Help / AI tools

Use Cropped with Claude, Cursor and Codex

Cropped can work for your AI app. Once they're connected, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor or Codex can ask Cropped to take a screenshot, draw on it, crop and resize it, fit it to social media sizes, make a new image with your own API key, look through a screen recording, edit videos together with music and voiceover, or shrink an image or video, all on your computer.

Pictures go back to the AI with the Agent / LLM preset (WebP, half size, at most 1280 pixels wide), so each screenshot uses a fraction of the image tokens a full-size Retina screenshot would.

It uses MCP, the standard way AI apps connect to tools. You don't need an API key or another subscription: it uses the AI app and plan you already have. The one exception is making brand-new images, which uses your own image key (see Make new images).

You don't need to learn the tools below. Ask in your own words, and your AI picks the right tool and fills in the details. This page lists them so you know what's possible and what to ask for.

#Connect your AI app

Open Preferences and click AI tools. Each AI app has its own row with a Connect button. Click it and Cropped adds itself to that app's settings, keeping everything else in them as it was. The row then shows Connected.

• Already connected: the row says Connected, and clicking does nothing twice. If an older copy of Cropped is in the app's settings (say you moved or reinstalled Cropped), the button says Update and points it at this one.
• Not found: the app isn't on this computer, or it lives somewhere Cropped doesn't look. Install it and click Connect again, or use Set up by hand.
• Remove takes Cropped back out of that app.

#Claude Code

Click Connect next to Claude Code. Cropped runs claude mcp add --scope user for you, so Cropped works in every project, not just one folder. If the claude command can't be found, Cropped writes the same entry into Claude Code's settings file instead. Start a new Claude Code session afterwards; /mcp lists Cropped when it's connected.

#Claude Desktop

Click Connect, then quit Claude Desktop completely (Claude › Quit Claude on a Mac, or from the system tray on Windows) and open it again.

Claude Desktop isn't available for Linux, so on Linux its row says so. Use Claude Code, Cursor or Codex there.

#Codex

Click Connect next to Codex. The Codex app and the codex command line share one connection, so this covers both. Cropped uses Codex's own codex mcp add command (including the one inside the Codex app on a Mac) and keeps unrelated connections intact; without it, Cropped adds the entry to ~/.codex/config.toml. Start a new chat; if the tools do not appear, quit and reopen Codex.

The optional Cropped plugin bundles setup and recording workflows with the same local MCP connection. Install either the direct connection or the plugin for an edition to avoid duplicate tools. A plugin package is being prepared for the directory; it is not yet a published listing.

#Cursor

Click Connect next to Cursor. Cropped adds itself to Cursor's MCP settings (~/.cursor/mcp.json), and it shows under Cursor Settings › MCP. Open a new chat in Agent mode. If Cursor has never been opened, Cropped opens Cursor's own install prompt instead.

#Other apps, or setting up by hand

Any app that supports MCP servers can use Cropped. Open Set up by hand for the Claude Code and Codex commands to paste into Terminal (or PowerShell on Windows), and the MCP settings (JSON) for any other app. It's the standard mcpServers entry that names the program to run.

#Alpha and release side by side

The released Cropped connects under the name cropped. A Cropped Alpha build connects as cropped-alpha, so you can connect both and pick which one your AI uses. In your AI app's tools list, the Alpha's tools show under cropped-alpha. If you only test the Alpha now and then, you can leave both connected.

#First use

Start a new chat after connecting. Your AI app may ask you to allow Cropped the first time it uses each tool; allow it once or always, as you prefer.

Cropped doesn't have to be open: the AI app opens it in the background when it needs it.

#What to ask

For dozens more, with the words to ask and what happens, see the workflow cookbook, the recipe library and best practices.

• “Take a screenshot of the window I pick and tell me what's wrong.”
• “Capture Safari, find the Save button and box it.” (Mac, with Let AI apps capture without asking on)
• “Look at my last screenshot and circle the error.”
• “Take a screenshot and hide the email addresses before you share it.”
• “Shrink every PNG in the docs folder with the Web preset.”
• “Look at my latest recording, then trim it to the part where I open Settings, without the sound.”
• “Make this photo into an X header, a LinkedIn post and a story.”
• “Make a 30-second vertical demo from my last two recordings: the title image first, the parts where I open Settings and export, then song.mp3 underneath.”
• “Crop my last screenshot to the Settings window, make it 1200 wide and save it as WebP.”
• “Make a 16:9 hero image of a calm lake at dawn for my blog.” (needs your own API key)
• “Save that as a recipe called Blog hero.” Later: “Run Blog hero on every PNG in this folder.”
• “Use Cropped to make a step-by-step guide that shows how to export a report, with numbered badges in Calm blue.” See Make step-by-step guides.

