Automating capture

Everything in the capture menu can be started from outside Goblin. Because anything on your Mac can send these requests, they can only do what the right-click menu does. The one exception, letting an AI assistant see the screen, is off until you allow it.

If Goblin isn't running, a request starts it. Captures still need the Screen Recording permission.

In Terminal: goblin capture#

The goblin command has a capture verb. Install the command first from Settings›Projects›Command Line (The goblin command).

goblin capture with nothing after it prints the list of commands.

Links#

Links starting with goblin://capture/ do the same from a launcher, a script, or any app that opens links:

goblin://capture/area
goblin://capture/full-screen
goblin://capture/record-gif
goblin://capture/self-timer?seconds=5
goblin://capture/annotate?file=/Users/me/Desktop/Shot.png
goblin://capture/hide-icons?state=toggle

The other names are all-in-one, window, scrolling, text, previous-text, text-ai, code, cutout, previous-area, record, record-full-screen, stop, pause, annotate, video-editor, annotate-last, pin-last, restore-last, history, uploads, show-icons and toggle-icons, and the text links text-file, text-clipboard and text-cancel (Capture Text). (frozen-area, from older versions, is area.) A link with an option Goblin doesn't know is ignored. The file of an annotate link has to be a full path. See goblin:// links for the other links.

Shortcuts app#

Under Apps›Goblin the Shortcuts app has these capture actions (they have no Siri phrases):

• Capture the Screen: all-in-one, area, window, full screen, scrolling capture, text, previous area or object cutout.
• Capture After a Countdown: the self-timer, with a number of seconds from 1 to 60.
• Start Screen Recording: an area, the full screen or a GIF.
• Stop Screen Recording, Pause or Resume Screen Recording, and Is Screen Recording On, which returns yes or no.
• Hide Desktop Icons: hide, show or toggle.
• Annotate Last Screenshot and Open Capture History.
• Read Text from File (with optional pages) and Read Text from Clipboard, which return the text.

AppleScript#

tell application "Goblin"
    capture area              -- also: capture window, capture full screen, capture scrolling,
                              --       capture text, capture previous area
    start recording mode "gif"    -- area (the default), screen or gif
    if recording then display dialog (recording elapsed as text)
    pause recording
    resume recording
    stop recording
    hide desktop icons
    show desktop icons
    open capture history
end tell

recording says whether a recording runs (paused counts), and recording elapsed is the seconds recorded so far, not counting time paused. Pausing when nothing is recording, or stopping when none runs, is an error with a message.

AI assistants#

Goblin's MCP server (AI assistants) has three capture tools. All of them are off until you turn on the AI Assistants access, and the first two need a second switch.

Let an AI assistant see the screen#

1. Open Settings›Projects and turn on AI Assistants on the AI Assistants card at the bottom.
2. Open Settings›Capture›General and click More at the bottom.
3. In the Menu Bar section, switch on Let AI assistants see the screen.
4. Allow Screen Recording if macOS asks (Permissions).

To stop it, switch the same setting off. Goblin checks it on every request.

With it off, the screen tools tell the assistant how you can turn it on, and take nothing. The switch also needs Screen Recording permission, and if that isn't given Goblin waits up to 30 seconds for an answer before the assistant is told it didn't come.