Region capture on every display
A global hotkey dims all your displays so you can drag out a region. Capture uses ScreenCaptureKit at native Retina resolution, and Esc or right-click cancels.
Open source · macOS 14+ · Universal binary · Menu Bar Utility
Keep the reference
right where you need it
Press Control-Shift-1, drag over any part of your screen, and it becomes a floating window that stays on top. Resize it, fade it, or click through it.
Free & MIT licensed · Apple Silicon & Intel · Latest release
Features
Capture, float, adjust, dismiss.
Everything you need to keep a reference in view, and nothing you don't.
Pins that stay on top
Each pin appears exactly where the pixels were taken. It floats over other windows, on all Spaces and over full-screen apps, without stealing focus.
Resize, fade, click through
Drag the edges to resize with the aspect ratio locked. Option-scroll or use the right-click menu to set opacity down to 10 percent, or let the mouse pass straight through.
Pin from the clipboard
A second hotkey, Control-Shift-2, pins any PNG, TIFF, JPEG or PDF image on your clipboard, centered on the pointer and scaled to fit the screen.
Copy, save, or remember
Copy a pin back to the clipboard, save it as PNG, or turn on remembering to restore your pins at the next launch. Show, hide or close all of them from the menu bar.
Rebindable hotkeys
Change both hotkeys in Settings, along with default opacity, a soft drop shadow and launch at login. Double-click a pin to flip it to a thumbnail and back.
Screenshots
See it in action.
Install
Up and running in a minute.
PinShotFloat is open source and not notarized with a paid Apple Developer ID, so macOS needs one extra step the first time.
- Download PinShotFloat-macOS.zip and unzip it.
- Move PinShotFloat.app to your Applications folder.
- Clear the quarantine flag once, then right-click the app and choose Open:
xattr -cr /Applications/PinShotFloat.app
- When you first capture, grant Screen Recording in System Settings Privacy Security Screen System Audio Recording, then relaunch the app if macOS asks.
Download
Get PinShotFloat for macOS
Free, forever. Built for macOS 14 Sonoma or newer, Apple Silicon and Intel.
Not notarized: on first launch right-click PinShotFloat.app → Open.
- macOS 14 Sonoma+
- Universal (Apple Silicon + Intel)
- MIT licensed · open source
- No ads, no accounts, no telemetry
- Built with Claude Code · how and why
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Is PinShotFloat really free and open source?
Yes. It is released under the MIT license, with no accounts, subscriptions or ads. If it saves you time you can support development through the Ko-fi button in the menu bar or Settings.
What permissions does it need?
Screen Recording, so it can capture a region of your screen. Launch at login is optional and uses the standard login item system. It does not ask for Accessibility or Microphone access.
Where is my data stored?
Only on your Mac. The app has no network access. If you enable remembering pins, they are saved as PNG files with a small JSON manifest in ~/Library/Application Support/PinShotFloat/Pins.
Why isn't the app notarized?
Notarization requires a paid Apple Developer account, and this is a free project. Right-click the app and choose Open once to launch it, or build it yourself from source with Xcode.
Was this written by AI?
Yes. PinShotFloat was generated by Claude Code from a written spec as a clean-room reimplementation, with no code or assets from any commercial app. The full source is on GitHub under MIT, so you can read every line before you run it. It has had less human review than a hand-written app, so bug reports are welcome.
Support ❤️
Built by one person, given away for free.
PinShotFloat is a free, open-source alternative to paid utilities. If it earns a spot on your Mac, a coffee keeps the updates coming.
☕ Support Or on Ko-fi