When the AI takes a screenshot, Cropped shows its usual area picker and you choose what to capture, so the AI never sees your screen without you. On a Mac you can let it capture windows by name instead: see Let your AI capture and point.

#Ready-made prompts

Many AI apps have a prompt menu (in Claude Desktop, the + button; in Claude Code, type /). Cropped adds ready-made workflows there:

Every recipe you save also appears there as Recipe: its name.

#All the tools

Cropped gives your AI these tools. Each name below is what you'll see in your AI app when it asks to use one.

Saved files go to your Drop Zone folder with your usual file names, and they appear in the Drop Zone so you can drag them anywhere. Unless you name a preset, images use your Drop Zone image preset and videos your Drop Zone video preset.

#Screenshots and your capture history

Take a screenshot shows Cropped's own capture tools. The AI can ask for an area (you drag), a window (you click one) or a screen (you click the screen to capture). It waits while you choose, and gets nothing if you press Esc. The screenshot is saved to your history as usual, and the AI gets a small copy plus an id it can use with the other tools.

Every picture the AI gets comes with its size, so it can place boxes and arrows exactly. It can also ask for the picture at full size (to read small text, up to 3.7 MB and 8000 pixels on a side; bigger ones come back as the small copy) or for no picture at all (to save tokens when it only needs the file).

Get a capture fetches your newest screenshot, or a specific one by id, so you can take a screenshot yourself and then say “look at my last screenshot.” For a recording it returns the details; the AI then uses Look at a video to see inside.

List captures gives the AI your recent screenshots and recordings (10 by default, up to 50), newest first, with sizes and file paths.

Try:

• “Take a screenshot of the window I click and check the spacing.”
• “What's in my last three screenshots?”

#Let your AI capture and point

On a Mac or Windows PC, your AI can capture an app's window without you clicking anything, and on a Mac it can also read the words on it and find a button by name. Turn on Let AI apps capture without asking in Preferences › AI tools. It's off until you turn it on, and it applies to every AI app on this computer that you've connected to Cropped. The first time each AI app wants to capture on its own, Cropped asks you whether to allow that app.

• Capture a window takes a window by its app (“Safari”, “Visual Studio Code”), part of its title, or a whole screen. On a Mac, while an AI app is looking, a violet pill at the top of the screen names it, and every capture flashes white over what was captured. Every capture plays the capture sound, even if you turned capture sounds off, so you always know. The screenshot goes into your capture history, but not onto your clipboard, and the Drop Zone and annotation editor don't open.
• List windows tells the AI which windows are open, so it can pick the right one.
• Read the text in an image (Mac) reads every line in a screenshot or image, with where it is.
• Find something on screen (Mac) finds a button, menu item, label or link by the words on it and gives the AI a box to draw around it. It reads words, so an icon without a label can't be found by name.

With the switch off, or for an AI app you didn't allow, Capture a window asks you to click the window instead, like Take a screenshot, and List windows tells the AI nothing. Turning the switch off also forgets which AI apps you allowed. On a Mac, Cropped needs Screen Recording permission for either. Windows that are minimized can't be captured. On macOS 13 and earlier, Capture a window asks you to click. On Windows, Capture a window captures the window as it draws itself, even when another window covers it. On Linux these tools say they aren't supported yet; your AI can use Take a screenshot there.

Read the text and Find something on screen work without the switch, because they only read pictures your AI already has: a file it names or a screenshot already in your history.

Try:

• “Capture Safari, find the Save button and box it.”
• “Capture my Figma window and read me the error text.”
• “Screenshot System Settings and number the three switches I need to turn on.”

#Annotate and optimize images

Annotate an image draws in the same style as Cropped's annotation editor:

Colors are red (the default), orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, white and black, or any hex color. Lines and text come in small, medium or large. It can also crop the picture to the part that matters. The AI measures on the small copy it was shown, and Cropped places everything on the full-size original, so nothing comes out blurry.

