ShowTake

Mac app with a built-in MCP server: your coding agent drives your iOS or Mac app, ShowTake records it and renders zooms, captions and App Store previews.

View on showtake.app

Documentation

ShowTake: app demo videos filmed by your coding agent

Mac app with a built-in MCP server. Your agent drives your iOS app in the Simulator or your Mac app; ShowTake records every tap and renders zooms, captions, App Store previews and social cuts.

Source: https://showtake.app/

Coding agents: to install and set up ShowTake for your user, follow the playbook at https://showtake.app/agents.md.

You built it in an hour. Filming it takes a day.

Your coding agent wrote the app in an afternoon. The demo video is still a manual job: a screen recorder, a video editor and Apple's spec page open side by side, and every change means doing it again.

  • Take after take: One mistyped letter, a keyboard left open or a notification banner over the screen, and the whole recording starts over.
  • Zooms by hand: You scrub the timeline to find each tap, then nudge zoom boxes until they stop drifting off the button.
  • Rejected by App Store Connect: Wrong resolution, 60 fps, 34 seconds, a device frame around the screen: you find out after the upload.
  • Then it starts again: A redesigned screen, a German version or a 9:16 cut for social video means filming everything from scratch.

Everything a demo needs, in one take

Your agent drives the app; ShowTake records every action with its exact position and time, then turns the take into finished videos.

Your agent films the takes

Ask for a demo in one sentence. Your agent builds the app, opens a clean simulator with the status bar at 9:41, learns the path to the feature and plans six to eight captioned steps. ShowTake judges every take, and the agent reshoots the weak ones without asking you.

  • Works with any coding agent that can use MCP tools; setup is one command
  • Each take is checked: too short, keyboard left open, a step that changed nothing, a failed tap
  • Up to three takes on its own, then it tells you what blocked it

Zooms that land on the right button

Every tap, keystroke and swipe is logged with the frame of the element it hit, so the camera does not guess from pixels. It plans shots from that log: it arrives just before the tap, frames the whole button or text field, holds while the result shows and eases back out.

  • No keyframes to set; nearby actions share one shot instead of bouncing in and out
  • Zoom strength subtle, default or punchy, or off
  • Change any zoom in the review screen before you export

Pacing without the waiting

A raw take is slow: builds, screen reads, typing and loading spinners. ShowTake cuts the idle time between steps and keeps every action and its result at real speed, so a minute of recording becomes a tight demo of about 20 seconds.

  • Typing and loading play faster, with smooth ramps back to real speed
  • Taps and their results always play at 1×, so nothing looks rushed
  • Trim the start and end in the review screen if you want it shorter

App Previews that pass Apple's checks

The App Preview presets export the real screen, full-bleed, at Apple's sizes, 30 fps and 15 to 30 seconds, with the stereo audio track Apple expects. A validator measures each file after export and blocks it when a rule fails, so the upload does not bounce.

  • iPhone 6.9" (886×1920), iPhone 5.5", iPad and Mac (1920×1080)
  • Screenshots at every App Store size, from the required iPhone 6.3" (1206×2622) to Mac 2880×1800
  • Captions with a price or the word "free" are flagged before export

One take, every format

Render once and export App Store, YouTube, X, TikTok and LinkedIn versions from the same take, plus screenshots and launch images from its key moments. Social cuts get a phone or window frame, a background and captions; App Previews stay plain, as Apple requires. Every file comes back with its measured size, frame rate, codec and length.

  • 16:9, 1:1 and 9:16, up to 4K
  • Eight backgrounds, device or window frames, caption styles
  • H.264 by default; ProRes 422 HQ or HEVC when you ask for it

Music and captions, picked by your agent

Ask for a demo with music and your agent picks a track that fits from a built-in library, sets the volume and lowers it where it should be quiet. It writes the captions, chooses their style, size and position, and can open with a title card and close with an end card. ShowTake mixes everything to the loudness social platforms expect.

  • A library of free-to-use tracks, cleared for App Store previews and ads
  • Four caption styles, four sizes and positions, colours checked for contrast
  • Add your own voice-over, sound effects or music at any step (Pro)

Replays in any language

A clean take saves as a flow, a plain YAML file of the steps. Replay it after a redesign, or in German and Japanese in one call, with no agent and no tokens. Your agent translates the captions once, and each language's video shows its own.

  • Re-film every language and device in one batch (Pro)
  • Needs a localized app; steps that target accessibility ids work in every language
  • The same flow keeps your demo current after each release

Mac apps, too

ShowTake launches your Mac app, sizes its window to 16:9 and records only that window: no desktop, menu bar or other apps. The pointer travels to each control the way a person would, so hover effects show, and every click is logged for the zoom.

  • Mac App Preview at 1920×1080 and social cuts in window chrome
  • macOS asks once for Accessibility and Screen Recording
  • Keep hands off the mouse while a Mac take records

Bring your own recording

Already have a screen recording from QuickTime or the Simulator? Import it. ShowTake finds where the screen changed, scrolled or moved to a new screen, cuts the idle time and zooms on the activity; your agent adds the captions.

