# Recordly: an open source screen recorder with auto-zoom and cursor polish built in

> Recordly is a TypeScript and Electron desktop recorder for macOS, Windows and Linux that folds zooms, cursor effects, webcam bubbles and frame styling into one editor. The trade-offs sit in Linux capture and in a licence that is not what the badge claims.

**webadderallorg/Recordly** — Create polished demo videos without editing skills. Mac/Windows/Linux

- Repository: https://github.com/webadderallorg/Recordly
- Website: https://recordly.dev
- Stars: 31,725 · Forks: 2,520
- Language: TypeScript
- License: NOASSERTION
- Published: 2026-09-21 · Updated: 2026-09-21 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/webadderallorg-recordly

## What Recordly is for, and who ends up using it

The problem Recordly targets is the gap between raw screen capture and a video that looks deliberate. The README frames it plainly: instead of sending footage to a motion designer just to add zooms, cursor polish or a styled background, the app handles that workflow in one place. That is a narrower job than "screen recorder" suggests. It is aimed at people producing walkthroughs, demos and product videos, where the value is in what the viewer's eye is drawn to, not in the fidelity of the pixels.

The practical consequence is that Recordly is an editor that happens to record, not a recorder that happens to trim. The README lists drag-and-drop timeline tools for zooms, trims, speed regions, annotations and extra audio regions, plus crop-aware edits, and projects save and reopen as .recordly files. If your workflow is "capture, upload, done", most of this surface area is dead weight. If your workflow is "capture, then spend an hour making it watchable", the built-in pieces replace steps you would otherwise do elsewhere.

## How the capture and editing pipeline is put together

The architecture is an Electron app with platform-specific native capture helpers underneath. The README states that macOS uses native ScreenCaptureKit-based capture helpers, Windows uses a native Windows Graphics Capture helper on supported builds with native WASAPI audio support, and Linux records through Electron capture APIs. That split explains the platform differences better than any feature list: the macOS and Windows paths are native code, and Linux falls back to what Electron exposes.

The package.json scripts confirm how much of the product lives outside JavaScript. The build chain runs build:whisper-runtime, build:native-helpers, build:windows-capture, build:windows-gpu-export, build:nvidia-cuda-compositor and build:cursor-monitor before the TypeScript and Vite steps, and there is a rebuild:native script that forces a rebuild of uiohook-napi. So a source build is not a pure Node project: it compiles C++ helpers, which is why the README asks for Xcode Command Line Tools on macOS, a list of X11 and XTest development packages on Ubuntu and Debian, and Visual Studio 2022 with the C++ workload and CMake on Windows.

Editing state is persisted in .recordly project files, and the README says editor preferences are stored with the project. There is also a runtime wallpaper discovery mechanism that reads from a wallpapers directory, and an extension system with render hooks, settings panels, device frames and cursor click sounds published through the Recordly Marketplace.

## Installing Recordly and making a first recording

The README points to prebuilt releases first, at the project's GitHub releases page, with the newest listed release being v1.4.0 from 2026-09-08. That is the shortest path on macOS and Windows. On Arch Linux and Manjaro there is an AUR package, recordly-bin, which the README shows installing with yay.

```bash
yay -S recordly-bin
```

The README notes that the PKGBUILD, desktop entry and release sync live in a separate recordly-aur repository so this repository stays free of Arch release chores. If you are not on Arch, build from source. On Ubuntu or Debian the README gives this prerequisite line before anything else.

```bash
sudo apt install build-essential cmake libx11-dev libxtst-dev libxrandr-dev libxt-dev
```

Then clone and run the development build. The README gives exactly these four commands, and npm run dev starts Vite with the Electron app rather than producing an installer.

```bash
git clone https://github.com/webadderallorg/Recordly.git recordly
cd recordly
npm install
npm run dev
```

For a packaged build the README lists npm run build, with target-specific variants npm run build:mac, npm run build:win and npm run build:linux. Expect the build to compile the native helpers listed in package.json before electron-builder runs; the README's platform prerequisites exist precisely because that step needs a C++ toolchain.

Once the app is open, the first real use is: choose an entire display or a single app window, enable microphone or system audio if you need it, record, and jump straight into the editor. In the editor, the auto-zoom suggestions are generated from cursor activity, and you accept or adjust them on the timeline. Cursor overlays can be smoothed, blurred, given click bounce or sway, and sized. The composition sits inside a frame with wallpapers, gradients, solid colors, padding, rounded corners, blur and shadows. Export offers MP4 or GIF, with quality selection for video and frame-rate, loop toggle and size presets for GIF.

## Where Recordly falls short, and when it is the wrong tool

The Linux gap is the clearest limitation, and the README states it without hedging: Linux records through Electron capture APIs and cursor hiding is not supported on Linux today. Cursor hiding is not a cosmetic detail in a demo recorder. It is one of the things the product is selling on macOS and Windows, and it is absent on the third platform in the badge. The README's platform notes also differ in kind, not just in degree: macOS and Windows get named native backends, Linux gets a description of the API it goes through.

Licence is the second problem, and it is a documentation problem rather than a technical one. The README badge reads AGPL 3.0, the repository's LICENSE.md file exists at the top level, and the repository metadata reports NOASSERTION. Those three do not agree. The README's badge is a claim, the metadata is a machine reading, and the file is the thing that would settle it. Until you read LICENSE.md yourself, you do not know what obligations apply to a fork or to internal distribution, and AGPL in particular carries network-use implications that a permissive licence does not. That is not a detail to defer.

