docs: add comprehensive README for scythe

2026-09-05 15:59:51 +05:30 · 2026-09-05 15:59:51 +05:30 · 6af07e7c7d
commit 6af07e7c7d
parent b39252adb8
1 changed files with 121 additions and 0 deletions
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+# Scythe
+
+> High-performance, zero-copy GPU hardware screen recorder and instant replay overlay for Linux (Wayland & X11) and Windows.
+
+[![Release](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/oiupoyt/scythe?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/oiupoyt/scythe/releases)
+[![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT%2FApache--2.0-blue?style=flat-square)](LICENSE)
+
+Scythe is a native, ultra-lightweight alternative to NVIDIA ShadowPlay and GPU Screen Recorder. It records gameplay and desktop screens with near-zero CPU and GPU overhead by leveraging hardware video acceleration and zero-copy direct memory pipelines.
+
+---
+
+## Features
+
+- **Instant Replay Buffer**: Constantly records gameplay into a high-speed in-memory circular ring buffer. Save the last 15s to 5 minutes of action instantly with one hotkey (`Ctrl+Shift+R`) without writing temporary files to disk.
+- **Zero-Copy Capture Engine**:
+  - **Wayland**: PipeWire DMA-BUF frame-passing directly to hardware encoder surfaces.
+  - **X11**: XCB Shared Memory (MIT-SHM) capture with per-frame pool reuse.
+  - **Windows**: Desktop Duplication API via Direct3D 11 (DXGI) texture binding.
+- **Hardware-Accelerated Encoding**:
+  - NVIDIA NVENC (`h264_nvenc`, `hevc_nvenc`)
+  - AMD & Intel VAAPI (`h264_vaapi`, `hevc_vaapi`)
+  - Automatic CPU fallback (`libx264`)
+- **ShadowPlay-Style Stealth Overlay**:
+  - Native GTK 3 Layer-Shell overlay with real background blur for Wayland compositors (Hyprland, Sway, etc.).
+  - Cross-platform hardware-rendered `egui` overlay for Windows, GNOME, KDE, and X11.
+  - Translucent frosted glass HUD dock, centered controls, and contextual dropdowns.
+- **Dynamic Hyprland Integration**: Automatically registers overlay blur rules and binds hotkeys at runtime without modifying `hyprland.conf`.
+- **Multi-Channel Audio Routing**: Record system audio, microphone, or both simultaneously with individual volume controls via native PulseAudio/PipeWire and WASAPI.
+
+---
+
+## Default Shortcuts
+
+| Action | Shortcut | CLI Command |
+|---|---|---|
+| Open / Close HUD Overlay | `Alt + Z` | `scythe-ui --menu` |
+| Save Instant Replay | `Ctrl + Shift + R` | `scythe-ui --save` |
+| Toggle Normal Recording | `Ctrl + Shift + F9` | `scythe-ui --record` |
+| Toggle Mouse Cursor | `Ctrl + Shift + F10` | `scythe-ui --cursor` |
+
+---
+
+## Installation
+
+### Arch Linux (AUR)
+
+```bash
+git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/scythe-git.git
+cd scythe-git
+makepkg -si
+```
+
+### Pre-Built Packages (Releases)
+
+Download the latest packages directly from [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/oiupoyt/scythe/releases):
+
+- **Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint**: `scythe_0.1.0_amd64.deb`
+- **Fedora / RHEL / openSUSE**: `scythe-0.1.0-2.x86_64.rpm`
+- **Universal Linux**: `scythe-x86_64.AppImage`
+- **Windows**: `scythe-setup.exe`
+
+### Build from Source
+
+#### Prerequisites
+
+- Rust (1.80+)
+- FFmpeg 6+ / 7+ development libraries (`libavcodec`, `libavformat`, `libavutil`, `libswresample`, `libswscale`)
+- PipeWire (`libpipewire-0.3-dev`)
+- GTK 3 and GTK Layer Shell (`libgtk-3-dev`, `libgtk-layer-shell-dev`)
+
+#### Compile & Install
+
+```bash
+git clone https://github.com/oiupoyt/scythe.git
+cd scythe
+bash install.sh
+```
+
+---
+
+## CLI Usage
+
+```bash
+scythe-ui --menu        # Open the interactive overlay UI menu
+scythe-ui --status      # Query background daemon state and metrics
+scythe-ui --save        # Save instant replay clip to disk
+scythe-ui --record      # Toggle normal recording on/off
+scythe-ui --cursor      # Toggle mouse cursor capture
+scythe-ui --reload      # Reload daemon settings
+scythe-ui --quit        # Stop background recording daemon
+```
+
+---
+
+## Configuration
+
+Settings are saved in JSON format at `~/.config/scythe/config.json`:
+
+```json
+{
+  "fps": 60,
+  "record_bitrate_kbps": 18000,
+  "replay_duration_sec": 60,
+  "video_codec": "h264",
+  "output_directory": "~/Videos/Scythe",
+  "show_cursor": true,
+  "audio_mode": "system",
+  "mic_volume": 0.6,
+  "system_volume": 1.0,
+  "menu_hotkey": "Alt+Z",
+  "save_hotkey": "Ctrl+Shift+R",
+  "record_hotkey": "Ctrl+Shift+F9",
+  "cursor_hotkey": "Ctrl+Shift+F10"
+}
+```
+
+---
+
+## License
+
+Licensed under either of [Apache License, Version 2.0](LICENSE-APACHE) or [MIT License](LICENSE-MIT) at your option.