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Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to the most common questions about screenpipe.

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General

screenpipe is an open source application that continuously captures your screen and audio, creating a searchable, AI-powered memory of everything you do on your computer. All data is stored locally on your device by default.Think of it as giving AI perfect memory of everything you’ve seen, heard, or done on your computer - so you can search, recall, and automate based on your actual work history.
The core engine is open source (MIT license) and free to inspect and modify. The desktop app requires a one-time lifetime purchase of $400.There are no recurring subscription costs required for core features. Optional Pro subscription ($39/month) adds cloud sync and priority support.
Key differences:
  • Open source: Full transparency, no vendor lock-in
  • Local-first: Your data never leaves your device by default
  • Multi-monitor: Captures all monitors (not just active window)
  • Developer API: Full REST API and SDK for custom integrations
  • Plugin system: AI agents (Pipes) for automation
  • Cross-platform: Works on macOS, Windows, and Linux
See our detailed comparisons:

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Privacy & Security

No. By default, all data is stored locally on your device in a SQLite database. Nothing is sent to external servers.You can optionally enable:
  • Cloud AI models (OpenAI, Anthropic) for better search
  • Encrypted sync between your devices (zero-knowledge encryption)
But the core app works 100% offline with no cloud dependency.
Yes! screenpipe has built-in support for Ollama, allowing you to run AI models completely locally:
# Install Ollama
curl -fsSL https://ollama.ai/install.sh | sh

# Pull a model
ollama pull llama2
Then configure screenpipe to use your local Ollama endpoint. No data leaves your device.
Yes. screenpipe is 100% open source under the MIT license. You can:
  • View all code on GitHub
  • Audit security and privacy practices
  • Build from source
  • Contribute improvements
  • Fork for custom needs
screenpipe captures whatever is visible on your screen, so it’s important to configure exclusions:
  • Exclude apps: Block password managers, banking apps, etc.
  • Exclude windows: Filter by window title patterns
  • Exclude URLs: Skip specific websites
  • Time restrictions: Only capture during work hours
All these settings are configurable in the app settings.
Yes, you have full control:
  • Delete specific time ranges via the UI
  • Clear all data from settings
  • Delete the SQLite database file directly
  • Use the API to programmatically manage data
Your data is stored in ~/.screenpipe/ (or Windows equivalent).

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Storage & Performance

Typically 5-10 GB per month.screenpipe uses event-driven capture - it only saves frames when something changes (app switch, click, typing, scroll). This reduces storage by 70-80% compared to continuous recording.Actual usage depends on:
  • Number of monitors
  • How actively you use your computer
  • Whether you enable audio recording
  • Capture quality settings
No. Typical resource usage:
  • CPU: 5-10% on modern hardware
  • RAM: 0.5-3 GB
  • Disk: Minimal writes (event-driven)
Event-driven capture means screenpipe only processes frames when something actually changes, keeping CPU usage low.
  • RAM: 8 GB recommended (4 GB minimum)
  • Storage: ~10 GB free space to start
  • CPU: Any modern processor (2015+)
  • OS: macOS 10.15+, Windows 10+, or Linux
screenpipe works on modest hardware thanks to event-driven capture.
As long as you have disk space. screenpipe doesn’t auto-delete old data.You can:
  • Keep years of history if you have storage
  • Set up automatic cleanup via Pipes
  • Manually archive or delete old data
  • Store data on external drives

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Platform Support

PlatformSupportInstallation
macOS (Apple Silicon)✅ FullNative .dmg installer
macOS (Intel)✅ FullNative .dmg installer
Windows 10/11✅ FullNative .exe installer
Linux✅ SupportedBuild from source
Yes! Options:
  1. Install separately: Each device has its own local data
  2. Pro sync: Cloud sync between devices (encrypted, $39/month)
  3. Manual export: Export/import data via API
With Pro sync, you can search across all your devices from any device.
Yes! screenpipe captures all connected monitors simultaneously.This is a key advantage over Rewind/Limitless (which only captures the active window).
Yes. Linux support is available by building from source:
git clone https://github.com/screenpipe/screenpipe
cd screenpipe
cargo build --release
Linux support uses Tesseract for OCR when accessibility data isn’t available.