A third constraint is weight. The build compiles Whisper runtime, CUDA compositor and capture helpers, and the app carries a timeline editor, webcam overlay system, frame styling and an extension marketplace. If you want to press record, stop, and get a file, this is a large amount of machinery between you and that file. The README also does not document rollback or downgrade steps, so if a release regresses on your machine the documented path is forward, not back.

## Recordly compared with a plain recorder like OpenScreen

The obvious alternative people search for is OpenScreen, and the difference is architectural rather than cosmetic. A plain screen recorder captures and stops. You get a file, and every visual decision after that happens in a different application: a video editor for trims and speed, a motion tool for zooms, an image editor for backgrounds.

Recordly moves those decisions into the capture application and stores them as project state. Zooms are regions on a timeline, cursor smoothing is a render setting, the frame is a styled container around the composition, and all of it reopens from a .recordly file. The trade is that you cannot use Recordly purely as a capture layer without carrying its editor model along with it, and your project is only as portable as that format. A plain recorder's output is an MP4 that anything can open; Recordly's output is an MP4 plus a project file that only Recordly understands.

That makes the choice about where you want the work to happen, not about which tool is better. If you already have an editing pipeline you trust, Recordly duplicates it. If you do not, and the video is the deliverable rather than the footage, the built-in zooms and cursor polish are the entire reason to install it.

## Maintenance, upgrades and what the licence actually obliges

The repository is not archived and the last push was on 2026-09-20, one day before this writing, so the project is moving. The release history shows a v1.4.0 on 2026-09-08, a v1.4.0-beta.1 on 2026-09-05 labelled an experimental test build, and a v1.3.5-beta.2 from 2026-07-11 labelled Windows and Linux only. That pattern, betas and platform-restricted betas landing between stable releases, suggests the maintainers ship fixes continuously and cut stable builds periodically. It also means a beta labelled for two platforms out of three is a normal thing to see here, so read the release title before downloading.

Upgrade cost depends on how you installed it. AUR users get updates through the package, and the README says release sync is handled in the separate recordly-aur repository, so the lag between a GitHub release and the AUR package is set outside this project. Source builders pay the full native toolchain cost on every upgrade, since the build scripts recompile the Whisper runtime and the platform helpers. Prebuilt downloaders pay nothing, and get whatever the release contains.

On licence, the only honest statement is that the material conflicts. The README badge says AGPL 3.0, the repository metadata says NOASSERTION, and LICENSE.md is the file to read. For a company considering Recordly for internal demo videos, AGPL obligations differ substantially from a permissive licence, and the difference matters most if you plan to modify and redistribute or to expose a modified version over a network. Read LICENSE.md and have someone who can interpret it confirm before you build on it. That is not legal advice, it is the reason the file is at the top level.

## Conclusion

Recordly fits people who make product walkthroughs and demos and would otherwise hand raw footage to a motion designer: the zoom suggestions, cursor smoothing and styled frames are the reason to pick it over a plain capture tool. It is the wrong choice if you record on Linux and care about hiding the cursor, if you need a licence you can classify without asking a lawyer, or if you want a recorder that is small and single-purpose. Before adopting it, verify three things: that a prebuilt release exists for your platform on the GitHub releases page, that the download matches the publisher name in package.json, and what LICENSE.md actually says, because the repository metadata reports NOASSERTION while the README badge reads AGPL 3.0.

## FAQ

### Is Recordly free to use?

The README describes it as an open-source screen recorder and the package description calls it a free, creator-focused screen recorder. The repository metadata reports NOASSERTION while the README badge reads AGPL 3.0, so read LICENSE.md before assuming what free means for your use.

### is recordly free

The README and package.json both present Recordly as free and open source, and the README lists no paid tier or account requirement. The licence text is the thing to check, since the badge and the repository metadata disagree.

### Does Recordly run on Mac?

Yes. The README lists macOS 14.0+ and states that macOS uses native ScreenCaptureKit-based capture helpers. Prebuilt releases are available from the GitHub releases page.

### How do I install Recordly on Linux?

On Arch Linux and Manjaro the README shows installing the recordly-bin AUR package with yay. On Ubuntu and Debian you build from source after installing build-essential, cmake, libx11-dev, libxtst-dev, libxrandr-dev and libxt-dev, and the README notes cursor hiding is not supported on Linux today.

### What can Recordly export?

The README lists MP4 export and GIF export, with export quality selection for video and frame-rate selection, a loop toggle and size presets for GIF. Aspect ratio and output dimension controls are also listed.

### What are Recordly extensions?

The README describes a community-driven extension system where anyone can publish extensions that add capabilities such as cursor click sounds, device frames, browser mockups, wallpapers, render hooks and settings panels. Community extensions are browsed and installed from the Recordly Marketplace.

## Sources

- [Issues](https://github.com/webadderallorg/Recordly/issues)
- [Project website](https://recordly.dev)
- [README](https://github.com/webadderallorg/Recordly/blob/main/README.md)
- [Releases](https://github.com/webadderallorg/Recordly/releases)
- [webadderallorg/Recordly on GitHub](https://github.com/webadderallorg/Recordly)

---

Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/webadderallorg-recordly