Add a --preview flag in wayshot CLI

[xonx4l]

Before saving or copying to clipboard, open a simple window showing the captured screenshot. Allow the user to confirm (Enter) or discard (Esc).

We can adapt this code from libwayshot/examples/waymirror.rs
to run before saving/copying.
or
Could use a lightweight GUI crate .

[Suryansh-Dey]

I think it breaks it's philosophy of staying minimalist. If maintainer want, should I add a --view option. If specified, it will still save the image but opens it up in his default image viewer, which generally have delete button inbuilt.
I think passing on preview thing to a previewer app of user's choice, is in line with unix philosophy?

[Anshi321]

Hi @xonx4l,

I’m interested in working on this feature and wanted to clarify the preferred direction before starting. The idea of showing a preview window and allowing the user to confirm (Enter) or discard (Esc) makes a lot of sense.

I noticed the reference to libwayshot/examples/waymirror.rs. Would the expectation be to adapt that example directly for a simple preview flow, or would you prefer a more minimal approach using a lightweight GUI crate just for confirmation?

Also, should --preview block until user input before proceeding with save/copy, or should it be optional depending on the output mode?

Once clarified, I can start with a small, focused implementation. Thanks!

[Shinyzenith]

Hi, we aren't flameshot and I'd rather not make it that way.

[Anshi321]

Understood — thank you for the clarification.

I’ll focus on a minimal preview flow for the --preview flag, keeping it lightweight and non-GUI-heavy, with simple confirmation before saving or copying.

[Diax170]

You can do this with Swappy. Use wayshot --silent - | swappy -f -. Then you can either click the save button or close the window. By default it will save to ~/Desktop but you can change this in ~/.config/swappy/config:

[Default]
save_dir=/some/other/save/directory

[Diax170]

But I might as well share that fzf snippet which lets you select a window to screenshot with preview:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

preview=$(mktemp)

cat << 'EOF' > "$preview"
#!/usr/bin/env sh
printf '\033_Ga=d,d=A\033\\' # clear out images using Kitty graphics protocol
wayshot --toplevel "$1" --silent - | chafa --animate false -s "${FZF_PREVIEW_COLUMNS}x${FZF_PREVIEW_LINES}" -
EOF

chmod +x -- "$preview"

temp="$(mktemp)"

kitty --app-id kittymyscreenshot sh -c "wayshot --list-toplevels |
  grep -v '^kittymyscreenshot ' |
  fzf --color prompt:green,pointer:green,current-bg:-1,current-fg:green,gutter:-1,border:bright-black,current-hl:red,hl:red \
    --cycle \
    --sync \
    --bind 'tab:down,shift-tab:up,q:abort,j:down,k:up,l:accept,right:accept' \
    --wrap \
    --preview '$preview {}' \
    --preview-window=down:80% \
    --no-input \
    --disabled \
    --layout=reverse > '$temp'" || exit

rm -f -- "$preview"

window="$(cat -- "$temp")"
rm -f -- "$temp"
test -z "$window" && exit 1

wayshot --toplevel "$window"

It uses kitty to display the selector window, fzf as a selector and chafa to render the previews

You can also add a window rule in Sway to make it floating:

for_window [app_id="^kittymyscreenshot$"] floating enable; resize set 1000 px 600 px

[Diax170]

I also made a confirmation dialog with yad and imagemagick:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

destination="${1:-screenshot.png}"
previewdim="1280x720"

screenshot="$(mktemp XXXXX.png)"
output="$(swaymsg -t get_outputs | jq -r '.[] | select(.focused).name')"
wayshot -o "$output" --silent -- "$screenshot"

preview="$(mktemp XXXXX.png)"
magick "$screenshot" -resize "$previewdim" "$preview"
yad --question --title "Save screenshot?" --image="$preview" && cp -- "$screenshot" "$destination"

rm -f -- "$preview" "$screenshot"

Sway window rule:

for_window [app_id="^yad$"] floating enable; border normal; resize set 1300px 600px