sneemok

Wayland screenshot annotation tool in Zig.

The main repository is on codeberg, which is where the issue tracker may be found and where contributions are accepted.

Read-only mirrors exist on github.

Dependencies

• wayland (compositor)
• wlroots (compositor)
• cairo (drawing)
• D-Bus (communication with portal and sneemok daemon)
• XDG Desktop Portal (for screenshot capture)

Installation

Convenient script:

wget https://codeberg.org/fn3x/sneemok/raw/branch/main/scripts/install.sh
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

Arch:

yay -S sneemok
# or
yay -S sneemok-git

Nix

Option 1: Home Manager (Recommended for single user)

In your Home Manager configuration:

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    home-manager.url = "github:nix-community/home-manager";
    sneemok.url = "git+https://codeberg.org/fn3x/sneemok.git";
  };

  outputs = { nixpkgs, home-manager, sneemok, ... }: {
    homeConfigurations.youruser = home-manager.lib.homeManagerConfiguration {
      pkgs = nixpkgs.legacyPackages.x86_64-linux;
      modules = [
        sneemok.homeManagerModules.default
        {
          services.sneemok = {
            enable = true;
          };
        }
      ];
    };
  };
}

Then rebuild:

home-manager switch --flake .#youruser

Option 2: NixOS (System-wide)

In your NixOS configuration:

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    sneemok.url = "git+https://codeberg.org/fn3x/sneemok.git";
  };

  outputs = { nixpkgs, sneemok, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.yourhostname = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      modules = [
        sneemok.nixosModules.default
        {
          services.sneemok = {
            enable = true;
          };
        }
      ];
    };
  };
}

Then rebuild:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#yourhostname

Managing the Service

Start/Stop/Status

systemctl --user start sneemok
systemctl --user stop sneemok
systemctl --user status sneemok
systemctl --user restart sneemok

View logs:

journalctl --user -u sneemok -f

Taking Screenshots

Once the service is running:

# Trigger a screenshot
sneemok --screenshot

# Or just
sneemok

Keybindings

Add to your compositor config (e.g., Hyprland):

bind = $mainMod, P, exec, sneemok
bind = $mainMod SHIFT, P, exec, sneemok --screenshot

Or in sway:

bindsym $mod+p exec sneemok
bindsym $mod+Shift+p exec sneemok --screenshot

Troubleshooting

Service won't start:

# Check logs
journalctl --user -u sneemok -n 50

# Check if D-Bus session bus is available
echo $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS

# Check if compositor is running
echo $WAYLAND_DISPLAY

Screenshots not triggering:

# Test D-Bus connection manually
dbus-send --session --print-reply \
  --dest=org.sneemok.Service \
  /org/sneemok/service \
  org.sneemok.Service.Screenshot

Service keeps restarting:

# Check what's failing
systemctl --user status sneemok
journalctl --user -u sneemok -f

Common issues:

• XDG Desktop Portal not available → Install xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland or equivalent
• Compositor not running → Service requires graphical session
• D-Bus session bus not available → Check session setup

Disabling the Service

Manually:

systemctl --user disable --now sneemok

Home Manager:

services.sneemok.enable = false;

NixOS:

services.sneemok.enable = false;

Build from source

With Nix:

nix build

Without Nix:

zig build

Keys

• s - Selection tool
• a - Arrow
• r - Rectangle
• c - Circle
• l - Line
• Ctrl+C - Copy to clipboard
• ESC - Change current tool to selection or exit
• Mouse wheel up - Increase thickness of the current tool
• Mouse wheel down - Decrease thickness of the current tool

Mouse

• Drag to create selection/draw
• Resize handles on selection
• Click inside to move

Architecture

src/
├── main.zig        # Events, signals and threading of the D-Bus handler
├── state.zig       # Application state
├── wayland.zig     # Wayland-related objects
├── dbus.zig        # Dbus struct with connection initialization, requesting and parsing screenshot from portal
├── output.zig      # Rendering
├── canvas/         # Image + elements
└── tools/          # Selection + drawing tools

Rendering: Screenshot → Overlay → Selection → Elements → Tool UI

Format: BGRA internally, RGBA PNG export

Clipboard: Native Wayland

License

MIT