  • .mov or .mp4, from an iOS app or a Mac app
  • Exports to the same presets as a filmed take, App Previews included
  • Detects the iOS keyboard, so captions move out of its way

Launch everywhere from one take

Product Hunt, the App Store, X, Shorts, a link preview: ask your agent for a launch kit and ShowTake writes every file in the size, format and quality each platform needs, checked before you upload.

Details and every size: https://showtake.app/docs/launch-assets

How it works

  1. Paste one prompt: Copy the prompt into your coding agent. It installs ShowTake, connects its MCP server and checks what your Mac needs. Rather do it by hand? Download the app and add one command to your agent.
  2. Your agent films: It builds your app, plans the steps with captions, records and retakes until a take is clean. Building takes one to five minutes; you keep working meanwhile.
  3. Export videos and images: Ask for the videos and images you need: App Store previews and screenshots, launch-site galleries, social cuts. The files land in the take's exports folder, each checked for size, format and length, ready for App Store Connect, Product Hunt or your feed.

Built for App Store rules

App Store Connect turns a preview away for one wrong number: the size, the frame rate, a second too long. ShowTake exports to Apple's rules and checks each file against them before you upload.

  • Exact sizes: Every current App Preview size for iPhone 6.9" to 5.5", iPad 13" and 11", and Mac, in portrait or landscape.
  • 15 to 30 seconds, 30 fps: The cut fits the length window, at a constant frame rate, H.264 High at Level 4.0, with a stereo audio track.
  • The real screen, nothing else: No device frame, background or zoomed-out screen: App Previews show your app full-bleed, as Apple requires.
  • Checked after export: A validator reads each file back and lists any rule it breaks, with the fix, before the file goes anywhere.

Install

Your recordings stay on your Mac

ShowTake records, renders and exports on your Mac. Nothing you film is uploaded anywhere.

  • Local by design: Recordings, screenshots, flows and your source code never leave your Mac. Takes live in a folder you choose.
  • Online for three things: Checking your license, looking for updates and, unless you turn it off, anonymous usage counts and crash reports.
  • Signed and notarized: A notarized download with automatic updates and a Homebrew cask, sold here and not on the Mac App Store.

Pricing

Free with a watermark (1080p X 16:9 export). Pro, Lifetime and Team unlock every preset: https://showtake.app/pricing.md

Questions

Which AI agents work with ShowTake?

All of them: any AI agent or app that can use MCP tools. ShowTake ships its MCP server inside the app, so setup is one command.

Do I have to set anything up myself?

Usually not. Paste the prompt from this page into your coding agent: it installs the app, connects the MCP server and films a first demo. macOS asks you once to allow Accessibility and Screen Recording for Mac takes, and buying Pro is one click on the checkout link your agent gives you.

Can I edit the video myself?

Yes. The review screen in the app shows the rendered take with its zooms, captions and trim, and you can change any of them before exporting. Your agent can make the same changes through the render tool.

Does anything leave my Mac?

No recording, screenshot or line of source code leaves your Mac. ShowTake only goes online to check your license, look for updates and, unless you turn it off, send anonymous usage counts and crash reports.

What do I need to film an iOS app?

macOS 26 Tahoe or later, Xcode with an iOS Simulator runtime. Everything else ShowTake needs to read the screen and send touches is built in. Your agent works in the repo of the app as usual.

Can my agent add music and captions?

Yes. Your agent picks a track from ShowTake's built-in library of free-to-use music (cleared for App Store previews and ads), sets its volume and fades, and writes the captions with the style, size and position you want, plus a title and end card. Everything is mixed to the loudness social platforms expect. With Pro it can also add your own voice-over, sound effects or music at any step.

Can it make App Store screenshots and Product Hunt images?

Yes, from the same take as the video (Pro). ShowTake writes App Store screenshots at every size App Store Connect accepts, including the required iPhone 6.3" set (1206×2622), iPad 13" and Mac 2880×1800, as plain captures or with a background, headline and device frame. For a launch it writes Product Hunt gallery images (1270×760) and thumbnail, BetaList screenshots, a 1200×630 link preview, X and LinkedIn cards and a README of what to upload where.

Can it film Mac apps?

Yes. ShowTake launches your Mac app, sizes its window and films only that window. It needs the Accessibility and Screen Recording permissions, and tells you how to grant them on first use.

Will Apple accept the App Preview?

The App Preview presets export frameless, full-screen captures at Apple's sizes, at 30 fps or lower, 15 to 30 seconds long, and a validator blocks the export if any rule fails. Review is Apple's call, but the usual technical rejections are checked before you upload.

Is ShowTake on the Mac App Store?

No. The App Store sandbox does not allow the tools ShowTake drives (Xcode, the Simulator, Accessibility), so it is sold here as a notarized download with automatic updates and a Homebrew cask.

What does it cost, and can I get a refund?

The Free plan has every filming tool and exports 1080p X videos with a small watermark. Pro is $9 a month or $49 a year, Lifetime $129 once, Team $39 per seat a year. All sales are final, so film your own app on the Free plan first; subscriptions cancel anytime and stay active until the period ends.

Windows, Linux or Android?

Not today. ShowTake films iOS apps in the Simulator and native Mac apps, on a Mac.