1. Project Overview & Quickstart (flameshot-org/LICENSE)
LICENSE
Open-source repository flameshot-org/LICENSE
Repository Details
- Repository: flameshot-org/LICENSE
- Primary Language: Code
Note: High-volume repository documentation is actively indexed and synchronized by YakaAI.
2. Official Technical Reference & Guides (flameshot-org/flameshot-org.github.io)
File: README.md
[Flameshot.org](https://flameshot.org)
Powerful yet simple to use screenshot software.
This is the repository of flameshot.org. For the software code, you should go to the main repository.
This static website is powered by zola.
Development
building the website locally
It is essential that you build the website locally on your computer (it would take about 1 second) to check if the changes you have made are correctly getting converted to HTML. Typically typos can mess things up.
To build the website, you first need to install zola (zola v0.22.1) (the static website generator that we use for this website), and then follow these steps:
- Navigate to the root directory of the cloned repository
- Run
zola serveto start a local server for development- look for possible errors or messages
- Open
127.0.0.1:1111in your browser to see the website
The browser will automatically refresh on any changes made. Sass is setup to auto compile when the scss is edited.
Convention
Please follow these conventions while trying to contribute (click on each item to open the details):
Code blocks
Please make sure to define the language in the markdown:
´´´sh
some commands here</li> <li> Images of pages in `/content/docs/` - Image related to each markdown file goes into the dedicated folder for that markdown file. For instance the images of file `/content/docs/guide/wayland-help.md` goes into the folder `/static/media/content/docs/guide/wayland-help/`. - Please make sure there is no copy-righted content in the image - Please make sure the size is not too wide or too long - For creating arrows and markings, please use the `#fa0164` color - Please consider adding the caption/alt-text (it goes between double quotes after the address of the image path. Check the example below) Example of a good practice: ```mdReferencing Flameshot buttons
The convention is to have the name of the button first (you can run Flameshot and use your mouse to hover over the button and see what it's name is), and then the icon.
For the icon you can find the button you want in:https://github.com/flameshot-org/flameshot/tree/master/data/img/material/black
and then replace the filename with the
XXXXin the following line:htmlSpelling
Although we are not very strict, but the preferred spelling is the American spelling of the words (e.g "analyze" instead of "analyse").
When in doubt, please check the word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Again, don't sweat about it, but it is good to be consistent.Body text
- Although not very strict, it is preferred to have one sentence per line (this can be avoided in lists as it can break the continuity in Markdown lists
- The paragraphs should be separated by one empty line, and sections and headings by two empty lines
- try avoiding complicated words, but if you want to use one, please consider linking it to it's definition in Wordnik or Merriam-Webster.
File: content/docs/advanced/_index.md
+++
title = "Advanced"
description = "Flameshot is a powerful yet simple to use screenshot software."
template = "docs/section.html"
sort_by = "weight"
weight = 4
draft = false
insert_anchor_links = "left"
+++
File: content/docs/advanced/commandline-options.md
+++
title = "Command Line Options"
description = "Flameshot is a powerful yet simple to use screenshot software."
date = 2021-05-01T18:20:00+00:00
updated = 2021-05-01T18:20:00+00:00
draft = false
weight = 2
sort_by = "weight"
template = "docs/page.html"
[extra]
lead = "Flameshot commandline options."
toc = true
top = false
+++
Usage
You can always use --help for all commands or subcommands of Flameshot.
Note: On Windows, you have to use flameshot-cli instead of flameshot!
# ___ command
# |
# ,---^---,
flameshot --help
# '--v--'
# |
# -- Argument
# ___ command ____ Argument
# | |
# ,---^---, ,--^--,
flameshot gui --help
# 'v'
# |
# -- SubcommandExample commands:
capture with GUI:
shflameshot guicapture with GUI with custom save path:
shflameshot gui --path ~/myStuff/capturesopen GUI with a delay of 2 seconds:
shflameshot gui --delay 2000fullscreen capture (asking savepath):
shflameshot fullfullscreen capture with custom save path (no GUI) and delayed:
shflameshot full --path ~/myStuff/captures --delay 5000fullscreen capture with custom save path copying to clipboard:
shflameshot full --clipboard --path ~/myStuff/captures
In case of doubt choose the first or the second command as shortcut in your favorite desktop environment.
