aos draw

Point at something on screen with a big arrow and a sign

5 commands. Run aos draw --help for the same list from the binary, or see every group.

Click-through drawings on the real screen for a person to follow: an arrow, ring or box with a sign at a point, a region, a window or a control found by its label, and draw text for a label with no arrow. Nothing takes focus and clicks pass through to the app underneath. See arrows & pointers and text labels.

Commands

aos draw

Draw a click-through arrow + sign at a point, region, window, text or the mouse

needs a display

aos draw (--at=<x,y> | --rect=<x,y,w,h> | <app> | --app=<name> | --title=<s> | --mouse) [--find=<text> [--role=<r>] [--source=<s>] [--exact] [--nth=<n>]] --text=<sign> [--style=arrow|ring|box] [--shape=bend|straight|zigzag|spiral] [--size=S|M|L] [--color=<name|#hex>] [--from=<side>] [--monitor=<n>] [--position=<side>] [--duration=<seconds>] [--detach] [--animate=on|off] [--preview=<out.png>] [--json]

flag	values	meaning
<app>		One of these is required
--at	<x,y>	One of these is required. comma-separated
--rect	<x,y,w,h>	One of these is required. comma-separated
--app	<name>	One of these is required
--title	<s>	One of these is required
--mouse		One of these is required
--find	<text>	Optional
--role	<r>	Optional
--source	<s>	Optional
--exact		Optional
--nth	<n>	Optional
--text	<sign>	Required
--style	arrow, ring, box	Optional
--shape	bend, straight, zigzag, spiral	Optional
--size	S, M, L	Optional
--color	name, #hex	Optional
--from	<side>	Optional
--monitor	<n>	Optional
--position	<side>	Optional
--duration	<seconds>	Optional
--detach		Optional
--animate	on, off	Optional
--preview	<out.png>	Optional
--json		Optional

aos draw --app=Calculator --find=7 --style=ring --text="press 7"
aos draw --at=640,400 --text="click here" --duration=5
aos draw --rect=100,100,400,200 --style=box --text="this area" --preview=/tmp/draw.png
aos draw --mouse --text="you are here" --detach
aos draw stop
# exit 3 when --find does not find the window or the text

aos draw config

Show the draw defaults file, or create it with –init

needs a display

aos draw config [--init] [--force]

flag	values	meaning
--init		Optional
--force		Optional

aos draw config
aos draw config --init

aos draw fonts

List the font names –font accepts

needs a display

aos draw fonts

aos draw fonts

aos draw stop

Remove every detached drawing

needs a display

aos draw stop [--json]

flag	values	meaning
--json		Optional

aos draw stop

aos draw text

Show a styled text label (no arrow) inside a window, a monitor, a rect, or beside a point

needs a display

aos draw text <text...> [--app=<name> | --title=<s> | --monitor=<n> | --rect=<x,y,w,h> | --at=<x,y> | --mouse] [--position=bottom-center|top-center|center|left|right|top-left|top-right|bottom-left|bottom-right] [--margin=<px|N%>] [--offset=<dx,dy>] [--color=<text colour>] [--bg=auto|none|<colour>] [--font=<name>] [--font-scale=<k>] [--size=S|M|L|XL] [--weight=regular|bold] [--align=left|center|right] [--max-width=<px|N%>] [--duration=<seconds>] [--detach] [--preview=<out.png>] [--json]

flag	values	meaning
<text...>		Required positional argument
--app	<name>	Optional
--title	<s>	Optional
--monitor	<n>	Optional
--rect	<x,y,w,h>	Optional. comma-separated
--at	<x,y>	Optional. comma-separated
--mouse		Optional
--position	bottom-center, top-center, center, left, right, top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right	Optional
--margin	px, N%	Optional
--offset	<dx,dy>	Optional. comma-separated
--color	<text colour>	Optional
--bg	auto, none, <colour>	Optional
--font	<name>	Optional
--font-scale	<k>	Optional
--size	S, M, L, XL	Optional
--weight	regular, bold	Optional
--align	left, center, right	Optional
--max-width	px, N%	Optional
--duration	<seconds>	Optional
--detach		Optional
--preview	<out.png>	Optional
--json		Optional

aos draw text "Step 2: pick a file" --app=Finder --position=top --color=amber
aos draw text "Done ✓" --monitor=2 --position=center --size=XL --color=green
aos draw text "Line one\nLine two" --rect=100,100,800,500 --position=bottom-right --bg=none
# default: bottom-center of the focused monitor (the recording's monitor while `capture video` runs), subtitle safe area (8% bottom, 5% sides)