Scry Snip
Beta
Snip is part of Scry Sync and is in beta. Mac support is in beta: you allow Screen Recording yourself, and may need to allow it again after an update (see Mac permission). Windows needs no permission.
Press a hotkey, select part of your screen, check the picture, and send it to a Scry project. The snip then shows up on your Snips page in the dashboard, and your coding agent can fetch it by asking for "the snip I just took". You do not need to connect a folder to use Snip. Scry also makes each snip searchable, so you can find it later by describing it.
What it does
- Takes the screenshot with a hotkey, from the Mac menu bar or the Windows system tray app.
- Shows a review card with the picture, so you can send it, mark it up, keep it on your computer or throw it away. Nothing leaves your computer until you press Send (see Review, then send).
- Puts the picture on your clipboard and saves a copy in a Snips folder on your computer, so you can paste it into any chat or document straight away.
- Sends it to your project, where you can share it or give it to an agent.
After you sign in for the first time, the app asks How do you want to use Scry? Choose Snip only if you do not want to sync a folder, or Sync a folder too.
Hotkeys
| Default hotkey | What you get | |
|---|---|---|
| Mac | Control + Option + 4 | Apple's own crosshair: drag to select, Space switches to a window, Esc cancels. |
| Windows | Ctrl + Shift + 4 | A dimmed overlay over a frozen picture of each screen: drag to select, Space moves the selection, Esc cancels. The size is shown while you drag. |
You can also snip from the tray menu: Snip now and Snip full screen. The tray menu also has Pause Snip (and Resume Snip) and a Recent snips list.
To change the hotkey, open Settings in Scry Sync, go to the Snip tab, press Record new and press the keys you want. If another app already uses those keys, Scry says so: "hotkey is used by another app. Pick another, or use Snip now from the tray."
Use Cmd+Shift+4 for Scry (Mac)
Mac already uses Cmd+Shift+4 for its own screenshot, so Scry does not take it by default. If you would rather use it for Snip, Settings > Snip has a Prefer Cmd+Shift+4? See how link that opens a short guide. The steps are:
- Open System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Screenshots.
- Untick Save picture of selected area as a file.
- Back in Scry, press Record new, then press Cmd+Shift+4.
Scry Sync never changes your Mac's settings. To undo it, tick the shortcut again in System Settings.
Review, then send
By default every snip stops at a review card. It shows the picture with Snip ready, says Copied to clipboard, and names the project it will go to. The buttons are:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Send | Uploads the snip to the project named on the card. Hover it to see the project name. |
| Search (magnifier) | Sends the snip and searches Scry with it. |
| Mark up (pencil) | Opens the picture so you can draw and add notes before you send it. M does the same. |
| More actions (the three dots) | Copy again puts the picture on your clipboard again. Keep local closes the card without sending and keeps the copy in your Snips folder. Discard throws it away. |
If the picture could not be copied, the card says Not copied and adds a Copy image button. Esc discards the snip.
If you do nothing for 30 seconds, the card moves the snip to Recent snips on your computer. It is not sent. After you press Send, the card says Sending… and then Sent, with the project name. If the upload fails the card says Not sent and offers Retry.
Send immediately is an option in Settings > Snip. It is off until you turn it on, and Scry explains what it does before it switches on. When it is on, a snip uploads as soon as you take it, and the card shows Undo for a moment. It applies to this computer only, and signing out turns it off.
Sharing, copying a link and deleting happen on the Snips page in the dashboard, not on the card.
Permissions
Mac: Screen Recording
macOS only lets an app read the screen after you allow it. The first time you snip, Scry shows a card, Let Scry Sync see your screen, with an Open System Settings button:
- Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen & System Audio Recording (called Screen Recording on macOS 14 and earlier).
- Turn on Scry Sync. If Scry Sync is not in the list yet, click the + button under the list, enter your Mac password, choose Scry Sync in Applications, and click Open.
- Quit and reopen Scry Sync (macOS offers Quit & Reopen). macOS only applies the change to an app that starts afterwards.
The first time you finish a region snip, macOS may also ask whether Scry Sync can bypass the system private window picker. Choose Allow.