A systray icon will be in your system's panel while Flameshot is running.
Do a right click on the tray icon and you'll see some menu items to open the configuration window and the information window.
Check out the information window to see all the available shortcuts in the graphical capture mode.
Final Actions
In Flameshot (version 11.0.0 or later) we now have the concept of "final actions". These are things you would like to do after you have done with annotating your screenshot. The final actions are:
--path: Where the screenshot should be stored (can be path to the folder or the file)--clipboard: Whether the screenshot should be copied to the clipboard--raw: Send the screenshot to stdout--upload: Upload the screenshot--pin: Pin the screenshot--print-geometry: Write the position and dimension of the screenshot to stdout
The benefit of having the concept of Final Actions is that you can use more than one of them at the same time. For instance you can pin, copy to clipboard, save to a file, and get the geometry of the screenshot using this:
flameshot gui --pin --clipboard --path "~/Pictures" --print-geometryThese Final Actions can be used with --accept-on-select to immediately capture the selected area immediately after the mouse release.
Note that when you provide one or more Final Actions, the
"Copy" ,
"Save" ,
"Image Upload" ,
and "Pin Tool" buttons will be removed from the buttons in flameshot gui and instead you will see a "Accept" button.
CLI configuration
You can use the graphical menu to configure Flameshot, but alternatively you can use your terminal or scripts to do so.
open the configuration menu:
shflameshot configshow the initial help message in the capture mode:
shflameshot config --showhelp trueto check mistakes and issues in the configuration file:
shflameshot config --checkfor more information about the available options use the help flag:
shflameshot config --help
Available CLI options based on `--help`
This would list the available subcommands:
❯ flameshot --help
Usage: flameshot [flameshot-options] [subcommands]
Per default runs Flameshot in the background and adds a tray icon for configuration.
Options:
-h, --help Displays this help
-v, --version Displays version information
Subcommands:
gui Start a manual capture in GUI mode.
screen Capture a screenshot of the specified monitor.
full Capture screenshot of all monitors at the same time.
launcher Open the capture launcher.
config Configure flameshot.This would show the acceptable arguments for the gui sumcommand:
❯ flameshot gui --help
Usage: flameshot gui [gui-options]
Per default runs Flameshot in the background and adds a tray icon for configuration.
Options:
-p, --path Existing directory or new file to save to
-c, --clipboard Save the capture to the clipboard
-d, --delay <milliseconds> Delay time in milliseconds
--region <WxH+X+Y or string> Screenshot region to select
--last-region Repeat screenshot with previously selected region
-r, --raw Print raw PNG capture
-g, --print-geometry Print geometry of the selection in the format WxH+X+Y. Does nothing if raw is specified
-u, --upload Upload screenshot
--pin Pin the capture to the screen
-s, --accept-on-select Accept capture as soon as a selection is made
-h, --help Displays this helpThis would show the acceptable arguments for the screen sumcommand:
❯ flameshot screen --help
Usage: flameshot screen [screen-options]
Per default runs Flameshot in the background and adds a tray icon for configuration.
Options:
-n, --number <Screen number> Define the screen to capture (starting from 0),
default: screen containing the cursor
-c, --clipboard Save the capture to the clipboard
-p, --path Existing directory or new file to save to
-d, --delay <milliseconds> Delay time in milliseconds
--region <WxH+X+Y or string> Screenshot region to select
-r, --raw Print raw PNG capture
-u, --upload Upload screenshot
--pin Pin the capture to the screen
-h, --help Displays this helpThis would show the acceptable arguments for the full sumcommand:
❯ flameshot full --help
Usage: flameshot full [full-options]
Per default runs Flameshot in the background and adds a tray icon for configuration.
