Notate

Annotate anything on your screen — for humans and their agents.

Download for Mac View on GitHub

Requires macOS 15 or later

Features

  • - Freeze the screen. The frame is taken the instant you ask for it — open menus, hover and focus states included. Nothing underneath can move while you annotate.
  • - Record frames. Capture over time instead of a single still. Scrub the candle timeline and annotate any frame.
  • - No tools. Click plants a numbered pin. Drag draws an arrow. Close a loop and it snaps to a clean shape. The gesture decides.
  • - Agent-ready exports. Two modes. Text & Image copies your numbered comments as markdown an agent can act on, and saves the picture. Image copies one picture with the comments joined on.
  • - Honest dedupe. Identical frames collapse behind gap markers. Nothing is dropped, so the strip stays truthful about what was captured.
  • - Smart crop. If every mark lands inside one window, the export crops to that window instead of your whole desktop.
  • - Sessions you can reopen. Every annotation is kept as a portable archive. Reopen one and continue where you stopped.
Freeze & Annotate. A frozen screen with numbered comment pins.
Freeze & Annotate. A frozen screen with numbered comment pins.
Record & Annotate. The candle timeline with an annotated frame.
Record & Annotate. The candle timeline with an annotated frame.
No tools. A frame with a pin, an arrow, an ellipse, a rectangle and a line.
No tools. A frame with a pin, an arrow, an ellipse, a rectangle and a line.
Agent-ready exports. The markdown pasted into an agent, which then opens the annotated image.
Agent-ready exports. The markdown pasted into an agent, which then opens the annotated image.

Questions before you install.

What is Notate for?

Anything where pointing beats describing: design and motion review, product walkthroughs, code review, handoffs. Freeze a hover or focus state no screenshot tool can catch, pin the frame where an animation breaks, or mark up a diff, then send numbered pins to a teammate or a coding agent.

Why does it need Screen Recording permission?

Used to read your screen when you capture.

Where do my captures go?

To a folder on your Mac, with the path and your comments on the clipboard.

What does the export look like?

Two modes. Text & Image copies markdown with your numbered comments, and saves the picture. Image copies one picture with the comments joined on.

What is a .notate file?

A portable, versioned archive of one session — images and comments together. Reopen it and keep annotating.

Is it free?

Yes. Notate is free, open source, and MIT licensed. Downloads are distributed as a DMG through GitHub Releases.