Scry checks that it can really read the screen before it takes a snip. Without the permission macOS quietly hands back a plain wallpaper, and Scry would rather tell you than send you a useless picture. If the check cannot run, for example over a full-screen app, the card says Scry could not confirm Screen Recording and nothing is captured. Switch to a normal window and try again.
After an update. Mac updates are manual for now, and macOS may forget the Screen Recording permission when you install a new version. If a snip shows the Let Scry Sync see your screen card after an update, open the same System Settings page, switch Scry Sync off and on (or remove it and add it again), then quit and reopen Scry Sync. After a manual update you may also be asked to sign in again. The install page explains the first-open prompt.
Windows
Windows does not ask for permission. If a full-screen video or a protected window is in the way, Windows may return an empty picture. Scry then shows Windows did not give Scry the screen and saves nothing. Close the video or window and try again.
What the card says when it cannot snip
Scry tells you why instead of failing silently. Nothing is captured or saved when you see one of these.
| Card | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Snip is paused | You paused Snip. Choose Resume Snip. Pausing lasts through a restart or an update. Folder sync keeps running. |
| App is in front, not capturing | The app is on your Never snip while list (see below). |
| Scry needs Screen Recording | Mac only. See above. |
| That snip came out blank | The picture was all black, so nothing was saved or sent. Try again. |
| Snips folder is inside your synced folder | Snips are kept outside a synced folder so they are not uploaded twice. Choose another Snips folder in Settings. |
Settings
Open Settings > Snip.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Hotkey | Change the hotkey. Defaults are listed above. |
| Send mode | Review first (default) or Send immediately. |
| Snips folder | Where your local copies go. The default is Pictures/Scry Snips in your home folder. It must be outside any synced folder. |
| Keep local copies | How long Scry keeps the copies in your Snips folder: 7, 14, 30 (default), 90 or 365 days, or Keep them. This only affects your computer. |
| Never snip while | A list of apps (up to 50) where Snip refuses to capture, for example a password manager. Suggestions are 1Password, Bitwarden and Chase. |
| Index my snips | A switch, Make my snips searchable, on by default. Turn it off to keep your snips out of search. It is the same switch as on the Snips page in the dashboard (see Find your snips in search), so changing it in either place changes both. |
| Pause | Stop the hotkey until you resume. |
What is stored, and for how long
When you press Send, Scry stores, in the project you sent it to:
- The picture, as the original (a PNG, at most 4096 pixels on the long side), a smaller preview, and a small copy sized for AI assistants.
- A record: who took it, when, which project, the picture size, and a note if you add one.
- A search entry, unless you turned off Make my snips searchable: a short description of the picture written by AI, and numbers that let search match it. See Find your snips in search.
The app does not send which app or window the snip came from, and it does not send your folder paths or user name.
A snip stops being available 30 days after you send it. After that, you, the people it was shared with, and agents can no longer open it. The local copy in your Snips folder is separate and follows your Keep local copies setting. You can delete a snip earlier at any time (see Delete a snip). Deleting a project deletes all of its snips.
Snips are private to you until you share them. Project admins cannot see other people's snips, and that includes search.
Share a snip
On the Snips page, open a snip and choose Share. Only the person who took the snip can share or delete it.
| Level | Who can see it |
|---|---|
| People | Only the people you pick. |
| Organization | Anyone in your organization. |
| Whole project | Everyone who can open the project. |
| Anyone with the link | Anyone who has the link, with no sign-in. They see a preview only, never the original. |
Things to know about links:
- You choose how long a link lasts: 1, 7 (the default) or 30 days. A snip has one live link at a time.
- Scry shows the link once. Copy it now: after you close the dialog it is not shown again, and you would create a new one.
- Turn the link off at any time in the same dialog. An expired or turned-off link shows This link has expired or was turned off.
- People you share with cannot share it onward, but they can choose Remove from my view.
Snips shared with you are on the Shared with me tab. They also turn up when you search, see below.
Find your snips in search
Once you send a snip, Scry describes it and adds it to search, usually within a few seconds. After that you can find it on the dashboard's Image search page by describing it (for example "the blue pricing card" or "error toast") or by searching with a similar picture. Your coding agent can find it too: the Scry MCP server search tools include snips, marked as snips, and the agent can open one with get_capture.