Options:
-p, --path Existing directory or new file to save to
-c, --clipboard Save the capture to the clipboard
-d, --delay <milliseconds> Delay time in milliseconds
--region <WxH+X+Y or string> Screenshot region to select
-r, --raw Print raw PNG capture
-u, --upload Upload screenshot
-h, --help Displays this helpThis would show the acceptable arguments for the launcher sumcommand:
❯ flameshot launcher --help
Usage: flameshot launcher [launcher-options]
Per default runs Flameshot in the background and adds a tray icon for configuration.
Options:
-h, --help Displays this helpThis would show the acceptable arguments for the config sumcommand:
❯ flameshot config --help
Usage: flameshot config [config-options]
Per default runs Flameshot in the background and adds a tray icon for configuration.
Options:
-a, --autostart Enable or disable run at startup
-n, --notifications Enable or disable the notifications
-f, --filename Set the filename pattern
-t, --trayicon Enable or disable the trayicon
-s, --showhelp Show the help message in the capture mode
-m, --maincolor <color-code> Define the main UI color
-k, --contrastcolor <color-code> Define the contrast UI color
--check Check the configuration for errors
-h, --help Displays this helpExit codes
Flameshot returns different exit codes to indicate the result of the operation:
- 0: Normal exit - The command completed successfully
- 2: Screenshot aborted - The user cancelled or aborted the screenshot operation
- 3: DBus connection lost - Flameshot was unable to connect via DBus
- 130: SIGINT received - The process was interrupted (Ctrl+C)
- 143: SIGTERM received - The process was terminated by the system
These exit codes can be useful when using Flameshot in scripts or automation workflows to determine the outcome of the screenshot operation.
File: content/docs/advanced/configuration.md
+++
title = "Configuration"
description = "Flameshot is a powerful yet simple to use screenshot software."
date = 2021-05-01T18:20:00+00:00
updated = 2021-05-01T18:20:00+00:00
draft = false
weight = 1
sort_by = "weight"
template = "docs/page.html"
[extra]
lead = "Flameshot Configuration."
toc = true
top = false
+++
GUI mode
Right-click the system tray icon and select Configuration.
CLI mode
Linux
You can modify the configuration file located at ~/.config/flameshot/flameshot.ini.
File: content/docs/advanced/protecting-your-privacy.md
+++
title = "Protecting your privacy"
description = "Flameshot is a powerful yet simple to use screenshot software."
date = 2021-05-01T18:20:00+00:00
updated = 2021-05-01T18:20:00+00:00
draft = false
weight = 2
sort_by = "weight"
template = "docs/page.html"
[extra]
lead = "Protecting your Privacy"
toc = true
top = false
+++
Flameshot is an easy to use software, and it gives user lots of room to do what they want. This means that some parts of the software may be used carelessly and can potentially affect your privacy. In this page we try to summaries some of the things that you should consider while using Flameshot (and perhaps any other screenshot tool) to improve your workflow in terms of privacy. To re-iterate, in this page we are focusing on Flameshot, but the same can be applied to any other software that can take a screenshot.
Upload
One of the features that Flameshot provide is the "Image Upload" tool. With this tool you can quickly upload a screenshot to Imgur. We have put enough warnings and safety checks in place to help the user to manage that:
Alerting the user before uploading
Allowing user to delete the image after being uploaded
Of course, you should remember that once something is online, it is not under your control anymore. So use the upload at your own risk.
Blur and Pixelation
In general, blurring is not a good privacy protector:
Hill, Steven, Zhimin Zhou, Lawrence K. Saul, and Hovav Shacham. "On the (In) effectiveness of Mosaicing and Blurring as Tools for Document Redaction." Proc. Priv. Enhancing Technol. 2016, no. 4 (2016): 403-417.
There are already some software that can use some basic machine learning to de-blur the image and get the content out.
