Why this exists

You want a short clip of part of your screen: a demo of an app, a bug to send a developer, a how-to for a client. Most screen recorders make you install a heavy app, sign in, learn a timeline editor, or export through a watermark. All you actually wanted was to draw a box around something and get an MP4.

This skill does exactly that. It generates a small PowerShell tool that dims the screen, lets you drag a box over the area you want, records it with FFmpeg, and saves a clean video file the moment you click Stop. No account, no editor, no watermark. Silent by default, so it is ideal for demos that get a voiceover or music added later.

How it works

Run the command

Drag a box

Record

Click Stop

Get the MP4

You run the skill Type /screen-record in Claude Code. It checks that FFmpeg is installed, writes a small PowerShell recorder into your project, and launches it.
You drag a box over what you want The screen dims and your cursor becomes a crosshair. Click and drag a rectangle around the area to capture. A teal outline shows your selection. Press Esc to cancel.
Recording starts, a Stop button appears A small "Stop and Save" button sits in the top corner, always on top. FFmpeg captures only the rectangle you drew, including the mouse cursor, at 30 frames per second.
You click Stop The recorder finalises the file properly (so it plays and seeks anywhere, not just from the start) and saves it. Nothing is left half-written.
You get a clean MP4 The video lands in a recordings folder with a timestamped name. Ready to share, embed, or hand back to Claude for trimming or conversion.

Step by step (for first-time users)

Never used a terminal recorder before? Follow this exactly. You need Windows and FFmpeg.

Install FFmpeg once Open PowerShell and run winget install Gyan.FFmpeg, then close and reopen the terminal. This is a one-time step. The skill checks for it and reminds you if it is missing.
Download this skill and drop it in Click Download below, then move screen-recorder.md into .claude/skills/ in your project.
Type /screen-record In Claude Code. It does the rest: writes the recorder and runs it.
Drag the box When the screen dims, draw a rectangle around the part of the screen you want in the video. Release the mouse to confirm.
Do your thing, then click Stop and Save Carry out whatever you want to show. When you are done, click the Stop button in the corner. Your MP4 is saved.

Options

The recorder takes a few optional switches if you want them:

.\record-screen.ps1                      # drag a box, record, click Stop
.\record-screen.ps1 -FullScreen          # record the whole primary screen
.\record-screen.ps1 -Region "200,150,1280,720"   # exact rectangle, no picker
.\record-screen.ps1 -Fps 60 -OutDir .\clips -Name my-demo

-Fps — frame rate. 30 by default. 60 for fast motion, 15 for smaller files.
-OutDir — where to save. Defaults to .\recordings\.
-Encoder — defaults to libx264. Use h264_nvenc to offload to an NVIDIA GPU and lower CPU use.

Use cases

Product demos Capture a clean clip of your app or tool to add a voiceover or music to later.

Bug reports Record the exact moment something breaks and send the developer a video, not a description.

How-to guides Show a client or teammate how to do something, step by step, in a short clip.

UI walkthroughs Crop to one panel or window and capture just that, with no desktop clutter around it.

Social clips Grab a tidy rectangle for a tweet, a Pinterest pin, or a LinkedIn post.

Before and after Record a design or build in two passes to show progress on the same region.

Honest take

What it does well: It is fast and it gets out of the way. Drag, record, stop, done. The crop is the whole point: you capture exactly the rectangle you want, not a full screen you have to crop later. It lines the recording up correctly even on Windows display scaling, rounds the size so the file always plays, and finalises the video properly when you stop, so it never lands corrupt. Silent output is deliberate: it keeps the file clean for a voiceover or background track added in the next step.

What it does not do (yet): Windows only for now. Sound is off by default. Recording your own microphone is a small change documented inside the skill. Capturing system or background audio (the sound the computer plays) needs a one-time setup of a virtual audio device, because Windows does not hand desktop audio to recorders out of the box. There is no built-in trimming, webcam overlay, or GIF export in version one. If you need those, record here and hand the clip to another tool.

When to use it: Any time you want a quick, clean recording of part of your screen without opening a recording app or an editor. Demos, bug clips, walkthroughs, social snippets. If you can see it on screen, you can box it and record it.

Screen Recorder