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Features

Yes. screenpipe can record:
  • System audio: What you hear (meetings, videos, music)
  • Microphone: What you say
Audio is transcribed locally using OpenAI Whisper, making it fully searchable.You can enable/disable audio recording independently in settings.
screenpipe uses a hybrid approach:
  1. Accessibility tree (primary): Extracts structured text from the OS (buttons, labels, text fields) - fast and accurate
  2. OCR fallback: When accessibility isn’t available (remote desktops, games), uses:
    • Apple Vision on macOS
    • Windows native OCR
    • Tesseract on Linux
This gives you high accuracy with minimal CPU usage.
Yes! screenpipe supports:
  • Keyword search: Fast full-text search
  • Semantic search: Natural language queries using AI embeddings
  • Filters: By app, window title, URL, date range, content type
Example: “Find that email about the Q4 budget from last week”
Pipes are scheduled AI agents defined as markdown files. Each pipe:
  • Contains a prompt and schedule
  • Can query your screen/audio data
  • Can call APIs and write files
  • Runs automatically in the background
Built-in pipes:
  • Obsidian sync (auto journal)
  • Reminders (extract todos)
  • Idea tracker (surface insights)
Create custom pipes by writing markdown in ~/.screenpipe/pipes/.
Yes! screenpipe runs as an MCP server:
# Add to Claude Desktop
claude mcp add screenpipe -- npx -y screenpipe-mcp
This allows AI assistants to:
  • Search your screen history
  • Get recent context
  • Access meeting transcriptions
  • Build context-aware responses
Works with: Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code (Cline, Continue), and any MCP-compatible client.

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Pricing

The $400 lifetime purchase includes:
  • Desktop app for all platforms
  • All current features
  • All future updates forever
  • Multi-monitor support
  • Audio transcription
  • Full API access
  • Plugin system (Pipes)
  • Local AI support
No recurring subscription required.
Pro subscription ($39/month) adds:
  • Cloud sync: Sync data between devices (encrypted)
  • Priority support: Faster response times
  • Pro AI models: Access to premium AI capabilities
Core features work without Pro - it’s entirely optional.
You can try the open source CLI version for free:
npx screenpipe@latest record
This gives you the core capture and search functionality to evaluate before purchasing.
screenpipe Teams provides:
  • Central config management
  • Shared AI pipes
  • Per-pipe data permissions
  • Admin dashboard
  • MDM deployment (Intune, SCCM)
  • SSO/SAML (Enterprise)
  • Audit logs (Enterprise)
Pricing is custom based on team size. Contact sales for details.

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Teams & Enterprise

Yes. screenpipe Teams lets you:
  • Deploy capture settings to all employees
  • Share AI workflows (Pipes) team-wide
  • Control what AI can access with per-pipe permissions
  • Employees’ data stays on their devices
  • Admin dashboard for management
See screenpi.pe/team for details.
Each pipe (AI agent) can have YAML frontmatter controlling access:
allow-apps: ["Slack", "Zoom"]
deny-windows: ["*password*", "*bank*"]
allow-content-types: ["ocr", "audio"]
time-range: "09:00-18:00"
days: "Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri"
allow-raw-sql: false
Enforced at three OS-level layers - not by prompting the AI. Even compromised agents can’t access denied data.
screenpipe Teams Enterprise offers:
  • SOC 2 ready: Compliance framework support
  • HIPAA ready: Healthcare data protection
  • Audit logs: Complete activity tracking
  • SSO/SAML: Enterprise authentication
  • MDM deployment: Intune, SCCM, Robopack
Contact sales for compliance documentation.

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Troubleshooting

For common issues, see our troubleshooting guide.
  1. Check existing issues
  2. Open a new issue with:
    • OS and version
    • screenpipe version
    • Steps to reproduce
    • Logs from ~/.screenpipe/logs/
  3. Join Discord for real-time help
Still have questions? Join our Discord community or check the troubleshooting guide.

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