In Flameshot we do not suggest using blur for privacy but rather to attract the focus of the viewer to other parts. If you want to protect your privacy, you can use pixelate tool. It is activated when the size of the blur tool is increased. But please note that, as have been demonstrated, if the pixelation is used and the pixel size is relatively small, it still can contain enough information (especially when the language, font, and font size is known) to find the content of the pixelated area. I personally suggest using a pixel size that is larger than your line height and each pixel covers at least one character.
The pixelation in Flameshot is merged with the blur tool if the pixel size is 1, then Flameshot uses blur, and if it is larger than 1, it will use pixelation with specified size. To change any tool size, including pixelation tool, you can either use your mouse scroll or you can directly type the number and wait for half a second. Both these methods can be used 1) while drawing the pixelated area, 2) after selecting the tool and before starting drawing, or 3) after the object is drawn, you can deselect any active tool, and then select the object and change the size.
Of course perhaps the safest way is to draw a filled rectangle using the Rectangle tool .
File: content/docs/guide/_index.md
+++
title = "Guide"
description = "Flameshot is a powerful yet simple to use screenshot software."
template = "docs/section.html"
sort_by = "weight"
weight = 3
draft = false
insert_anchor_links = "left"
+++
File: content/docs/guide/faq.md
+++
title = "FAQ"
description = "Flameshot is a powerful yet simple to use screenshot software."
date = 2021-05-01T08:00:00+00:00
updated = 2021-05-01T08:00:00+00:00
draft = false
weight = 1
sort_by = "weight"
template = "docs/page.html"
[extra]
lead = 'Frequently asked questions about common problems with Flameshot and how to solve them.'
toc = true
top = false
+++
macOS
I don't have PrintScreen key, how to take screenshot?
Check our keyboard shortcut page for more information.
On macOS Flameshot only captures a blank desktop
When running Flameshot on MacOs, you must grant it permission to screen record. See troubleshooting for more information.
I can't launch Flameshot on macOS
Check the solution at troubleshooting.
Linux
Flameshot freezes after capturing an image
By default Flameshot requires a notification manager. Notifications are sent to the notification manager via d-bus. If either d-bus or the notification manager is not properly configured, Flameshot will freeze for 30 seconds.
Fix 1: Install a notification manager
Fix 2: Manually edit the config file at ~/.config/flameshot/flameshot.ini and add the following line: showDesktopNotification=false
Flameshot doesn't start / no tray icon
When Flameshot is started with a system launcher or from the CLI it starts a daemon in the background. To interact with this daemon through a graphical client your desktop environment must support a system tray. See the README for tips on setting up a system tray.
This sometimes causes pain for Arch users running Gnome, because the system tray extension becomes out of sync with gnome upon a new gnome release. Please do not report this as a bug in Flameshot. We are reliant on a system tray and have no intention to change this.
With fractional scaling my screen appears shifted
There is a known issue in Qt related to fractional scaling and full screen applications. We are hoping this is resolved in Qt6. See this post for more details.
On Linux using Cinnamon, the tray icon does not show
It seems there is a bug in Cinnamon that creates a loading race which will cause some software to load before the tray area is loaded. The solution as proposed by a Cinnamon user is to create a loading delay for all the applications that are affected by this bug: for all the .desktop files in ~/.config/autostart in the "[Desktop Entry] section add the following line (you can try reducing the delay and check what is the optimal value for your computer as it can depend on the load, computational power and disk IO):
X-GNOME-Autostart-Delay=3File: content/docs/guide/get-artifact-from-github-actions.md
+++
title = "Get artifacts from Github Actions"
description = "An easy-to-follow guide on how to download pre-compiled Flameshot builds from github"
date = 2026-03-27T12:43:55+02:00
updated = 2026-03-27T12:43:55+02:00
draft = false
weight = 1
sort_by = "weight"
template = "docs/page.html"
[extra]
lead = 'Get artifacts from Github Actions'
toc = true
top = false
+++
Very brief introduction
Flameshot uses the CI/CD system that is provided by Github, called Github Actions. CI stands for Continuous Integration which in simple terms is the automatic building system that the project use.
