Shutter

A cross-platform screenshot library for .NET that supports Windows, macOS, and Linux (X11/Wayland).

Features

• Cross-platform support with native API calls
• Multiple capture targets: full screen, window, display, or region
• PNG and JPEG output formats
• No external dependencies beyond ImageSharp for image encoding
• Dependency injection friendly
• Configurable fallback behavior for unsupported features

Installation

dotnet add package Shutter

Quick Start

using Shutter;

// Capture entire screen
ScreenshotService screenshot = new();
byte[] imageData = screenshot.TakeScreenshot();
File.WriteAllBytes("screenshot.png", imageData);

Advanced Usage

using Shutter;
using Shutter.Models;
using Shutter.Enums;

ScreenshotService screenshot = new();

// Capture a specific window
ScreenshotOptions options = new()
{
    Target = CaptureTarget.Window,
    WindowHandle = process.MainWindowHandle,
    IncludeBorder = true,
    IncludeShadow = false,
    Format = ImageFormat.Jpeg,
    JpegQuality = 85
};

byte[] imageData = screenshot.TakeScreenshot(options);

Platform Support

Feature	Windows	macOS	Linux/X11	Linux/Wayland
Full Screen	✅	✅	✅	✅
Window Capture	✅	❌	✅	❌
Display Selection	✅	✅	✅	❌
Region Capture	✅	✅	✅	❌
Interactive Mode	❌	❌	❌	✅
Border Control	✅	❌	❌	❌
Shadow Control	✅	❌	❌	❌

Examples

Capture Specific Display

ScreenshotOptions options = new()
{
    Target = CaptureTarget.Display,
    DisplayIndex = 1  // Zero-based index
};
byte[] imageData = screenshot.TakeScreenshot(options);

Capture Screen Region

ScreenshotOptions options = new()
{
    Target = CaptureTarget.Region,
    Region = new Rectangle { X = 100, Y = 100, Width = 800, Height = 600 }
};
byte[] imageData = screenshot.TakeScreenshot(options);

Wayland Interactive Mode

ScreenshotOptions options = new()
{
    Interactive = true,
    Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30)
};
byte[] imageData = screenshot.TakeScreenshot(options);

Fallback Behavior

Configure how the library handles unsupported features:

ScreenshotOptions options = new()
{
    Target = CaptureTarget.Window,
    WindowHandle = handle,
    Fallback = FallbackBehavior.ThrowException  // Throws if feature unsupported
};

Available fallback behaviors:

• ThrowException - Throws PlatformNotSupportedException for unsupported features
• Default - Falls back to full screen capture
• BestEffort - Attempts the closest available alternative

Dependency Injection

services.AddSingleton<IScreenshotService, ScreenshotService>();

Requirements

• .NET 8.0 or higher
• Windows: Windows 7 or higher
• macOS: macOS 10.12 or higher (uses CoreGraphics framework)
• Linux: X11 or Wayland session with appropriate libraries
  • X11: libX11 installed
  • Wayland: DBus and XDG Desktop Portal support

Implementation Details

Shutter uses platform-specific native APIs:

• Windows: Win32 GDI and User32 APIs
• macOS: CoreGraphics framework (CGDisplayCreateImage)
• Linux/X11: libX11 (XGetImage)
• Linux/Wayland: DBus communication with XDG Desktop Portal

Known Limitations

• Window capture is not supported on macOS (cannot obtain window IDs from .NET Process)
• Wayland only supports full screen capture or interactive selection due to security model
• Interactive mode is only available on Wayland
• Border and shadow control only available on Windows