Routines Routines
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Compare / CleanShot X

A CleanShot X alternative. Screenshots your AI can actually read.

CleanShot X is a polished, mature capture tool and has been the default answer on the Mac for years. Routines covers the same ground for region capture and annotation, then keeps going: after you mark a shot up, you can ask a model about it right there, and it reads the pixels. Our screenshot feature page walks through the capture side in detail.

The annotation part

Drag a region, mark it up, ship it.

Shift Command S by default, rebindable in Settings. Eleven tools, eight colors, crop, and undo.

The Routines annotation editor with a captured screen, an arrow drawn in red pointing at a Join button, and the toolbar showing crop, select, rectangle, filled rectangle, ellipse, line, arrow, text, pixelate, highlight, step counter, and pencil

Crop · arrow · pixelate · step counter · drag me out

Feature
Routines
CleanShot X
Capture and annotate
Region capture, 11 tools, 8 colors, crop
The deepest capture toolkit on the Mac
Ask the AI about the shot
Built in. The model reads what you marked
Not included
AI edit on the capture
Type an instruction, the shot is replaced
Not included
Straight into a chat thread
Opens in the main chat, thread continues
Copy, switch app, paste
Scrolling capture
Not included
Yes, a long page in one shot
Screen recording and GIFs
Not included
Video and GIF export
Cloud upload and share links
Captures stay in your own app folder
Cloud upload with instant links
OCR, pinned shots, self-timer
Not included
All three, refined over years
Drag out to any app
Native drag into Finder, Mail, Slack
Yes
Price model
7-day trial, then €19/mo (€16 billed yearly)
One-time purchase, optional Cloud plan

Checkmarks both ways · an honest comparison

The part CleanShot stops at

Ask the screenshot a question.

CleanShot X hands you the file. Routines hands the annotated image to a model that can read it.

The Ask panel open over a capture in the Routines annotation editor, with the question what should I fix first in this screen and an answer that names the Join button and the agenda counter it read in the image

Ask · follow up · switch to edit · never leave the editor

When CleanShot X is the better choice

  • You need scrolling capture for a long page, or a screen recording exported as video or GIF. Routines has neither.
  • You share captures constantly and want a Cloud link the moment the shot is taken, with a history you can go back to.
  • You lean on OCR, pinned overlays, the self-timer, and the wallpaper backgrounds. CleanShot X has spent years refining all of it, and it shows.

When Routines fits

  • The screenshot is usually a question. You want to ask about the screen you just grabbed and get an answer in the same window.
  • You want the capture to carry into a real chat thread with the image attached, not just land on the clipboard.
  • You would rather one native app do captures, meeting notes, dictation, and clipboard history than pay for four.

Where it ends up

The shot becomes a conversation.

One click moves the thread into the main window with the image attached, and it keeps going from there.

The Routines main window with the screenshot conversation continued in the chat panel, the captured image attached above the question and the model's answer below it

Image attached · thread continues · your key, your model

FAQ

Routines vs CleanShot X, answered.

Is Routines a good CleanShot X alternative?

For region capture and annotation, yes. Routines has the same shape of editor: drag a region, mark it up with 11 tools in 8 colors, crop, undo, then copy or save. For scrolling capture, screen recording, and Cloud share links, no. CleanShot X has those and Routines does not, so the honest answer depends on which half of the job you do more often.

Can Routines annotate screenshots like CleanShot X?

Yes. The editor has rectangle, filled rectangle, ellipse, line, arrow, text, pixelate, highlight, step counter, and pencil, plus a select tool and crop. Eight colors, three stroke widths, single-key tool switching, undo with Command Z, Save as with Command S, and copy and close with Command Return.

What can Routines do with a screenshot that CleanShot X cannot?

Ask a question about it without leaving the editor. The flattened, annotated image is attached to your message, so the model reads the pixels you just marked up instead of a description of them. From there you can move the thread into the main chat window and keep going, or switch to Edit mode and have the capture rewritten from a typed instruction.

Where do my screenshots go?

Captures stay on your Mac, in the app folder Routines owns, and the temporary file is removed once you copy, save, or cancel. There is no cloud account, no upload, and no share link you have to remember to delete. When you ask a question about a capture, that image goes to the model you picked, on your own key. Edit mode sends it to OpenAI on your own OpenAI key. Nothing routes through a Routines server.

Does Routines record my screen or capture scrolling pages?

No to both. There is no video recorder, no GIF export, and no scrolling capture. Routines records meetings as audio and transcribes them, which is a different job. If you need a long page in one shot or a short screen recording, CleanShot X is the right tool for that.

What is CleanShot X?

CleanShot X is a Mac screenshot and screen recording app, sold as a one-time purchase with an optional Cloud subscription. It is mature and well built, with scrolling capture, annotation, OCR, pinned overlays, a self-timer, and video or GIF recording. It is the reference point most Mac users compare against, which is why this page exists.

How do I crop a screenshot on a Mac?

Take the shot, then crop it in the editor that opens with it. Routines puts crop, arrows, text, highlight, and a pixelate tool in the same window as the capture, so you never round-trip through Preview to trim an edge. The cropped image lands on your clipboard ready to paste.

How do I edit a screenshot on a Mac without opening another app?

macOS gives you a thumbnail and leaves the editing to you. Routines opens an annotation editor straight after the capture, with text, arrows, an ellipse, a highlighter, numbered counters, crop, and pixelate. You mark it up and it is on the clipboard when you are done.

How do I blur or hide private information in a screenshot?

Use the pixelate tool in the annotation editor and drag it over anything you do not want to share, such as an email address, an account number, or a message thread. It is applied to the image itself before you copy or save, so the hidden pixels are not recoverable from the file you send.

Can I get the text out of a screenshot?

Yes, by asking. Send the capture into chat and ask what it says, and the model reads the image and gives you the text back. Routines does not run optical character recognition on your Mac, so this needs a model connection, and in exchange it also answers the follow-up question instead of only transcribing. You can ask it to summarize an error message or explain a chart in the same breath.

How do I paste a screenshot after taking it?

Every capture goes to the clipboard automatically, so Command V works straight away. Anything you captured earlier is still in clipboard history, searchable with one keystroke, so a screenshot from an hour ago is one shortcut away rather than lost.

Capture it, then ask about it.

7-day free trial, no credit card. The same capture and annotation you already expect, wired into a chat that reads images. We also wrote up where both sit in a stack in the best Mac apps.

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