In this page We explain how to download the pre-compiled files in case you want to use unstable builds of Flameshot. The reason for "unstable" is that these are bleeding edge builds and although in general they are trying to improve Flameshot, they might as well introduce new bugs. As always, use at your own risk. Many Free/Libre OpenSource Software projects on Github use the Github Actions too, so this instructions can be to some extent similar across all projects, but of course there will be also some obvious differences that you can figure it out by spending a little more time on them.
Also, as a side-note, the numbers in the images of this instructions illustrate the orders of places you should click and they don't correspond to the number of the steps.
Open the Actions tab from Github and filter based on "master" branch and the status of "success". Alternatively you can click here.
From the left menu, select the type of packaging you want. For example in your case you are looking for files to be installed on Linux, select the one that has the word "linux".
click on the first item in the main list. The name of the item shows what has changed in Flameshot before this particular build:
Select the type of build you are looking for. For example for Flatpak:
After the step above, you will see the detail of the this particular build. So navigate to "Artifact Upload" and unfold it.
The last line of the "Artifact upload" section should have the link to the "artifact". Artifact is the final product of the build that you can download and install. Typically in tha Flameshot project, artifacts are uploaded as zip files, so you should extract them after downloading and before installing or running.
File: content/docs/guide/imgur_help.md
+++
title = "Imgur help"
description = "Here we explain some of the Imgur-related issues and topics."
date = 2022-07-29T00:26:24+03:00
updated = 2023-09-16T14:20:52+03:00
draft = false
weight = 2
sort_by = "weight"
template = "docs/page.html"
[extra]
lead = 'Here we explain some of the Imgur-related issues and topics.'
toc = true
top = true
+++
Creating your own custom Client ID
In Flameshot we have provided our users with a common Client ID with which they can upload their screenshots without creating their own accounts on Imgur, but considering the sheer volume of our ever-growing users it can happen more often that the users get an error similar to the following from Imgur which indicates that our hourly quota is full:
Error transferring https://api.imgur.com/3/image?title=&description=2022-07-12_12-26 - server replied: nginx
To mitigate that, since version 11.0.0, users can use their own Client ID. This way their quota would be independent of other Flameshot users. To create your own Client ID, you can follow the following steps:
Login to your Imgur account
register a new application with the following settings:
Copy the "Client ID" of the application you created:
paste it in the correct place in the Flameshot config:
In case you ever forget your Client ID, you can always find it in https://imgur.com/account/settings/apps
More information available in https://api.imgur.com .
I have my own custom Client ID in Imgur, but I cannot find the uploaded picture in my profile
The way the communication between Flameshot and Imgur works is that your Client ID only means that you are using a separate upload quota. Whatever you upload is still uploaded anonymously to Imgur and is not tied to your profile. This is clearly explained in Imgur documentation:
For public read-only and anonymous resources, such as getting image info, looking up user comments, etc. all you need to do is send an authorization header with your client_id in your requests. This also works if you'd like to upload images anonymously (without the image being tied to an account), or if you'd like to create an anonymous album. This lets us know which application is accessing the API.
For this reason, no one (including Flameshot developers) can modify or delete the photo you upload. There are two exceptions to this rule: Imgur staff, and the client that has uploaded the image (meaning the copy of Flameshot you have on your computer).
How can I delete an uploaded photo
There are two steps in Flameshot by which you can delete the uploaded image (explained below). If these do not work, you have to contact Imgur and give them detailed information and ask them to remove the photo.
From the Upload Image window:
From the Upload History window:
File: content/docs/guide/issue-reporting.md
+++
title = "Issue Reporting"
description = "Flameshot is a powerful yet simple to use screenshot software."
date = 2021-05-01T08:00:00+00:00
updated = 2021-05-01T08:00:00+00:00
draft = false
weight = 9
sort_by = "weight"
template = "docs/page.html"
[extra]
lead = 'Reporting your issues with Flameshot.'
toc = true
top = false
+++
In this page we explain how to properly extract your system information so that you can report it in a GitHub issue Here we discuss commands to be used in a GNU/Linux system. We might later add similar information for Windows users.
