ClipForge is a lightweight, open-source macOS gameplay clipping app. Save the last N seconds of your gameplay with a single hotkey - no account, no cloud, no bloat.
Most gameplay clippers are heavy Electron apps bolted onto cloud platforms. They run background services, want your social accounts, and eat RAM. ClipForge takes the opposite approach:
| ClipForge | Medal / Outplayed | |
|---|---|---|
| Account required | No | Yes |
| Cloud upload | Never (opt-in roadmap) | Always |
| Background CPU | ~0 when idle | Constant |
| Electron / web tech | No - native Swift + SwiftUI | Often yes |
| Open source | MIT | No |
| Apple Silicon optimised | Yes | Partial |
| Local-first | Yes | Cloud-first |
ClipForge is the mpv of clip tools - fast, native, local, and completely out of your way.
- Instant Replay - rolling ring buffer captures the last 15s / 30s / 60s / 90s / 2m of gameplay
- Hotkey save - press
⌘⇧C(configurable) to save the last N seconds as an MP4 - Manual record - start and stop a full recording session with a hotkey
- Display or window capture - capture a whole display or just one game window
- System audio - captures system sound via ScreenCaptureKit
- Optional mic - overlay your voice on the clip
- Clip library - local grid view with thumbnails, rename, favorite, delete
- Lightweight trim - drag in/out points and export a trimmed version
- Menu bar app - quick access without opening the main window
- Ghost mode - record invisibly with no menu bar icon, no dock icon, and no window - just hotkeys
- No telemetry - zero analytics, zero network requests
- macOS 14 Sonoma or later
- Apple Silicon or Intel Mac (both supported)
- Xcode 15+ (to build from source)
brew install xcodegengit clone https://github.com/yourusername/ClipForge.git
cd ClipForge
xcodegen generateopen ClipForge.xcodeprojSelect the ClipForge scheme, choose My Mac as the destination, and press ⌘R.
Code signing: Set your Apple developer team in project settings, or change Signing Certificate to Sign to Run Locally for local development without a paid account.
ClipForge requires two permissions:
| Permission | Why | How to grant |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Recording | Captures your display or window | System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording → enable ClipForge |
| Microphone (optional) | Records your voice alongside gameplay | Prompted on first mic use |
ClipForge is not sandboxed so it can write clips to any user-chosen folder. No entitlement exceptions or private APIs are used.
ClipForge/
├── App/
│ ├── ClipForgeApp.swift - @main, WindowGroup + MenuBarExtra + Settings scenes
│ └── AppDelegate.swift - lifecycle, single-instance guard
│
├── Models/
│ ├── Clip.swift - Value type representing a saved clip
│ ├── RecordingSettings.swift - Enums for FPS, resolution, codec, bitrate, replay duration
│ └── CaptureSource.swift - Display or window capture target
│
├── Managers/ - Single-responsibility services (no UI dependencies)
│ ├── SettingsStore.swift - UserDefaults-backed @Published settings
│ ├── PermissionsManager.swift- Check + request screen recording & microphone
│ ├── ReplayBuffer.swift - actor: thread-safe CMSampleBuffer ring buffer
│ ├── VideoEncoder.swift - VTCompressionSession wrapper (CVPixelBuffer → H.264/HEVC)
│ ├── CaptureManager.swift - SCStream setup, delegate, feeds VideoEncoder → ReplayBuffer
│ ├── AudioManager.swift - AVCaptureSession microphone capture
│ ├── ClipExportManager.swift - AVAssetWriter assembles buffer → .mp4; generates thumbnails
│ ├── LibraryManager.swift - Clip metadata, search, CRUD, JSON persistence
│ └── HotkeyManager.swift - Carbon RegisterEventHotKey (no Accessibility permission needed)
│
├── ViewModels/
│ ├── CaptureViewModel.swift - Orchestrates capture + save; bridges managers → SwiftUI
│ └── LibraryViewModel.swift - Search, sort, trim export, selection state
│
└── Views/
├── ContentView.swift - Root NavigationSplitView
├── Library/ - LibraryView, ClipDetailView, TrimView
├── Settings/ - Tabbed settings window (General, Capture, Hotkeys, Library)
├── Onboarding/ - PermissionsOnboardingView (first run)
├── MenuBar/ - MenuBarController (MenuBarExtra popover)
└── Shared/ - ThumbnailView, EmptyStateView
ScreenCaptureKit (SCStream)
│ raw CVPixelBuffer + system audio PCM
▼
VideoEncoder (VTCompressionSession)
│ compressed H.264/HEVC CMSampleBuffer
▼
ReplayBuffer (actor) ◄─── AudioManager (AVCaptureSession, optional mic)
│ rolling N-second window
▼ [on hotkey / manual save]
ClipExportManager (AVAssetWriter)
│ normalised .mp4 file
▼
LibraryManager
│ metadata JSON + thumbnail JPEG
▼
LibraryView + ClipDetailView
- Raw frames are never stored. ScreenCaptureKit delivers
CVPixelBuffer(raw) →VideoEncodercompresses immediately → only the tiny H.264 bitstream is stored in theReplayBufferactor. - A 60-second 1080p@30fps H.264 buffer at 8 Mbps ≈ 60 MB peak.
- Compressed
CMSampleBufferobjects are retained by value in a SwiftArray; old samples are dropped whenPTS < (latest PTS − maxDuration). - On save, the buffer is snapshotted (O(n) copy), trimmed to the first keyframe, then written by
AVAssetWriter.
| Action | Default |
|---|---|
| Save replay clip | ⌘⇧C |
| Start / stop recording | ⌘⇧R |
| Mute / unmute mic | ⌘⇧M |
| Open ClipForge | ⌘⇧J |
All hotkeys are configurable in Settings → Hotkeys.
Does it work on Intel Macs? Yes. VTCompressionSession and ScreenCaptureKit work on Intel. Performance is best on Apple Silicon due to the hardware H.264/HEVC encoder.
How do I capture system audio? Enable "Capture system audio" in Settings → General. This uses ScreenCaptureKit's built-in audio tap (macOS 13+) - no virtual audio driver required.
The clip is missing the first second. The ring buffer trims to the first keyframe (IDR frame) for valid H.264 streams. If the configured FPS is low, keyframes are spaced further apart. Increase FPS or enable B-frame support in a future release (see ROADMAP).
Why is there no NVENC / AMD VCN support?
VideoToolbox (VTCompressionSession) automatically selects the best available hardware encoder on your Mac. No manual selection is needed.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup instructions, architecture notes, and PR guidelines.
See ROADMAP.md for planned features: GIF export, clip stitching, Discord integration, ghost mode, and more.
MIT - see LICENSE.