> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mauvely.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Snap overview

> Mauvely Snap is a screen capture tool whose library is an ordinary folder. What is built today, and how the app is put together.

<Warning>
  **Snap has not been released.** There is no installer on any platform yet. These pages describe
  what exists in the current build — see the [roadmap](/snap/roadmap) for what is still missing.
</Warning>

Snap is for people who document software: take a screenshot, keep it findable, mark it up, and
hand it to Compose.

## The idea it is built around

**The library is a folder.**

* A collection is a **directory**.
* A capture is an **ordinary image file**.
* Annotations live **beside** the image, in a small `.snap.json` file with the same name.

There is no database, no bundle format and no import step. You can open the whole library in a file
manager, back it up with any tool you already use, and keep every file if you uninstall Snap.

The image stays a plain image that any application can open. Annotations are burned into a copy
only when a capture is exported, copied or sent to Compose — never into the original.

## The window

<Steps>
  <Step title="Title bar">
    Menus — **File**, **Edit**, **View**, **Capture**, **Annotate**, **Help** — plus **New
    capture**, **Send to Compose**, and your account chip.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Sidebar">
    Search, four filters (**All captures**, **Screenshots**, **Recordings**, **Sent to Compose**),
    and your collections as a tree. `Ctrl` `B` hides it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Tab strip">
    A permanent **Library** tab plus a tab per open capture. Closing the last capture always lands
    you back somewhere real.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Content">
    Either the library grid or list, or an open capture.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Inspector">
    Details of the selected capture and the actions that apply to it. `Ctrl` `Shift` `I` hides it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Status strip">
    Library totals, the last capture's format and dimensions, and any message.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The sidebar, content and inspector are separated by draggable splitters, and their widths are
remembered.

## Signing in is optional

Snap does not gate on sign-in. Capture, the library and viewing all work with nobody signed in —
its capture shortcut has to fire from the system tray with no session, and the library is a folder
of your own files.

The only thing an account will buy is **Send to Compose**, and later Cloud backup of the library.
Both are [still to come](/snap/roadmap).

## Where to go next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Capturing" icon="camera" href="/snap/capturing">
    The capture modes, the launcher, and what happens after a grab.
  </Card>

  <Card title="The library" icon="folder" href="/snap/library">
    Collections, filters, search, renaming, exporting.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Shortcuts" icon="keyboard" href="/snap/shortcuts">
    Global capture keys, and why one may refuse to register.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Roadmap" icon="road" href="/snap/roadmap">
    What is not built yet, stated plainly.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Platforms

**Windows is the target platform.** Snap builds and runs on Linux, and that build is maintained,
but it is not distributed.

The reason is Wayland: a Wayland client is not permitted to read the screen. Snap has to ask the
desktop portal instead, which means the compositor draws the selection interface, Snap cannot
decide about the pointer, and region, window and full-screen capture all collapse into one
interactive prompt. That is a different product rather than a port. On X11, Snap's own capture
backend works fully.