlighter, Eraser
Enter	Done (Action based on settings)
Esc	Discard & Close
Ctrl + Z	Undo last stroke
Ctrl + S	Force Save to File
Ctrl + C	Force Copy to Clipboard
Ctrl + A	Force Copy & Save
Ctrl + F	Float Image (via Floaty companion)
Ctrl + X	Crop / Resize Area
Ctrl + 1 - 4	Select Color Slots 1 - 4
Ctrl + Q - R	Select Color Slots 5 - 8 (Q, W, E, R)

IPC Commands

Use dms ipc call quickCapture <command> [arg] to control the screenshot workflow.

Command	Argument	Description
screenshot	mode	Trigger capture (modes: default, region, full, all, output, window, last)
selectFile	-	Open file browser to select an existing image
fromClipboard	-	Annotate image from clipboard (supports raw images, local file paths, and URLs)
openImage	path	Copy/download and open a specific image path in the annotator
close	-	Close the quick capture annotator window

Keybinding examples (Niri)

binds {
    // Capture using default configured mode
    Print { spawn "dms" "ipc" "call" "quickCapture" "screenshot" "default"; }
    // Capture specific window mode directly
    Meta+Print { spawn "dms" "ipc" "call" "quickCapture" "screenshot" "window"; }
}

Requirements

• DankMaterialShell >= 1.5

TODO / Roadmap

• Vector straight-line drawing when holding Shift (for Pen and Highlighter).
• Mouse wheel scrolling over canvas to dynamically scale stroke thickness and text font sizes.
• Dynamic high-contrast canvas boundary and auto-adapting backdrop luminance for dark captures.
• Disjoint Copy vs Save toolbar pipelines separating clipboard and filesystem actions.
• Fix and fully enable the Click-to-Type Text annotation tool to reliably capture active keyboard input and support native inline text overlay typing.
• Magnifying Glass (Loupe) for pixel-perfect placement and crop alignment (hold Z to activate, mouse wheel while holding Z to adjust zoom).
• Custom Text/Image Watermark or signature overlay stamp with adjustable opacity.
• Support picture-in-picture screenshot pinning (pin-to-desktop) documentation.

License

MIT