Desktop installers need to be built and published before downloads can be enabled.
Not sure which Mac you have? Open Apple menu › About This Mac. “Chip: Apple M…” means Apple Silicon.
Bring your assistant into the edit.
Install a connector once. Open a project in the updated desktop app, click Connect AI, and paste its private connection message into your assistant. Starter and above; full editing tools on Unlimited.
Claude Desktop & Code
A local desktop bundle and Claude Code plugin with live, undoable timeline editing. Install in Claude’s Settings → Extensions, or extract and run Install-Claude.command.
Extract the ZIP and run Install-Gemini.command on macOS or Install-Gemini.cmd on Windows. Copies the sandbox-safe Local MCP command for Gemini Desktop (Connectors → + Custom → Local MCP) and installs the Gemini CLI extension.
Gemini Desktop Local MCP command: node ~/.local/share/swamp-dragon/launcher.cjs.
ChatGPT Desktop & Codex
Upload swamp-dragon-chatgpt.zip in ChatGPT Desktop (Customize → Plugins → Add → New Plugin) or extract the ZIP and run Install-ChatGPT.command on macOS (Install-ChatGPT.cmd on Windows) to install the local plugin and MCP tools.
Works with ChatGPT Desktop local chats and Codex CLI.
Swamp Dragon must stay open. Codes expire after 12 hours or an app restart; disconnect or regenerate a code in the editor to revoke access. Your assistant can edit only its paired project. These connectors require a desktop release containing Connect AI. Connector checksums.
New in 0.1.0
The first public version of Swamp Dragon: a local-first screen recorder with separate tracks, a multitrack editor with motion graphics, reusable editing skills, every export format and an optional MCP integration for AI assistants.
Screen, camera, microphone and system audio recorded as separate tracks
Multitrack timeline with layers, keyframes, transitions and 12 timed effects
Titles, kinetic text and 10 animated motion-graphic shapes
8 built-in skills you can switch off again, plus a custom skill builder
MP4, HEVC, WebM, GIF, M4A and WAV export up to 4K, and a Premiere Pro package
27 MCP tools for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other assistants
Install
Download the Apple Silicon or Intel disk image.
Open the .dmg and drag Swamp Dragon into Applications. Eject the disk image.
Open Swamp Dragon from Applications or Spotlight. If macOS asks, choose Open.
The first time you record, allow Screen Recording, Camera and Microphone in System Settings → Privacy & Security.
Download the Windows installer (.exe).
Run it and follow the prompts. You can choose the install folder.
If SmartScreen says "Windows protected your PC", choose More info → Run anyway.
If your camera or mic doesn't appear, allow desktop apps in Settings → Privacy & security → Camera / Microphone.
Full instructions and permission help: Install guide.
System requirements
Requirement
macOS
Windows
Operating system
macOS 12 Monterey or later
Windows 11, 64-bit
Processor
Apple Silicon (M1 or later) or Intel, separate downloads
64-bit x86 (Intel or AMD)
Graphics
Any GPU with WebGL. Hardware video encoding makes exports faster but is optional.
Memory
8 GB recommended; 16 GB for 4K exports or long recordings with camera background effects.
Disk
Several GB free on the drive that holds your recordings folder; long 4K recordings need more.
All versions
Every release, with installers for each platform. Machine-readable catalog: /download/releases.json.
Every new feature, improvement and fix, release by release.
0.1.0 First release
stable
The first public version of Swamp Dragon: a local-first screen recorder with separate tracks, a multitrack editor with motion graphics, reusable editing skills, every export format and an optional MCP integration for AI assistants.
Recording 6
Capture the full screen, a single window or a region you draw.
Screen, camera, microphone and system audio are recorded to their own tracks, so each can be edited separately.
Camera styles: circle, rounded or square, any corner, size, border and mirroring, with background blur or a background image.
A slim recording bar with elapsed time, mic level, mic mute, camera on/off, pause and stop. It stays out of the recording on systems that support window exclusion.
Clicks and keyboard shortcuts are logged while you record so skills can zoom to clicks and label shortcuts afterwards.
Crash-safe: recordings are written to disk every second and recovered on the next launch. Clip limits warn 30 seconds early, then stop and save the file.
Editing 5
Multitrack timeline with ripple trimming, splitting, moving between layers and right-click menus.
Clip speed from 0.25× to 4×, reverse playback and freeze frames.
Eased zooms with linear, ease-in, ease-out and ease-in-out curves.
Markers and In/Out points; markers turn into chapter cards with the Chapter card skill.
Every edit is undoable, including edits made by an AI assistant.
Motion graphics 5
7 text styles (title, chapter, lower third, caption, callout, shortcut, outro) and 20 title presets, including 6 kinetic presets.
15 entrance and 12 exit animations, plus loops: pulse, breathe, float, wiggle, spin, blink and shake.
10 animated shapes: rectangle, ellipse, arrow, line, highlight, spotlight, progress bar, ripple, underline and bracket.
Keyframes for position, scale, rotation and opacity with back-out, bounce and elastic easing.
13 transitions between clips, applied to one cut or all cuts at once.
Look and effects 4
Frame styles: padding, solid, gradient or blurred backgrounds, corner radius, border, and a shadow you can switch off.
10 look presets and manual brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, temperature, sharpen, vignette, grain and more.
12 timed effects: shake, zoom punch, flash, glitch, RGB split, blur, mono, invert, pixelate, vignette, film and adjust.
Save your favourite frame, look and effect settings as defaults for new projects.
Skills 3
8 built-in skills: Zoom to click, Circular webcam, Chapter card, Trim silence, Show shortcuts, Brand outro, Blur region and YouTube tutorial.
Switching a skill off reverses exactly what it changed.
Custom skill builder (Pro) for chaining skills with your own settings.
Export 3
MP4 (H.264), HEVC, WebM (VP9), GIF, M4A and WAV, from 720p to 4K at 24, 30 or 60 fps.
Premiere Pro interchange package with linked media (Pro).
Free plan exports carry a small watermark that is added only at export.
MCP integration 4
27 tools for reading timelines and editing cuts, clips, zooms, text, graphics, keyframes, effects, transitions, frame, look, webcam, skills, blur and audio.
Choose whether assistants can see all projects or only the ones you select.
Edits appear live in an open editor and can be undone with ⌘Z / Ctrl+Z.
Local only: the bridge accepts connections only from your computer, using a private token.
Known issues 3
Combining several recordings into one project isn't supported yet.
Install declarative timeline plugins from the shared catalog (Unlimited plan).
On Windows, SmartScreen may warn about a new installer until it builds up reputation. Choose More info → Run anyway.
Nothing in the changelog matches.
Verify your download
Compare the SHA-256 checksum with the one listed for your installer.
macOS · Terminal
shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/SwampDragon-0.1.0-arm64.dmg
Download the latest version and install it over the old one. Your projects, recordings and settings are kept. Subscribe to the blog feed or check this page for new releases.
Uninstall
On macOS, drag Swamp Dragon from Applications to the Trash. On Windows, use Settings → Apps → Installed apps → Swamp Dragon → Uninstall. Your recordings and data folders are not deleted; remove them yourself if you no longer need them.
Need help getting started?
The documentation walks you through your first recording, edit and export.
