oiupoyt/scythe
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scythe/README.md
spearzificial 007e965d6a docs: point the project at the oiupoyt GitHub repository 
origin now resolves to https://github.com/oiupoyt/scythe.git, using the
oiupoyt credential that is authenticated in the store. The spearzificial
repository stays as a mirror, and the topology table records both along
with the reason the two histories needed a merge: the LICENSE files were
authored independently on each side with byte-identical content, so the
branches had diverged by one commit.

The README pointed at the spearzificial repository for its badge, release
links and clone URL, and still listed GTK 3 and GTK Layer Shell as build
prerequisites even though the GTK backend was retired and no GTK crate
remains in the manifest. It also asked for Rust 1.80 while the crate uses
the 2024 edition, which needs 1.85.
2026-10-21 16:40:27 +05:30

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Scythe (WIP)

High-performance, zero-copy GPU hardware screen recorder and instant replay overlay for Linux (Wayland & X11) and Windows.

Release 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, av1_nvenc) with direct hardware BGR0 input
    • AMD AMF (h264_amf, hevc_amf, av1_amf) with native hardware format support
    • Intel QuickSync (h264_qsv, hevc_qsv, av1_qsv)
    • AMD & Intel VAAPI (h264_vaapi, hevc_vaapi, av1_vaapi) with DMA-BUF zero-copy
    • Universal SIMD-accelerated CPU fallback (libx264, libx265, libsvtav1)
  • 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/CPAL.

Default Shortcuts

Action Shortcut CLI Command
Open / Close HUD Overlay Alt + Z scythe --menu
Save Instant Replay Ctrl + Shift + R scythe --save
Toggle Normal Recording Ctrl + Shift + F9 scythe --record
Toggle Mouse Cursor Ctrl + Shift + F10 scythe --cursor
Take Screenshot Ctrl + Shift + S scythe --screenshot

Installation

Arch Linux (AUR)

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 or Forgejo Releases:

  • Windows Setup: scythe-setup.exe (Official installer with Start Menu & Desktop shortcuts)
  • Windows Portable: scythe.exe (Standalone self-contained executable) & scythe-windows-x86_64.zip
  • Debian / Ubuntu / Linux Mint: scythe_*_amd64.deb
  • Fedora / RHEL / openSUSE: *.rpm
  • Universal Linux: scythe-x86_64.AppImage
  • Generic Linux: scythe-linux-x86_64.tar.gz

Build from Source

Prerequisites

  • Rust (1.85+, the crate uses the 2024 edition)
  • FFmpeg 6+ / 7+ development libraries (libavcodec, libavformat, libavutil, libswresample, libswscale)
  • PipeWire (libpipewire-0.3-dev)
  • XCB (libxcb1-dev, libxcb-shm0-dev, libxcb-xfixes0-dev)
  • ALSA (libasound2-dev)
  • clang and pkg-config for the FFmpeg bindings

Compile & Install

git clone https://github.com/oiupoyt/scythe.git
cd scythe
bash install.sh

CLI Usage

scythe --menu           # Open the interactive overlay UI menu
scythe --status         # Query background daemon state and metrics
scythe --save           # Save instant replay clip to disk
scythe --record         # Toggle normal recording on/off
scythe --cursor         # Toggle mouse cursor capture
scythe --reload         # Reload daemon settings
scythe --quit           # Stop background recording daemon

Configuration

Settings are saved in JSON format at ~/.config/scythe/config.json:

{
  "fps": 60,
  "record_bitrate_kbps": 18000,
  "replay_duration_sec": 60,
  "video_codec": "h264",
  "output_directory": "~/Videos",
  "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 or MIT License at your option.