Flameshot version
flameshot --versionThe output would look like:
textFlameshot v0.8.3 Compiled with Qt 5.15.0
Quick collection of the system information
Providing the output of this command would usually be enough for a bug report. For much more detailed method, move on to the next section. This method uses a tool that is most probably installed on your computer names inxi and it can quickly collect the graphical information we need. We are only interested in the "systemS" and "Graphics" section:
inxi --width 80 --system --graphicswhich should produce an output similar to the following:
textSystem: Host: MyBox Kernel: 5.10.15-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.20.5 Distro: Manjaro Linux Graphics: Device-1: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel Device-2: NVIDIA GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 6GB] driver: nvidia v: 460.39 Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.10 driver: loaded: modesetting,nvidia unloaded: nouveau resolution: 1: 1080x1920~60Hz 2: 1080x1920~60Hz 3: 1920x1080~60Hz OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 460.39
Detailed methods
Display Server Protocol
Basically what we want to know is if you are using X or Wayland. If you want to know what they are and what they do You can read this article.
You can use the following command to determine which one do you use:
loginctl show-session $(loginctl show-user $(whoami) -p Display --value) -p Type --valueMonitor(s) information
You can get lots of information about the monitors, but we are interested to see only those that are active and in use. You can use xrandr command to get the monitor information and here we presenta short version and a long version. The long version is more useful since it also contains information about the orientation of the monitor.
Short format:
xrandr --listactivemonitorsThe output would look like:
textMonitors: 3 0: +*HDMI-1-1 1920/509x1080/286+1080+0 HDMI-1-1 1: +HDMI-0 1080/509x1920/286+3000+0 HDMI-0 2: +HDMI-1 1080/509x1920/286+0+80 HDMI-1
Long format:
xrandr | grep -v " disconnected "The output would look like:
text
/* Detailed source-code truncated for AI context efficiency. */
### Graphics card information
For graphics card there are also many ways to get the information but the most two common routes are:
```sh
update-pciids # you might need to run this with sudo
lspci | grep -i 'vga\|3d\|2d'The output would look like:
text00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 06) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 6GB] (rev a1)
and
# in some systems lshw is not installed by default
lshw -class displayThe output would look like:
textWARNING: you should run this program as super-user. *-display description: VGA compatible controller product: GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 6GB] vendor: NVIDIA Corporation physical id: 0 bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0 version: a1 width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0 resources: irq:35 memory:d2000000-d2ffffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff memory:d0000000-d1ffffff ioport:e000(size=128) memory:c0000-dffff *-display description: VGA compatible controller product: Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller vendor: Intel Corporation physical id: 2 bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0 version: 06 width: 64 bits clock: 33MHz capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list configuration: driver=i915 latency=0 resources: irq:32 memory:d3400000-d37fffff memory:b0000000-bfffffff ioport:f000(size=64) WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.
Operating system information
There are many ways to get such information. Perhaps the easiest one is via the following command:
uname -awhich gives an output similar to the following:
textLinux MyComputer 5.8.11-1-MANJARO #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Sep 23 14:35:40 UTC 2020 x86_64 GNU/Linux
DBus log
This is a very simple step and it will give us how different parts of Flameshot are communicating with each other via DBus. Just follow these instructions and provide us the output of the first terminal:
- Open 3 terminals
- Kill Flameshot if it is already open using:sh
pkill flameshot - In the first terminal run:sh
dbus-monitor --session sender=org.flameshot.Flameshot - In the second terminal run:sh
flameshot - In the third terminal run the command you want us to investigate. For example:sh
flameshot gui - Copy the following into the text of your Github issue:html
The dbus-monitor content ``` REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR DBUS LOG ``` - Replace the line in the middle with the content of the first terminal
We encourage you to read this short log file and make sure there is nothing personal in it (it should not contain personal info anyways).