dotshot for Pi

Pi reads images with its read tool. Send it one from your Mac.

Pi keeps its toolset small, and its read tool handles images as well as text. Run Pi on your GPU box or build machine, send a capture with dotshot, and paste the path.

Download for Mac Set it up
Free and open source · Notarized by Apple · macOS 14+
The dotshot fleet: captures delivered to four machines, each with its path shown

What people send

How it works with Pi

Paste the path

Ask about the capture and paste its path. Pi's read tool opens the image.

Recordings

Pi reads frames, not video. Ask it to extract a few with ffmpeg first.

Files

Logs, traces, and datasets dropped on the nub arrive in the same folder, ready for Pi's read, grep, and find.

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@build-box true && echo ready

    No key there yet? Run ssh-copy-id dev@build-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
"$DS" add build dev@build-box '~/inbound'
"$DS" check build

    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

Add the inbox instructions wherever Pi loads project context on that machine.

# Give Pi the dotshot inbox instructions on the destination machine
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mejohnc-ft/dotshot/main/skills/dotshot-inbox/SKILL.md >> AGENTS.md
  • Pi works with many model providers; image understanding needs a model that accepts images.
  • Using Pi on your Mac? Ask it to follow the setup skill to configure dotshot.

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.

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