Changelog

Every version, and what changed

Kopit ships often. Here is every release since the first build, written up from the commits that went into it.

Latest versionv1.0.3August 28, 2026

1.0August 9, 2026 – August 28, 2026

Cursor effects for recordings, and a settings page each for screenshots and recording

  • Screen recording gains cursor effects rendered straight into the frame: a spotlight that follows the cursor, ripples on each click, and an on-screen readout of the keys you press — and you can turn each one on or off from the recording bar mid-take.
  • Every recording default now lives in Settings: where files are saved, MP4 or GIF, frame rate, Retina or standard resolution, the countdown, system audio and the microphone, and whether the cursor is shown.
  • Screenshots and recording each get their own settings page, so the options you reach for most are no longer scattered under unrelated tabs.
  • In the screenshot settings you can toggle the four-corner shortcut hints shown while you frame a shot, and choose the language used for text recognition (OCR).
  • Recording
  • Settings
  • Screenshots
  • OCR

Panel context menus, clearer text entry, arrows that follow your hand

  • Right-click the empty space in the panel's top bar to switch layout, light/dark, accent colour and the preview pane — no trip to Settings.
  • Category tabs gained a "Shown Categories" submenu: tick one to show or hide it, bring a hidden category back from the same list, and jump straight to the category editor.
  • Inline text entry reads as text entry now: renaming a clip gets a clear, taller field, and the new-category field takes focus so you can just start typing.
  • Hovering another row while renaming no longer moves the selection — which used to end the rename you were still typing.
  • Tooltips at the panel's top-right corner are no longer clipped by its edge, and every one of them shows its keyboard shortcut.
  • Screenshot annotation: bending an arrow by its centre grip no longer snaps. The curve follows the pointer exactly, and bowing it through straight to the other side is one continuous drag.
  • The iCloud sync details list keeps its scroll position when it refreshes, and shows up to 5,000 entries instead of 1,000.
  • Panel
  • Annotation
  • Settings

Kopit 1.0, and a Mac App Store edition

  • Kopit reaches 1.0 and arrives on the Mac App Store. File access was rebuilt for the sandbox, so the panel, pins, previews and recordings all read the files you've granted access to.
  • The App Store edition unlocks through an in-app purchase and ships without licence keys or the self-updater; the site edition keeps serial activation and auto-updates. The About page spells out which build you're on.
  • Arrow bending was reworked: straightening is easier, a straight arrow now stays straight instead of curving at a touch, and long arrows can finally be pulled flat.
  • Capture is steadier — hovered web content survives window picking, taking a screenshot no longer wakes the input method, and a selection can't spill onto another display.
  • iCloud sync stops retrying originals it can't decrypt and explains the error in plain language. The menu bar menu gained a timed pause for clipboard recording.
  • App Store
  • Platform
  • Annotation
  • Screenshots
  • iCloud sync
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Editing shortcuts work again in Settings; update notes in your language

  • Fixed copy, paste and select-all shortcuts doing nothing in the Settings window and in save dialogs.
  • The in-app update dialog now shows its release notes in the interface language you're using.

0.5July 20, 2026 – August 3, 2026

⌘-hover to pick a window, pixel-aligned loupe

  • Hold ⌘ and hover to select a window directly; arrow keys nudge the selection pixel by pixel.
  • The loupe is pixel-aligned and steps through power-of-two magnifications, so picking colours and aligning edges is exact.
  • Menu bar NSPopover panels can be captured, with their transparent margins trimmed automatically.
  • Pins can be deleted with the Delete key, and their shadow outline no longer drifts when reopened.
  • Screenshots
  • Desktop pins

Fixes a launch crash on macOS 13

  • Fixes an immediate crash on launch under macOS 13 (a dyld hard reference from VisionKit's default implementation).
  • A missing localization table no longer aborts the app; it falls back to the default language.
  • Adds launch and crash logging, plus a one-command script for collecting diagnostics.
  • Stability

Curved arrows and a recording folder

  • The arrow tool gained a curve option, with smoother drag behaviour.
  • Settings can now specify where recordings are saved.
  • The categories table has full headers and an actions column, with buttons that no longer appear only on hover.
  • Annotation
  • Recording
  • Settings

Settings rebuilt, with panel and sync upgrades

  • Settings gained sub-tabs, icons and a far more visible search. Capture splits into Screenshot / Recording / Pins, and shortcuts are shown inline on each feature page — editable, jump-to-highlight, with conflict checking.
  • History export supports multi-select by type and requires system authentication before it runs; excluded apps now block Keychain and password managers by default.
  • The sync page estimates iCloud storage use, and soft-deleted large originals free their space after an hour while tombstones stay for 30 days.
  • The clipboard recognises private file copies from Cursor and VS Code, and web content from Figma; link previews load favicons asynchronously.
  • Edge mode matches window mode's colour cards, preview visibility resizes the window, and opening near the pointer prefers the lower-right.
  • Settings
  • Panel
  • iCloud sync

