mg-chao/snow-shot

What it does

Snow Shot is a desktop screenshot and screen-capture application for Windows and macOS. Beyond basic region capture, it bundles annotation, scrolling (long) screenshots, pasted image pinning, text recognition via a PaddleOCR-based engine, and screen recording. It targets general desktop users who need a single free tool for capture, markup and OCR instead of juggling several apps. The source is organized as a multi-crate C++/Rust repository under the Snow Apps umbrella, which also includes the Snow Image Viewer.

Getting started

On Windows x64, the fastest supported path is WinGet, which installs an offline package including the default OCR resources:

winget install --exact --id mg-chao.snow-shot --source winget

You can also download the installer from Snow Shot releases. A Scoop package exists but is only available after its submission is accepted into the official Extras bucket, so treat scoop install extras/snowshot as a future option rather than a guaranteed working command. On Apple Silicon Macs running macOS 15 or later, install via Homebrew Cask:

brew update
brew install --cask mg-chao/tap/snow-shot

After launching, use the capture hotkey to select a region; annotations, scrolling capture and OCR are available from the capture overlay. Installation on macOS may request Keychain access and privacy permissions.

Build and OCR submodule

The OCR engine lives in a separate Git submodule at snow-crates/crates/simd-paddle-ocr-rs with its own repository, toolchain and history. Clone with git clone --recurse-submodules or run git submodule update --init --recursive from the repository root before building. To edit OCR code, switch the submodule off its detached HEAD to main, use the submodule's own build and validation commands, then commit the updated revision back into the parent repository. Native Windows ARM64 build instructions, including cross-compilation and OCR preparation, are documented separately.

Constraints

macOS support is limited to Apple Silicon on macOS 15 or later, installed through the project's Homebrew tap; Intel Macs are not covered by that path. The WinGet package tracks published beta versions, while the Scoop package is intended to follow stable releases. The repository is multi-licensed: most application crates are GPL v3.0-or-later, while ant_design_qt, snow_draw_engine_qt and the OCR submodule use Apache 2.0, so check LICENSE.md before redistributing or reusing parts. Offline builds require submodule initialization and the pinned nightly toolchain for the OCR crate.

HotRepo's take

Snow Shot appeared on the November 2026 C++ monthly list at position 8 with 1,253 stars gained over that reporting period, against a repository created in February 2025. That is a strong showing for a desktop utility written in C++/Rust, and it fits a real need: a single free tool covering capture, long screenshots, OCR and recording. The multi-crate structure and separately versioned OCR submodule suggest active internal modularization rather than a one-file utility, though the monthly snapshot alone does not establish a sustained trend.