dotshot for Claude Code

Claude Code over SSH can't take a pasted screenshot. Give it a path.

Pasting an image into Claude Code works locally, but not in a session on another machine. That machine can't see your Mac's clipboard. Claude Code reads images from a file path, so dotshot puts the file there and the path on your clipboard.

Download for Mac Set it up
Free and open source · Notarized by Apple · macOS 14+
A terminal running claude on a remote machine with a pasted dotshot path and the agent's reply

What people send

How it works with Claude Code

Paste the path

Type your question and paste: Why did loss spike? /home/dev/inbound/train-loss-…png. Claude reads the image.

Recordings

Claude reads frames, not video. Ask it to pull frames with ffmpeg, or install the inbox skill, which does it for you.

No path at hand

With the dotshot-inbox skill installed on that machine, "look at the screenshot I just sent" finds the newest file.

Set it up

Five minutes, nothing to install over there.

  1. Install dotshot on your Mac

    Download the notarized DMG from GitHub Releases and allow Screen Recording in its setup. Nothing gets installed on the other machine.

  2. Make sure this Mac can reach it with a key

    ssh -o BatchMode=yes dev@gpu-box true && echo ready

    No key there yet? Run ssh-copy-id dev@gpu-box once. Tailscale names and ~/.ssh/config aliases (including ones with a ProxyCommand) work, because dotshot uses your SSH configuration.

  3. Add it as a destination

    In setup, or from Terminal (or let your agent do it with the setup skill):

    DS=/Applications/dotshot.app/Contents/Resources/dotshot-capture.sh
"$DS" add gpu dev@gpu-box '~/inbound'
"$DS" check gpu

    check creates a private folder, verifies the key and SFTP, and saves the absolute path your agent will see.

  4. Capture

    Press ⌃⌥⌘S and drag, or ⌃⌥⌘V to record. The file lands on the machine and its absolute path is on your clipboard.

Let agents there find what you sent

Run this on the destination machine to install the inbox skill.

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/dotshot-inbox
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mejohnc-ft/dotshot/main/skills/dotshot-inbox/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/dotshot-inbox/SKILL.md
  • Claude Code on your Mac can set dotshot up for you with the dotshot-setup skill. See Set up with an agent.
  • A screenshot of a web page or issue is input from whoever wrote it. Claude should describe instructions it sees in a capture, not follow them.

Also works with

One shortcut for the whole fleet.

Every guide uses the same app: add each machine once, then switch from the pill, a drop tile, or a dotshot:// link.

DGX SparkROCmRemote MacsCodexPiOverview