install

download the desktop app — all features, auto-updates

or run the CLI:

npx screenpipe record

then

claude mcp add screenpipe -- npx -y screenpipe-mcp@latest

then ask claude what did i see in the last 5 mins? or summarize today conversations or create a pipe that updates linear every time i work on task X

Building from source

Check CONTRIBUTING.

Make sure to understand the main branch is moving fast and breaking things, if you're looking for a stable version check app releases https://github.com/screenpipe/screenpipe/releases and use the git commit accordingly (production app is behind paywall).

API examples

Search screen content:

GET http://localhost:3030/search?q=meeting+notes&content_type=all&limit=10

Search audio transcriptions:

GET http://localhost:3030/search?q=budget+discussion&content_type=audio&limit=10

JavaScript SDK:

import { pipe } from "@screenpipe/js";

const results = await pipe.queryScreenpipe({
  q: "project deadline",
  contentType: "all",
  limit: 20,
  startTime: new Date(Date.now() - 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000).toISOString(),
});

sdk

tauri, electron, swift sdk available today

<img width="1536" height="1024" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a5b49966-b607-47cb-b0fa-e5f9aec14351" />

---

<p align="center"> <a href="https://docs.screenpi.pe">docs</a> · <a href="https://screenpi.pe/sdk">sdk</a> · <a href="https://screenpi.pe/team">team</a> · <a href="https://discord.gg/screenpipe">discord</a> · <a href="https://twitter.com/screenpipe">x</a> · <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@screen_pipe">youtube</a> · <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/screen_pipe">reddit</a> </p>

Developer API

Full REST API running on localhost (default port 3030). Endpoints for searching screen content, audio, frames. Raw SQL access to the underlying SQLite database. JavaScript/TypeScript SDK available.

Plugin system (Pipes)

Pipes are scheduled AI agents defined as markdown files. Each pipe is a pipe.md with a prompt and schedule — screenpipe runs an AI coding agent (like pi or claude-code) that queries your screen data, calls APIs, writes files, and takes actions. Built-in pipes include: - meeting-summary: Summarizes the meeting that just ended and patches the note back onto the meeting record - day-recap: Today's accomplishments, key moments, and unfinished work - standup-update: What you did, what's next, and any blockers - time-breakdown: Where your time went, by app, project, and category - ai-prompt-journal: Captures every prompt you send to AI tools, saved to Obsidian or local markdown - video-export: Create a video of your recent screen activity

Developers can create pipes by writing a markdown file in ~/.screenpipe/pipes/.

#### Pipe data permissions Each pipe supports YAML frontmatter fields that give admins deterministic, OS-level control over what data AI agents can access: - App & window filtering: allow-apps, deny-apps, deny-windows (glob patterns) - Content type control: restrict to ocr, audio, input, or accessibility - Time & day restrictions: e.g. time-range: 09:00-18:00, days: Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri - Endpoint gating: allow-raw-sql: false, allow-frames: false

Enforced at three layers — skill gating (AI never learns denied endpoints), agent interception (blocked before execution), and server middleware (per-pipe cryptographic tokens). Not prompt-based. Deterministic.

Integrations

• AI coding assistants: Cursor, Claude Code, Cline, Continue, OpenCode, Gemini CLI
• AI chat assistants: ChatGPT (via MCP), Claude Desktop (via MCP), any MCP-compatible client
• Note-taking: Obsidian, Notion
• Local AI: Ollama, any OpenAI-compatible model server
• Automation: Custom pipes (scheduled AI agents as markdown files)

How screenpipe compares to alternatives

Frequently asked questions

How much does screenpipe cost? The signed desktop app uses a subscription starting at $25/month; existing lifetime licenses remain valid. The source is available for personal, non-commercial use, so you can build and run it yourself (see LICENSE.md); commercial use of the source requires a license.

Does screenpipe send my data to the cloud? No. All data is stored locally by default. You can use fully local AI models via Ollama for complete privacy.

How much disk space does it use? ~5–10 GB per month. Event-driven capture only stores frames when something changes, dramatically reducing storage compared to continuous recording.

Does it slow down my computer? Typical CPU usage is 5–10% on modern hardware. Event-driven capture only processes frames when something changes, and accessibility tree extraction is much lighter than OCR.

Can I use it with ChatGPT/Claude/Cursor? Yes. screenpipe runs as an MCP server, allowing Claude Desktop, Cursor, and other AI assistants to directly query your screen history.

Can it record multiple monitors? Yes. screenpipe captures all connected monitors simultaneously.

How does text extraction work? screenpipe primarily uses the OS accessibility tree to get structured text (buttons, labels, text fields) — this is faster and more accurate than OCR. When accessibility data isn't available (remote desktops, games, some Linux apps), it falls back to OCR: Apple Vision on macOS, Windows native OCR, or Tesseract on Linux.

Can I deploy screenpipe to my team? Yes. Screenpipe Teams provides central config management, shared AI pipes, and per-pipe data permissions. Admins control what gets captured and what AI can access — employees' actual data never leaves their devices. See screenpi.pe/team.

How do AI data permissions work? Each pipe supports YAML frontmatter fields (allow-apps, deny-apps, deny-windows, allow-content-types, time-range, days, allow-raw-sql, allow-frames) that deterministically control what data the AI agent can access. Enforcement happens at three OS-level layers — not by prompting the AI to behave. Even a compromised agent cannot access denied data.