Questions

What is illuminate?

A screen recorder for Mac. You show something and talk through it once; illuminate turns that recording into whatever the moment needs: a bug report, a how-to, or a prompt an AI agent like Claude Code or Codex can act on.

Who is it for?

People who explain things on screen: developers handing work to AI agents, people reporting bugs, and teams writing how-tos. If you already record quick videos to explain things, illuminate does the same job and gives you documents you can use, not just a video.

Where do my recordings go?

They stay on your Mac, as plain files in a folder you choose. Nothing is uploaded unless you share it or send it to an AI provider you've connected.

What gets sent to my AI provider?

Only what's needed to write what you asked for, such as the transcript and selected screenshots, and only when you generate something. You connect your own provider with your own key, so it's between you and them. We don't use your recordings to train AI models.

How does sharing work?

One button publishes the recording, the PDF and the agent package, builds a page for them at share.illu.mov, and copies its link. On Free the video lives on storage you own (Cloudflare R2 or Vimeo); the page just points at it. Pages show a view count, and you can extend or remove a link from your account.

Why do I need to sign in to share?

So every link has an owner who can extend, pause or remove it, and so we can act on reports of abuse. Recording and generating work without signing in. We use Google sign-in for now.

Is it open source?

The code is public, and you can read it, build it and run it yourself. It's free for personal and non-commercial use; businesses using it commercially need a licence: [LICENCE TERMS].

How is it different from Loom?

Both record your screen and voice and give you a link. illuminate keeps the recording on your Mac and the video on storage you own, turns the recording into documents and agent prompts, and its code is public. Loom hosts everything for you and has team features illuminate doesn't have yet. Loom is a trademark of its owner; illuminate isn't affiliated with it.

Does it work on Windows or Linux?

Not yet. illuminate is a Mac app and needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

When can I get it?

Soon. Sign in to your account and press "Email me updates" to hear from us when it opens. See pricing for what's free and what Pro adds.

Every share page has a "Report this link" link at the bottom. We review reports and can pause a link while we do.