Screenshot Plugin UI
Use this skill to capture screenshots of the plugin UI. This is useful for:
- •Debugging UI design - Quickly verify control layouts, colors, and positioning without launching a DAW
- •Documentation - Generate consistent screenshots for README files and wikis
- •CI/CD pipelines - Automated visual regression testing or asset generation
Prerequisites
Build the standalone app (APP target) first:
bash
cd [ProjectFolder] xcodebuild -project "./projects/[ProjectName]-macOS.xcodeproj" -target APP -configuration Debug
The app will be built to ~/Applications/[PluginName].app
Take Screenshot
macOS
bash
~/Applications/[PluginName].app/Contents/MacOS/[PluginName] --screenshot /path/to/output.png
Example
bash
# Take screenshot of IPlugEffect ~/Applications/IPlugEffect.app/Contents/MacOS/IPlugEffect --screenshot ./screenshot.png
The app will:
- •Launch and display the UI (audio/MIDI I/O is automatically disabled)
- •Wait ~500ms for the UI to fully render
- •Capture the window to a PNG file
- •Exit automatically
Options
- •
--screenshot <path>- Path to save the PNG screenshot (required) - •
--no-io- Explicitly disable audio/MIDI (implicit when using --screenshot)
Tips
- •Screenshots are high-DPI (Retina) resolution on supported displays
- •The screenshot captures the plugin content area
- •For iterative UI debugging, rebuild the APP target and re-run the screenshot command
- •Combine with the
buildskill: build first, then screenshot