XerahS

XerahS

A cross-platform port of the popular ShareX screen capture and file sharing tool, built with Avalonia UI and .NET 10.

(Note: Project is in active development)

⚠️ About This Project

XerahS is developed using agentic coding workflows. This project embraces AI-assisted development as a first-class engineering practice, leveraging tools like GitHub Copilot, Claude, and other AI agents to accelerate feature development, refactoring, and code quality improvements. The codebase is architected with bleeding-edge technologies (.NET 10, Avalonia 11.3+) and prioritizes patterns that maximize AI comprehension: strict nullability, exhaustive documentation, and standardized MVVM architecture.

XerahS is and will always be free, just like ShareX, built out of passion, not for profit. It’s developed entirely through agentic coding as a parallel project to ShareX, designed to align with different user preferences and values. You’re welcome to give it a try or stick with whatever tool works best for you.

If agentic coding is not your style, we encourage you to try the original ShareX for Windows, which is developed using traditional methods and has a mature, battle-tested codebase backed by years of community contributions.

Built by the community, for the community. XerahS is a collaborative effort driven by passionate contributors who believe in open-source development. Every feature, every improvement, and every line of code represents a shared vision of making powerful screen capture tools accessible to everyone, everywhere.

For developers interested in AI-first development and cross-platform experimentation, XerahS offers a modern foundation built for the future of software engineering.

✨ Key Features

• Cross-Platform Desktop: Runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS (targeting).
• Mobile Support (Experimental): .NET MAUI implementation for Android and iOS with file upload, share extension, and uploader configuration.
• Modern UI: Reimagined interface inspired by modern design principles.
• Powerful Capture:
  • Region Capture: supports multi-monitor setups with crosshair cursor.
  • Fullscreen & Window capture modes.
• macOS Support (MVP):
  • Screenshot service via native screencapture
  • Global hotkeys powered by SharpHook (requires Accessibility permission)
• Advanced Annotation Tools:
  • 17 Annotation Types: Rectangle, Ellipse, Line, Arrow, Text, Number/Step, Blur, Pixelate, Magnify, Highlight, Freehand, SpeechBalloon, Image/Sticker, Spotlight, SmartEraser, Crop, plus base types
  • Basic Shapes: Rectangle, Ellipse, Line, Arrow, Text, Number/Step
  • Effect Shapes: Blur, Pixelate, Magnify, Highlight with real-time preview
  • Freehand Tools: Pen, Highlighter, Smart Eraser
  • Advanced Shapes: Speech Balloon, Image/Sticker insertion, Spotlight
  • Object-based selection, moving, resizing, and deletion
  • Full Undo/Redo support
  • Keyboard Shortcuts: V(Select), R(Rectangle), E(Ellipse), A(Arrow), L(Line), P(Pen), H(Highlighter), T(Text), B(Balloon), N(Number), C(Crop), M(Magnify), S(Spotlight), F(Effects)
• Workflows (Zero Inheritance):
  • Unique Settings: Each workflow is fully independent with its own hotkeys and tasks.
  • No “Default” Inheritance: Reduces configuration errors by avoiding complex inheritance chains.
  • Task Workflow: Configurable after-capture tasks (Save, Copy, Upload, Image Effects)
• Modern Capture Architecture:
  • Windows: Uses fast Desktop Duplication API (DXGI) for high-performance capture.
  • macOS: Leverages native ScreenCaptureKit for performant, permission-compliant recording.
  • Linux: X11 and Wayland support.
• Image Editor:
  • Hardware Accelerated: Fully GPU-accelerated rendering using Skia/Metal/Direct2D. renders 4K+ images at 60FPS.
  • 40+ Effects: Organized into Adjustments, Filters, Manipulations, and Drawings.
  • Real-time Preview: Apply effects with instant visual feedback.
  • Serialization: Save and load annotations with full type support.

📱 Mobile (Experimental)

XerahS now includes an experimental .NET MAUI mobile implementation for Android and iOS, bringing ShareX’s powerful upload capabilities to mobile devices.

Mobile Features

• File Upload: Upload images, videos, and files from your device
• Share Extension (iOS): Share content directly from other apps into XerahS
• Uploader Support: Configure Amazon S3 and Custom Uploaders
• Settings Sync: Mobile-optimized settings interface

Building Mobile

Prerequisites

• .NET 10.0 SDK
• Android: Android SDK API 21+ with emulator or physical device
• iOS: Xcode 16+ (macOS required), iOS 15.0+ target

Build & Run

# Android
dotnet build src/XerahS.Mobile.Maui/XerahS.Mobile.Maui.csproj -f net10.0-android
dotnet run --project src/XerahS.Mobile.Maui/XerahS.Mobile.Maui.csproj -f net10.0-android

# iOS (macOS only)
dotnet build src/XerahS.Mobile.Maui/XerahS.Mobile.Maui.csproj -f net10.0-ios
dotnet run --project src/XerahS.Mobile.Maui/XerahS.Mobile.Maui.csproj -f net10.0-ios

Project Structure

• XerahS.Mobile.Maui - Main MAUI application (Android/iOS)
• XerahS.Mobile.UI - Shared mobile UI components
• XerahS.Mobile.Android - Android-specific platform code
• XerahS.Mobile.iOS - iOS-specific platform code
• XerahS.Mobile.iOS.ShareExtension - iOS Share Extension for receiving shared content

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🚀 Getting Started

Cloning the Repository

XerahS requires the ShareX.ImageEditor and ShareX.VideoEditor submodules. Clone with:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/ShareX/XerahS.git

If you already cloned without --recursive, initialize the submodules:

cd XerahS
git submodule update --init --recursive

Desktop Quick Start (Windows)

On Windows, the fastest verified first-run path is:

.\init-submodules.ps1
dotnet build src/desktop/XerahS.sln -m:1 -p:nodeReuse=false -p:UseSharedCompilation=false

If you skip submodule initialization and run dotnet build src/desktop/XerahS.sln immediately after a plain git clone, the build fails with MSB3202 because ShareX.ImageEditor and ShareX.VideoEditor are checked out as Git submodules.

Prerequisites

• .NET 10.0 SDK
• Node.js ^20.19.0 || >=22.12.0 for the ShareX.VideoEditor frontend build

Arch Linux (AUR)

Arch Linux users can install the latest development version via the community-maintained AUR package xerahs-git (maintained by @unicxrn).

This package builds directly from the source code and automatically handles dependencies, including the .NET 10 SDK. It can be installed using an AUR helper like yay:

yay -S xerahs-git

macOS Permissions (Screen Recording)

Screen capture on macOS requires Screen Recording permission:

1. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen Recording.
2. Enable XerahS for screen capture access.
3. Restart the app after granting permission.

macOS Permissions (Global Hotkeys)

Global hotkeys use SharpHook and need Accessibility permission:

1. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility.
2. Enable XerahS (or the published app bundle) for accessibility access.
3. Restart the app and retest hotkeys.

macOS Troubleshooting (“App is damaged”)

If you see a message saying “XerahS is damaged and can’t be opened”, it is due to macOS security (Gatekeeper) on quarantined downloads. To fix it:

1. Open Terminal.
2. Type the following command (do not hit Enter yet):

   xattr -cr 
   

3. Drag the XerahS.app file from Finder into the Terminal window (this pastes the full path).
4. Only now, press Enter.

🛠️ Developer Information

See XerahS Developer Guide for architecture details and contribution guidelines.

📄 License