Optimize an image shrinks any image on your computer, or a capture, with one of your image presets. Your AI can ask for a preset by name, like “Web” or “Agent / LLM”.

List presets gives the AI the names of your image and video presets, including ones you made yourself in Optimize images.

Try:

• “Circle the error in my last screenshot, add the label ‘Fails here’, and hide my email address.”
• “Shrink hero.png with my Web preset.”

#Crop, resize and fit for your AI

Edit an image is the general image tool. It runs steps in the order the AI lists them:

When a fit changes the shape, the AI chooses how:

• Crop keeps the main subject and trims the rest (the default).
• Extend keeps the whole picture and fills the new edges from it, which works best for small gaps.
• Pad keeps the whole picture and fills the edges with a color.
• AI fill keeps the whole picture and has your own image provider paint the new edges, like AI fill in the Studio. It needs an OpenAI or Gemini key in Preferences and is billed by that provider; without one, the edges use the background color.
• Stretch squeezes the picture to fit.

It can also make several files at once, one for each size you name, such as a header, a square post and a story for each of your social accounts.

The AI can save as WebP, AVIF, JPEG or PNG and set the quality, or use one of your presets. It can preview an edit without saving anything, show you, and save once you're happy.

When a picture is too small for a size, Cropped makes the largest version it can at the right shape and tells the AI, rather than enlarging it. Ask for it to be enlarged if you want the exact pixels.

Edit an image also takes pictures from other tools: a file path, a capture, an image another AI made, or an https link to one. That way an image made elsewhere can be finished in Cropped.

List sizes gives the AI every size Cropped knows: X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok and more, plus your own size collections. That's why “a LinkedIn banner” just works.

Try:

• “Make my last screenshot 1600 wide, add a 40 pixel white border and save it as PNG.”
• “Fit logo.png into a 1200 × 630 link preview, padded with white.”
• “Make beach.jpg into an X header with AI fill, so the sea carries on past the edges.”
• “Number the three buttons on my last screenshot, then frame it on the Cropped gradient for the blog.”
• “Turn photo.jpg into every Instagram size, keeping my face in frame. Show me before saving.”

#Make new images

Generate an image makes a new image from a description with your own API key. Add an OpenAI key, or a Gemini key under Image model key, in Preferences › AI tools › Provider connections. You can also use any provider that works like OpenAI by entering its address. Each image is billed to you by that provider, and Cropped sends the description, and any pictures you ask it to use, straight to that provider from your computer.

Image models draw words poorly, so ask your AI to add titles and labels afterwards as annotations.

Try:

• “Make a 16:9 hero image of a calm lake at dawn, then give me the X header and LinkedIn post sizes.”
• “Use my last screenshot as a reference and make a clean illustrated version of it.”

#Look at and shrink videos

Look at a video gives the AI small stills spread across a recording (6 by default, up to 12), each with its time. It can also look closely at just one part. That's how the AI finds where something happens before it trims or edits.

Optimize a video shrinks a video or recording with one of your video presets. It can keep just the part between two times and remove the sound. The original isn't changed.

Make a GIF turns a recording, or part of it, into a looping GIF for a README, an issue or a chat: small (320p, 10 frames a second, 64 colors) or smooth (480p, 20 frames a second). Keep GIFs short, because they grow fast.

Try:

• “Look at my latest recording and tell me when the error appears.”
• “Keep 0:12 to 0:40 of demo.mov, without sound, as an MP4 for the web.”
• “Make a GIF of the first 5 seconds of my latest recording.”

#Edit videos by asking

Edit a video puts one video together from parts of videos and screen recordings, still images, background music and voiceover recordings. It's the same engine as a sequence in the Studio, without opening the editor. Your AI usually looks at the recordings first to find the parts worth keeping, then sends Cropped the whole edit at once.

The first video in the edit sets the frame size, and images and other videos fit inside it. An edit needs at least one video; images and audio alone can't make one. Cropped checks every file before it starts, and tells the AI clearly if a time is past the end of a video or a file is missing.

To record a voiceover with your microphone, use the Studio's voiceover lane. Your AI can then use that recording, or any other audio file.

The finished video is saved with your Drop Zone video preset, or the one you name, to your Drop Zone folder. The AI gets back its size and length.

