Vectrace

Agnostic Vector Screen Marker & Annotation Overlay for X11 & Wayland

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🌟 Overview

Vectrace is a ultra-fast, pure-software vector screen marker and drawing overlay designed for Linux environments. Whether presenting, recording tutorials, analyzing graphics, or highlighting live code, Vectrace gives you a smooth floating canvas over your entire desktop.

• ⚡ Zero Latency Rendering: Powered by tiny-skia with Catmull-Rom spline stroke smoothing.
• 🪟 X11 & Wayland Native: Works seamlessly on X11 and Wayland (via Layer-Shell & XDG-Shell).
• 🎨 Rich Toolset: Pen, Highlighter, Lines, Arrows, Rectangles, Ovals, Text Tool, Neon Laser Mode (with decay), Spotlight Dimmer, and Crop Region Snapshot.
• 🚀 Click-Through Toggle: Instantly pass mouse inputs to underlying applications (Ctrl+Alt+A or Space).
• 📷 High Performance Screen Snapshots: Instantly capture full desktop or cropped regions directly into your clipboard and Pictures folder.

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📸 Screenshots & Showcase

Hero Showcase	Floating Glassmorphic Toolbar

Spotlight & Laser Effects	Crop Snapshot Tool

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📥 Installation

1. AppImage (Universal Linux - Recommended)

No installation or root privileges required. Download and run:

chmod +x Vectrace-v0.2.4_64.AppImage
./Vectrace-v0.2.4_64.AppImage

2. Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint (.deb)

sudo dpkg -i vectrace_0.2.4_amd64.deb
sudo apt-get install -f # Fix missing dependencies if needed

3. Fedora / RHEL / CentOS / openSUSE (.rpm)

sudo rpm -i vectrace-0.2.4-1.x86_64.rpm
# or with dnf:
sudo dnf install ./vectrace-0.2.4-1.x86_64.rpm

4. Arch Linux / Manjaro (PKGBUILD)

cd packaging/arch
makepkg -si

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📦 System Dependencies & Prerequisites

When building from source or running standalone binaries, ensure the following native packages are installed on your distribution:

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y \
  build-essential \
  libx11-dev \
  libxext-dev \
  libxrender-dev \
  libwayland-dev \
  libdbus-1-dev \
  libpipewire-0.3-dev \
  libclang-dev

Fedora / RHEL

sudo dnf install -y \
  gcc \
  libX11-devel \
  libXext-devel \
  libXrender-devel \
  wayland-devel \
  dbus-devel \
  pipewire-devel \
  clang-devel

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S --needed \
  base-devel \
  libx11 \
  libxext \
  libxrender \
  wayland \
  dbus \
  pipewire \
  clang

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⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts & Controls

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + Alt + A	Global Daemon Shortcut: Toggle Overlay Active / Click-Through
Space	Toggle Click-Through (Mouse Pass-Through)
P	Select Pen tool
H	Select Highlighter tool
L	Select Line shape tool
A	Select Arrow shape tool
R	Select Rectangle shape tool
O	Select Oval shape tool
E	Select Eraser tool
T	Select Text tool
K	Select Neon Laser pointer tool
N	Select Spotlight dimmer mode
M	Minimize overlay to System Tray
Ctrl + Shift + S / Ctrl + C	Activate Crop Selection tool
S	Take Full Screen snapshot (or confirm Crop if selection is active)
U	Undo last stroke
Ctrl + R	Redo last stroke
C	Clear all drawings on screen
B	Cycle Background Mode (Transparent ➔ Blackboard ➔ Whiteboard)
ESC	Cancel active tool / Clear selection / Exit application

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🛠️ Building from Source

Ensure you have Rust (MSRV 1.80+) installed via rustup.rs:

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/jigonzalez930209/vectrace.git
cd vectrace

# Build release binary
cargo build --release

# Run
./target/release/vectrace

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📄 License & Attribution

Vectrace is free software licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0).

• GNU General Public License v3.0

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📖 Complete Documentation & GitHub Pages

For comprehensive guides, interactive controls, architectural diagrams, and troubleshooting, visit the official documentation: 👉 https://jigonzalez930209.github.io/vectrace/