Settings goes from nine tabs to six

  • The information architecture was reorganised: nine tabs collapse into six, a Capture & Recording page is added, and settings are searchable.
  • History splits into History and Sync sub-tabs, and the sync page keeps a configuration preview even when sync is off.
  • Display modes and the preview pane are illustrated with cards, so each layout is recognisable at a glance.
  • The settings window is resizable and remembers its height; edge mode's scroll monitoring self-heals.
  • Settings

Annotate while recording, and move the region

  • Annotate directly during a recording, with click effects for the cursor.
  • The recording region can be dragged mid-recording — no need to stop and reselect.
  • New shortcuts for copy, rename and switching display mode.
  • Recording
  • Annotation
  • Settings

A new top bar display mode

  • The panel gained a top bar mode alongside the bottom bar.
  • Bottom bar animations and layout were refined, and the horizontal card strip supports arrow-key navigation.
  • Panel

Better manual category management

  • Custom categories gained fuller manual management and interaction.
  • Panel
  • Settings

Settings becomes its own floating window

  • Settings moved out of the panel into a freely positioned floating window, so configuring Kopit no longer crowds the panel.
  • Settings
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Window shadows are back; main-display windows selectable again

  • The frozen capture reverts to a CG-first path, so window shadows show up in screenshots again.
  • Screen-level overlays are excluded from window candidates, fixing "no window on the main display can be picked".

The 1.6-second capture hitch is gone

  • Transparent-edge trimming got a scan bound and skips full-screen overlay panels, removing a hitch of up to 1.6 seconds.
  • Pre-grabbing individual windows now runs in parallel, so capture responds faster.

Capture latency regression fixed

  • Fixes the 4× latency regression introduced by the pre-grab and trimming work in v0.5.14.

No more lag on the first screenshot

  • ScreenCaptureKit is kept warm, so the first capture after a long idle no longer pays a cold-start delay.

Text decoding rewritten

  • Clipboard text decoding is unified, so multi-byte text is handled consistently everywhere.

A warning-free release pipeline

  • Every warning in the release pipeline is cleared, and a pre-release checklist is now in place.

Syntax highlighting handles deep nesting

  • Code highlighting now recurses through deeply nested structures, so long snippets colour completely.

Annotation handles and favicon caching

  • Annotation control points are easier to grab, and bending is animated.
  • Link previews cache site favicons, so they load faster.

Simpler arrow settings

  • The separate curved-arrow option is gone — bending is driven purely by the drag gesture.

Annotation polish

  • Refines annotation interactions so editing feels more responsive.

0.4July 17, 2026 – July 20, 2026

A new bottom bar display mode

  • The panel gained a bottom bar (edge) mode, so clipboard history can live at the edge of the screen like a Dock.
  • The bottom bar's visual design and layout were tuned to match.
  • Panel

Loupe controls and audio levels

  • The loupe controls are easier to use, and recording gained audio level monitoring.
  • Annotation
  • Recording

Interactive pins, and pinned files

  • Pins became interactive, and files can be pinned straight to the desktop.
  • Desktop pins

German and Spanish added

  • The interface is now available in German and Spanish, with updated language handling.
  • Hold space to drag a selection while annotating, and region hit-testing is more accurate.
  • DMG packaging retries when Finder styling fails, making releases more reliable.
  • Languages
  • Annotation
  • Platform

iCloud history sync arrives

  • iCloud history sync ships: text syncs end-to-end encrypted, images sync encrypted thumbnails with originals fetched on demand, and file and recording contents sync optionally.
  • Sync status is visible in the list, the preview and the details view — upload progress, pending size, click to download.
  • Recording gained microphone and system audio capture options.
  • The free tier's 24-hour history window now has a clear notice and upgrade path, and sync settings preview even without Pro.
  • The sync engine closed a batch of edge cases: no duplicates on paste, re-uploads are updates rather than rejected inserts, and downloaded copies take part in LRU eviction.
  • iCloud sync
  • Recording
  • Licensing
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Better image decoding, with an SVG fallback

  • Image decoding was improved and SVG gained a rasterization fallback, so more formats preview correctly.

Localization refresh

  • Hint strings were updated across languages and deprecated entries removed.

Fill opacity control

  • The adjustable glyph button and fill opacity controls were refined.

Release tag sync

  • This tag carries no code changes of its own; it exists to keep the release record explicit.

