Quick start
Five minutes from install to your first capture. Frayo lives in your menu bar. It has no Dock icon.
1. Install and open
- Move Frayo to your Applications folder.
- Open it. A short welcome appears: three setup steps, then a six-page tour of the main features. Press Skip Tour to leave it. Reopen it any time from Settings › General › Feature Tour….
- Frayo needs macOS 15 or later.
- After an update, a What's New window shows what changed. Reopen it from Settings › General › What's New….
2. Allow Screen Recording
Frayo cannot see your screen until you allow it.
- Click Open System Settings in the welcome window.
- Go to Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording.
- Turn on Frayo.
- Quit and reopen Frayo.
If it is already on but captures fail, remove Frayo with the − button and add it again. More in Privacy and permissions.
3. The five capture modes
Click the menu-bar icon, or use a shortcut. The Capture section lists them in this order.
| Mode | Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Area | ⇧⌘4 | Drag a rectangle. Hold Space to move it. |
| Window | ⇧⌘5 | Click a window. |
| Scrolling | ⇧⌘7 | Capture a long page by scrolling. |
| Full Screen | ⇧⌘3 | Capture the whole (main) display. |
| Record | ⇧⌘9 | Record a region. Press again to stop. |
Press Esc to cancel any selection. Under More Captures you also get Copy Text (⇧⌘2), Previous Area (⇧⌘6), Scan QR Code (⌥⇧9) and Self-Timer. See Capture modes.
4. The floating thumbnail
After a capture, a thumbnail appears in the corner of your screen.
- Click it to copy.
- Drag it into any app.
- Double-click to annotate (or play, for a recording).
- Swipe right with two fingers to save.
- Swipe left to dismiss. Esc also closes it.
- Right-click for more actions.
See Floating thumbnail.
5. The Library
Press ⌥⇧H, or choose Library in the menu. Every capture is there as a grid. Filter by type, date and project. Search by name, date, or the words inside the screenshot. See Library.
6. Search from anywhere
Press ⌥⇧F. A small search box opens under the menu-bar icon. Type, pick a result with ↑ and ↓, press Return. See Quick search.
7. Settings basics
Press ⌘, with Frayo active, or choose Settings… in the menu.
- General: open at login, what happens after a capture, how long the thumbnail stays.
- Saving: where files go, and the format.
- Library: how long captures are kept (30 days by default).
- Shortcuts: change any shortcut.
See Settings.
8. More things to try
- Copy code: Copy Text (⇧⌘2) keeps indentation when it sees code. See Code-aware Copy Text.
- Secrets: an orange key badge on a capture means it may hold a key, token, email or card number. Redact covers it. See Secret detection.
- Bug reports: right-click a capture for Copy as Markdown and Copy Bug Report. See Bug reports.
- Code screenshots: More Captures › Code Screenshot from Clipboard. See Code screenshots.
- Command line: let scripts and AI agents capture and read the screen. Off until you allow it. See Command line.