Try:

• “Make a 30-second vertical demo from my last two recordings: the title image for 2 seconds, the parts where I open Settings and export, then song.mp3 underneath.”
• “Join intro.mov, demo.mov and outro.png into one 16:9 video, and mute the demo's own sound.”
• “Put voiceover.m4a over my latest recording starting at 5 seconds, with music.mp3 quietly underneath.”
• “Leave out the part of demo.mov from 1:10 to 1:45 where I wait for the upload.”

#Walkthroughs with callouts

Your AI can also build an editable walkthrough project: open a recording in the Studio, add text callouts and shapes, choose a style such as the purple Cropped style, pick an entrance and any of the easing curves, and export an MP4. On Mac it can even record the Cropped window while it works, with Cropped asking you to approve the recording first; window recording for Windows and Linux is coming next. Callouts fit their text at the final video size, so they never clip. You can keep editing the project in the Studio afterwards. See What's new in Cropped 0.3.35.

Try:

• “Record my Cropped window while you optimize my latest recording, then turn the recording into a walkthrough with a callout for each step.”
• “Add three callouts to my latest project in the Cropped style, sliding up with a Back Out curve.”

#Recipes

When you like an edit, ask your AI to save it as a recipe, like “Blog hero: crop to 16:9, 1600 × 900, WebP.” A recipe keeps the steps, the sizes to make and the format or preset. Any AI app connected to Cropped can then run it by name, with Edit an image or Generate an image, and add more steps after it.

Saving with a name that's already used replaces that recipe. List recipes shows them all, and Delete a recipe removes one. Your recipes are also listed under Recipes in Preferences › AI tools, where you can delete them yourself.

The recipe library has 18 recipes to start from, for blogs, docs, social media, products and slides.

Try:

• “Save that as a recipe called Launch set.”
• “Run Launch set on every PNG in my screenshots folder.”

#Privacy

Everything happens on your computer, except making new images, which goes to the provider of the key you added, and making annotation styles with Claude, which sends a small copy of the picture (or a web page's colors, fonts and corners) to Anthropic when you've turned that on. A web page link you give for a style is opened from your computer. Cropped only answers AI apps on this computer that you've connected with the steps above: it doesn't open anything to the internet, it needs a key file only your user account can read, and web pages can't reach it.

Your AI app sends what it receives from Cropped to its AI service, as it does with anything you paste into a chat. That includes the screenshots and video stills you let it take or read, and the text it reads from them. Files you edit are never sent anywhere: only the small copies the AI looks at.

Reading text happens on your Mac with Apple's own text recognition. Capturing without a click only works while Let AI apps capture without asking is on, and every such capture flashes on screen and lands in your capture history, where you can see and delete it.

#License

The AI tools work during the free trial and with a lifetime license. When the trial has ended, Cropped tells the AI that it needs a license, and you can buy one to continue.

#Troubleshooting

• New tools don't show up after updating Cropped: quit and reopen your AI app (Claude Desktop, Cursor or Codex), or start a new Claude Code session. AI apps read the list of tools when they start, so they only see tools added in an update after a restart.
• Claude Desktop doesn't list Cropped: quit Claude Desktop completely, not just its window, and reopen it after clicking Connect.
• The AI says Cropped didn't open: open Cropped yourself, then ask again. If it's waiting on a Screen Recording prompt or the license screen, answer that first.
• The AI asks you to click a window when you asked it to capture one: turn on Let AI apps capture without asking in Preferences › AI tools.
• The AI can't find a button: it finds things by their words. Ask it to read the text first, or point at the button another way.
• A row says Not found: install that app first, then click Connect again. If it's installed somewhere unusual, use Set up by hand.
• You see two Croppeds in your AI app: one is the Alpha (cropped-alpha) and one is the release (cropped). Click Remove in the copy of Cropped you don't use, or remove it in that app's MCP settings.
• The AI says no image key is set: add an OpenAI or Gemini key in Preferences › AI tools › Provider connections.
• A size came out smaller than asked: the picture was smaller than that size. Ask the AI to enlarge it, or start from a bigger picture.
• A video edit fails with a time past the end: the AI asked for more than the file has. Ask it to look at the video again and pick new times.
• The AI says it needs a license: start the trial or activate your license in Preferences › General.
• Moved Cropped to another folder: copy the line again or click the button again, because the setup points at where Cropped is installed.

Still stuck? Click the ? button at the bottom left of the Cropped Studio to ask, send us a message, or request a feature.