The pipeline fails fast on bad signing

  • When the provisioning profile doesn't authorize the signing certificate, the release pipeline stops instead of shipping a broken build.

Fixes a launch failure in release builds

  • Reverts the CloudKit environment change that prevented release builds from launching.

0.3July 10, 2026 – July 15, 2026

Drag out to other apps, edit inside the preview

  • Clipboard items can be dragged straight into other applications.
  • Content is editable in place in the preview pane, without pasting it somewhere first.
  • Multi-select with combined paste, plus a dedicated history cleanup panel showing disk usage.
  • Screenshots and recordings carry localized prefixes in history, so they're easier to spot.
  • Panel
  • History

Capture a sheet on its own; pin multiple files

  • Picking an open sheet captures just that sheet, not the whole scaled window group.
  • Several files can be pinned at once, with improved panel navigation.
  • A demo mode hides Kopit's own interface during capture — useful when recording tutorials.
  • Screenshots
  • Desktop pins

A better hotkey recorder and unified filtering

  • The hotkey recorder was improved and new categories added.
  • Filtering moved to a unified type condition, so it behaves the same everywhere.
  • Search state resets when the panel closes, and title generation was rewritten.
  • Settings
  • Panel

Marquee-select annotations

  • Drag a marquee to select several annotations and move or resize them together.
  • Cursor behaviour and element mode during capture match expectations more closely.
  • Annotation
  • Screenshots

Edit freehand paths and rotate freely

  • Freehand strokes stay editable after you draw them.
  • Box-like elements can be rotated freely.
  • Annotation
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Annotation toolbar spacing

  • Tidies toolbar spacing and hotkey validation in the annotation editor.

The toolbar stays on screen

  • Improves clamping so the capture toolbar can't be pushed off screen.

Font sizing and consistent terminology

  • Font size management and outline width are easier to control in the text tool.
  • English and Japanese now say "pin" instead of "sticker", matching the rest of the product.

Watermark styling and inline editing

  • Watermarks gained more styling options and in-place editing.

Inline text editing with IME support

  • Annotation text is edited inline, and Chinese, Japanese and Korean input methods compose correctly.

Release tag sync

  • This tag carries no code changes of its own; it exists to keep the release record explicit.

0.2July 2, 2026 – July 10, 2026

A watermark tool

  • Annotation gained a watermark tool with editable content and styling.
  • Elements have individual opacity control, and the colour panel's focus handling was fixed.
  • Annotation

Scrolling capture v2 — auto-scroll and real progress

  • Scrolling capture can drive the scroll itself: inject, settle, measure, and correct its own overshoot.
  • Reading the scrollbar through accessibility gives a true progress percentage and an authoritative end of page.
  • The matching core moved to v2 — 2D band templates, dual-band validation and global relocalization — so strips stop misaligning or stalling.
  • Manual is the default mode, and you can flip between manual and automatic from the HUD at any time.
  • Scrolling capture

Load more, and keyboard navigation

  • The panel gained a "load more" action with improved selection navigation.
  • Panel

Instant previews, far less memory

  • Previews show a placeholder immediately and cache their derivatives on disk, so opening one is essentially instant.
  • Fixes gigabyte-scale memory spikes caused by viewport cropping at deep zoom.
  • Fixes a leak where closing a pin took its whole window stack — bitmap included — with it.
  • Performance
  • Panel
  • Desktop pins

A magnifier annotation tool

  • Annotation gained a resizable magnifier for calling out part of an image.
  • The glyph button is now continuously adjustable.
  • Annotation

Clean history by category

  • History can be cleaned up per category.
  • The preview pane can be toggled on and off.
  • Panel
  • History

Panel behaviour and sound settings

  • Settings gained panel behaviour options and a sound notification toggle.
  • Fixes flipped window-picker bounds on multi-display setups.
  • Settings
  • Screenshots

Menu capture and live colour picking

  • Menu capture and window selection are more accurate.
  • Colour picking previews live, and undo coalesces it into a single step.
  • Screenshots
  • Annotation

Shape fills and QR detection

  • Shapes can be filled with a solid colour.
  • Detected QR codes get a copy badge, so their contents are one click away.
  • The OCR button moved to the first toolbar row — one less click to grab text.
  • Annotation
  • Screenshots

Scrolling capture arrives

  • Scrolling capture ships: stitch as you scroll and take a long page or chat log in one shot.
  • The stitcher handles sticky headers and footers, so static regions can't skew the offset.
  • A large live preview sits beside the capture region, appending each new strip as it lands.
  • Window mode is supported, with several rounds of fixes for misjudged direction and stalls.
  • Scrolling capture

