Desktop Capture
Install, enroll, consent to policy, understand local capture, read states, pause, and re-enroll.
Desktop Capture is a signed endpoint application that converts policy-approved on-device activity into structured context. Raw screenshots, video, and audio remain on the employee computer and are never uploaded in v1.
Install and enroll
Use the signed installer supplied by your organization. Open the invitation link or enter the enrollment code shown by the Account administrator. Enrollment binds the application build, Account, Desktop Source, endpoint, enrollment epoch, policy revision/hash, release channel, and endpoint credential.
The application requests Screen Recording only when OCR is enabled and Accessibility only when accessibility text is enabled. Follow the operating-system prompt, then return to the application. If the company changes a capture-sensitive policy, the endpoint requires re-enrollment so the employee consents to the new policy hash.
Policy options
The administrator policy controls:
- whether the endpoint is assigned to capture;
- centralized structured retention from 1–30 days;
- local raw Screenpipe retention from 0–7 days;
- accessibility text, OCR text, and window-title inclusion;
- browser URL handling: none, origin only, or origin and path;
- excluded applications, domains, and window-title patterns.
Baseline exclusions always block password managers, private/incognito windows, authentication and recovery screens, payment/checkout paths, Screenpipe itself, and malformed browser URLs. Secret and payment-card patterns are redacted before encrypted outbox persistence.
Data flow
Screenpipe runs locally with keyboard, clipboard, click, and scroll capture disabled. Combined projects permitted observations into structured application-activity and text records with endpoint, epoch, modality, policy hash, and safe browser/window provenance. The encrypted local outbox uploads bounded, ordered batches. It deletes acknowledged batches only after server acceptance.
States and actions
| State | Response |
|---|---|
enrollment_required | Enter the invitation code or open the link |
enrolling | Wait while identity, policy, and release integrity are verified |
permission_required | Grant the named OS permission or open Settings |
starting_capture | Wait for the protected local component |
ready | Structured context is flowing |
offline | Connectivity is unavailable; encrypted batches remain local |
failed | Use the displayed retry/settings/re-enroll action and issue code |
revoked | Capture is stopped; a new enrollment is required |
Choose Pause capture on this device to stop local capture and revoke the endpoint. An outbox at its byte bound also pauses new capture until queued structured context uploads.
See Desktop privacy for the trust boundary and Desktop troubleshooting for recovery.