Each snip on the Mine tab of the Snips page shows where it stands:
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Searchable | It is in search. |
| Indexing… | Scry is still describing it. The label updates by itself. |
| Not searchable (turned off) | You have Make my snips searchable switched off. |
| Could not make searchable | Something went wrong while describing it. Turn the switch off and on again, or tell us. |
| Not searchable | The snip was sent before snips could be searched, and has not been added. |
Who can find a snip
Only the people who can already open a snip can find it in search:
- You, for every snip you took.
- The people you shared it with, in the way you shared it: the people you picked, your organization, or everyone who can open the project.
- Nobody else. Other members of the project, project admins and people outside the project never see your private snip in their results. There is no placeholder and no count that hints it exists.
Search only shows snips to people who are signed in. A link on its own does not put a snip in anyone's results.
A snip leaves search when it is no longer available to the person looking: when it is deleted, when you stop sharing it with them, when they choose Remove from my view, when its owner leaves the project, and when it passes its 30 days. A snip someone removed from their own view leaves their results but stays with its owner.
Turn it off
Snips can show private screens, such as chat or email, so each person decides for their own snips. Use the Make my snips searchable switch:
- On the dashboard: open the Snips page, on the Mine tab.
- In Scry Sync: open Settings and find Index my snips. Older versions of Scry Sync do not have the switch; use the dashboard instead.
The text under the switch says: "Scry describes each snip with AI so you can find it by searching. Only people you share a snip with can find it."
While the switch is off, your new snips are not sent to AI for searching, and the ones already in search are taken out of it. Turning it back on adds your snips again. Pictures Scry has already described are not described a second time.
To describe a snip, Scry sends its picture to the same AI services that Scry uses to make your synced pictures searchable. They are listed on the subprocessor list. Turning the switch off stops this for new snips. It cannot take back a description that was already made.
Use a snip with your coding agent
An agent connected to the Scry MCP server can fetch your snips. Copy the id from the Snips page with Copy for agent (it copies "Look at Scry capture id"), or just describe what you did:
I just snipped the broken checkout button. Fix the spacing, and check it against the snip.
Look at Scry capture cap_7k3f and tell me what is off in the header.
What snips have I taken in the last hour? Then open the second one.
Show me what my teammate shared with me and tell me which one is about the settings page.
Behind the scenes the agent uses latest_capture, get_capture and list_captures. By default latest_capture only returns a snip from the last 15 minutes, so an agent never silently looks at an old picture; if yours is older, it tells you and asks. The agent sees a smaller copy of the picture, and can open the full-resolution original through a link that works for one hour. See the tools reference for the details.
An agent can also delete a snip you took, but only if you ask it to.
Delete a snip
- On the Snips page: open the snip and choose Delete. This removes the original, the pictures, any link and the snip's entry in search.
- From an agent: ask it to delete the snip, for example "Delete Scry capture cap_7k3f". Only your own snips can be deleted this way.
- Snips shared with you: use Remove from my view. The owner's copy is not affected.
- On your computer: the copy in your Snips folder is yours to delete. Scry also removes old copies after the number of days you chose in Keep local copies.
To remove everything, delete the project in the dashboard, which deletes its snips as well. To ask for your data to be deleted, email privacy@scrymore.com.
Troubleshooting
Nothing happens when I press the hotkey. Check that Snip is not paused (the tray menu says Resume Snip if it is), and that another app is not using the same keys. Try Snip now from the tray menu, or record a different hotkey in Settings > Snip.
Mac says Scry needs Screen Recording, but it is already on. Quit and reopen Scry Sync. If it still says so after an update, switch Scry Sync off and on in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen Recording.
The snip is on my computer but not in the dashboard. The card says Not sent when the upload fails; press Retry. Snips you Save or let time out stay in Recent snips until you send them.
A snip does not show up in search. Look at its label on the Mine tab of the Snips page. Indexing… means wait a few seconds. Not searchable (turned off) means Make my snips searchable is off; turn it on. A snip you sent before snips could be searched shows Not searchable. For a snip someone shared with you, ask them to check that they still share it and that their switch is on.
More help: Scry Sync troubleshooting, Send feedback in the app's Settings, or support@scrymore.com.
See also: What Scry Sync sends and collects.