Screen recording arrives, in MP4 and GIF

  • Screen recording ships: record to MP4 or GIF, with pause and resume that collapses the gap in the timeline.
  • GIF export is roughly 60× faster, with a global median-cut palette and dithering for better quality.
  • A recording can be pinned to the desktop as a looping sticker, and the panel preview plays video and GIF inline.
  • The capture toolbar can be dragged as a whole, and the loupe zooms via scroll, − / = keys or a trackpad pinch.
  • Recording
  • Desktop pins
  • Screenshots

Screenshots and the annotation editor arrive

  • Region capture ships: adjustable selection, a separate overlay per display, window capture, rounded regions and a pixel loupe.
  • A built-in annotation editor draws straight onto the frozen screen — arrows, shapes, pen, highlighter, text, step badges, mosaic, blur, spotlight and crop.
  • Elements can be selected, moved, scaled, rotated and multi-selected, with undo/redo, ⌘C/X/V and single-key tool switching.
  • OCR is built in: enter Live Text mode in the editor, or capture text in one shot.
  • Results can be copied, saved, or pinned back exactly where they were captured.
  • Screenshots
  • Annotation
  • OCR
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IME support and dash defaults

  • Inline text editing completed its input method support.
  • Default dash length was adjusted for text and step badges.

Step badges gained leader arrows

  • Step badges can draw a leader arrow, so numbered callouts point clearly at their target.

Live Text improvements

  • Live Text analysis and interaction improved, with correct hit-testing inside the zoomable image view.

Pin viewport zoom

  • Improves viewport zoom and crop rendering for pinned content.

Multi-display hover fixes

  • Hover and ⌘ element mode route correctly across displays during multi-screen capture, with no leftover artifacts.
  • The element-detection hint no longer covers the candidate box.

Crop region and outlines

  • Improves the crop region and outline options in the annotation tools.

Localized element detection and permissions

  • Element detection hints and permission messaging are now translated.

0.1June 30, 2026 – July 2, 2026

Silent background updates

  • Updates download silently in the background and install when you choose; the current version is visible in the UI.
  • The menu was reorganised and hotkeys respond more promptly.
  • Updates
  • Settings

Encrypted history import and export

  • History can be exported and imported encrypted, with filters and progress.
  • Settings use a neutral dark palette, and sheet backdrops are opaque instead of showing content through.
  • The image category now includes single image files by default.
  • History
  • Settings
  • Updates
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Fixes a launch crash in shipped builds

  • Localization loads from the main bundle, fixing a crash on launch in the packaged .app.

Release tag sync

  • Identical in content to v0.0.6 — a duplicate release record on a parallel tag line.

Same content as v0.0.6

Release tag sync

  • Identical in content to v0.0.5 — a duplicate release record on a parallel tag line.

Same content as v0.0.5

Release tag sync

  • This tag carries no code changes of its own — a duplicate release record on a parallel tag line.

Same content as v0.0.4

0.0June 13, 2026 – July 1, 2026

Licensing and the free tier arrive

  • Licensing ships: device identity, trial registration, entitlements that apply immediately, and a dedicated Licence tab in settings.
  • The free tier uses a rolling history window, prompting to upgrade for anything beyond it.
  • Snippets can be imported and exported from settings.
  • The panel and pins moved to status-bar window level, so other windows can no longer cover them.
  • Licensing
  • Snippets

Sparkle auto-update

  • Auto-updates via Sparkle, with builds published to Cloudflare R2.
  • The update interface is localized, and release notes come from the tag message.
  • Updates
  • Platform

Text expansion, snippets and search highlighting

  • A text expansion engine with snippet management: define an abbreviation and expand it into your usual text in any app.
  • Tabs became a category system, and favourites gained manual management with titles.
  • Search matches are highlighted — including text found by OCR in images — and long content scrolls to the match.
  • Pins gained transparent reveal, scaling animations, and scroll-to-adjust opacity and font size; images support Live Text selection.
  • Adds save-to-file, content replacement, retention-based history pruning, and a localized interface.
  • Snippets
  • Panel
  • History
  • Languages

Desktop pins and drag-to-reorder

  • Desktop pins arrive: keep an image or a piece of text on your desktop, with edge resizing, arrow-key movement, magnification and opacity control.
  • The panel supports drag-to-reorder, tabs can be hidden or shown, and the favourites list reorders the same way.
  • Quick Look previews and code highlighting are integrated, and colour values render as swatches.
  • Thumbnail and full-image caches are separate and bounded, and the list warms at launch for smoother scrolling.
  • Desktop pins
  • Panel
  • Performance

The first Kopit release

  • The first downloadable build of Kopit, with an automated signing, notarization and DMG packaging pipeline.
  • Platform
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Universal binary for Apple silicon and Intel

  • Builds are now universal ARM64 and x86_64 binaries, running natively on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs.