Spectra

Content capture for marketing — screenshots, videos, and app usage sequences for blog posts, social media, and documentation.

Works across web (Chrome DevTools Protocol), macOS (accessibility bridge), iOS and watchOS (simulators).

Install

Via Claude Code plugin marketplace (recommended)

/plugin marketplace add tyroneross/spectra
/plugin install spectra@spectra

Manual install (development / library use)

Requirements: Node.js 22+, macOS (for native features), Xcode CLI tools (for Swift compilation)

git clone https://github.com/tyroneross/spectra.git
cd spectra
npm install
npm run build

Native bridge (macOS/iOS/watchOS automation)

# Compile the Swift binary to ~/.spectra/bin/spectra-native
npm run build:native

# Optional: compile the SwiftUI test fixture
npm run build:test-app

macOS permissions required:

• System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility — add your terminal app
• System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording — add your terminal app (for video capture)

Dashboard (web UI)

cd web-ui
npm install
cd ..
npm run serve    # → http://localhost:4300

Claude Code Plugin

Spectra is a Claude Code plugin. Install via the marketplace (see above) or locally for development:

# From another project, point Claude Code at the Spectra directory
claude --plugin-dir /path/to/spectra

Or add to .claude/settings.json:

{
  "plugins": ["/path/to/spectra"]
}

Slash Commands

| Command | Purpose | |---------|---------| | /spectra:connect <target> | Start a capture session | | /spectra:walk <description> | Walk through a flow with natural language | | /spectra:capture | Screenshot current state | | /spectra:sessions | List active sessions |

Routing: Host-Routed vs Standalone

The primary Spectra path is host-routed. A host agent such as Claude Code, Codex, or another LLM coding host reads spectra_snapshot, plans the next action, and calls Spectra MCP tools to execute and capture. Spectra does not need a model API key for this path.

The standalone Spectra.app fallback is for sessions launched outside a host agent. In that case the app uses WalkthroughPlanner.swift and AnthropicClient.swift to plan locally, with the user's key stored in Keychain.

Use host-routed walkthroughs when working inside a coding agent. Use the standalone path when the menu-bar app is the only planner available.

MCP Tools

spectra_connect

Start a new UI automation session.

| Param | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|:--------:|-------------| | target | string | yes | URL, app name, or sim:device identifier | | name | string | | Human-readable session name | | record | boolean | | Start video recording immediately |

Examples:

target: "https://myapp.vercel.app"       → web (CDP)
target: "Finder"                          → macOS native (AX)
target: "sim:iPhone 16 Pro"              → iOS simulator
target: "sim:Apple Watch Series 10"      → watchOS simulator

Returns: { sessionId, platform, target, name }

spectra_snapshot

Get the current accessibility tree snapshot.

| Param | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|:--------:|-------------| | sessionId | string | yes | Active session ID | | screenshot | boolean | | Include base64 screenshot |

Returns: Serialized AX tree — compact element list with roles, labels, bounds, actions.

spectra_act

Perform an action on a specific element.

| Param | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|:--------:|-------------| | sessionId | string | yes | Active session ID | | elementId | string | yes | Element ID from snapshot (e.g., "e4") | | action | enum | yes | click, type, clear, select, scroll, hover, focus | | value | string | | Text to type or scroll amount in px |

Returns: { success, snapshot } — updated snapshot after the action.

spectra_step

Natural language navigation — describe what to do, Spectra finds the element and executes.

| Param | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|:--------:|-------------| | sessionId | string | yes | Active session ID | | intent | string | yes | What to do, e.g., "click the Log In button" |

Returns: { resolved, elementId, action, confidence, snapshot } — plus optional screenshot.

Uses the Jaro-Winkler resolution engine to fuzzy-match intents to AX tree elements.

spectra_capture

Take a screenshot or manage video recording. Supports intelligent framing modes.

| Param | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|:--------:|-------------| | sessionId | string | yes | Active session ID | | type | enum | yes | screenshot, start_recording, stop_recording | | preset | enum | | Production preset: docs, demo, social, app-store | | mode | enum | | Capture mode: full (default), element, region, auto | | elementId | string | | Target element for mode=element | | region | string | | Region label for mode=region (e.g., "Navigation", "Form") | | aspectRatio | string | | Output aspect ratio: "16:9", "4:3", "1:1" | | clean | boolean | | Apply visual cleanup before capture (default: true) | | quality | enum | | lossless, high, medium | | fps | enum | | Recording frame rate: 30, 60 | | codec | enum | | Recording codec: h264, hevc | | bitrate | enum | | Recording bitrate: 4M, 8M | | hardware | boolean | | Use hardware encoding when available |

Capture modes:

• full — standard full-page screenshot
• element — crops to a single element by ID
• region — crops to a detected region by label (run spectra_analyze first to see available regions)
• auto — automatically frames the most important content on screen

Production presets:

• docs — clean 16:9 auto-framed screenshots and lossless 30 fps recordings for documentation.
• demo — clean 16:9 full-screen screenshots and smooth 60 fps H.264 recordings for product walkthroughs.
• social — clean 9:16 auto-framed screenshots and H.264 recordings for short social clips.
• app-store — stable clean full-screen captures for marketplace-style product shots.

Explicit capture options override preset defaults, so preset="demo" with fps=30 records at 30 fps while keeping the rest of the demo defaults.

Visual cleanup (clean: true):

• Hides scrollbars (web)
• Cleans simulator status bar — 9:41, full battery, full signal (iOS/watchOS)
• Removes cursor artifacts (web)

Returns: { path, format, preset?, crop?, label?, cleanApplied }

spectra_analyze

Score the current screen — element importance, regions of interest, UI state.

| Param | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|:--------:|-------------| | sessionId | string | yes | Active session ID | | viewport | object | | { width, height, devicePixelRatio } (default: 1280x800@1x) |

Returns:

{
  "state": "populated",
  "stateConfidence": 0.833,
  "regions": [
    { "label": "Navigation", "score": 0.712, "bounds": [0, 0, 1280, 60], "elementCount": 8 },
    { "label": "Form", "score": 0.645, "bounds": [200, 300, 400, 250], "elementCount": 5 }
  ],
  "topElements": [
    { "id": "e3", "role": "heading", "label": "Welcome", "importance": 0.891 },
    { "id": "e7", "role": "button", "label": "Get Started", "importance": 0.856 }
  ],
  "totalElements": 42
}

UI states detected: loading, error, empty, populated, focused, unknown

Importance scoring uses 6 weighted heuristics from UEyes CHI 2023 eye-tracking research:

• Semantic role (30%) — headings, buttons, links score highest
• Position (20%) — top-left bias, above-fold bonus
• Interactivity (15%) — elements with actions
• Label quality (15%) — meaningful text labels
• Content density (10%) — elements surrounded by related content
• Visual prominence (10%) — larger elements score higher

spectra_discover

Auto-navigate and capture an entire app. BFS crawls through links, buttons, and tabs — captures and frames each screen.

| Param | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|:--------:|-------------| | sessionId | string | yes | Active session ID | | maxDepth | number | | Max navigation depth (default: 3) | | maxScreens | number | | Max screens to discover (default: 50) | | captureStates | boolean | | Also capture loading/error/empty states (default: false) | | clean | boolean | | Apply visual cleanup (default: true) | | outputDir | string | | Custom output directory |

How it works:

1. Takes initial screenshot + AX snapshot
2. Scores elements by importance
3. Detects UI state (populated, loading, error, etc.)
4. Auto-frames and saves the best region
5. Finds navigable elements (links, buttons, tabs, menu items)
6. BFS crawls to each, repeating steps 2-4
7. Deduplicates screens by role+label fingerprint (stable across React/Angular)
8. Detects and flags sensitive screens (password fields, API keys)
9. Writes manifest with all captures

Security:

• Same-origin only by default
• Never interacts with password/credential fields
• Flags sensitive screens in manifest (skips capture)

Returns: { screens, captures, sensitive, manifestPath, outputDir }

Output: {outputDir}/screen-*.png, {outputDir}/framed-*.png, {outputDir}/manifest.json

spectra_session

Manage active sessions.

| Param | Type | Required | Description | |-------|------|:--------:|-------------| | action | enum | yes | list, get, close, close_all | | sessionId | string | | Required for get and close |

Library API

Spectra exports a full programmatic API for use by other tools:

Drivers

import { CdpDriver, NativeDriver, SimDriver } from 'spectra'

// Web — Chrome DevTools Protocol
const web = new CdpDriver({ browser: { headless: true } })
await web.connect({ url: 'https://myapp.vercel.app' })
const snap = await web.snapshot()    // → Snapshot { elements, platform, timestamp, metadata }
const buf = await web.screenshot()   // → Buffer (PNG)
await web.navigate('https://myapp.vercel.app/about')
await web.act('e4', 'click')         // → ActResult { success, snapshot }
await web.disconnect()

// macOS — Accessibility bridge
const mac = new NativeDriver()
await mac.connect({ appName: 'Finder' })

// iOS/watchOS — Simulator
const sim = new SimDriver()
await sim.connect({ simulator: 'iPhone 16 Pro' })

Intelligence — Importance Scoring

import { scoreElements, findRegions } from 'spectra'
import type { Viewport, ImportanceScore, RegionOfInterest } from 'spectra'

const viewport: Viewport = { width: 1280, height: 800, devicePixelRatio: 2 }
const scores: ImportanceScore[] = scoreElements(snapshot.elements, viewport)
// → [{ elementId: 'e3', score: 0.891, factors: [...] }, ...]

const regions: RegionOfInterest[] = findRegions(scores, snapshot.elements)
// → [{ label: 'Navigation', score: 0.712, bounds: [0,0,1280,60], elements: ['e1','e2',...] }]

Intelligence — Change Detection

import { perceptualHash, hashDistance, diffSnapshots, detectChange } from 'spectra'

// Fast visual comparison (dHash — 64-bit gradient hash)
const hash1 = perceptualHash(screenshotBuffer1)  // → bigint
const hash2 = perceptualHash(screenshotBuffer2)
const distance = hashDistance(hash1, hash2)        // → number (0 = identical, >10 = different)

// Semantic comparison (AX tree structural diff)
const diff = diffSnapshots(snapshot1, snapshot2)
// → { changed: true, score: 0.35, type: 'significant', details: [{kind:'added',...}] }

// Combined pipeline: dHash pre-filter → structural diff
const change = detectChange(buf1, buf2, snap1, snap2, 0.15)
// → ChangeResult { changed, score, type, details }

Intelligence — State Detection

import { detectState, createStateTriggers } from 'spectra'
import type { UIState, StateDetection, StateTriggerOptions } from 'spectra'

const state: StateDetection = detectState(snapshot)
// → { state: 'populated', confidence: 0.83, indicators: ['e5', 'e8', ...] }

// CDP state triggers — inject loading/error/empty UI for capture
const triggers = createStateTriggers({
  conn: cdpConnection,       // from driver.getConnection()
  sessionId: 'target-id',
  platform: 'web',
})
// → StateTrigger[] — each has trigger() and restore()

for (const t of triggers) {
  await t.trigger()          // inject simulated UI state
  // ... capture screenshot ...
  await t.restore()          // restore original page
}

Intelligence — Smart Framing

import { frame, autoFrame } from 'spectra'
import type { FrameOptions, FrameResult } from 'spectra'

// Auto-frame to best content region
const result: FrameResult = frame(screenshotBuffer, scores, elements)
// → { crop: [x, y, w, h], buffer: Buffer, label: 'Navigation' }

// Frame a specific element
const elementFrame = frame(buf, scores, elements, {
  target: 'element',
  elementId: 'e7',
  padding: 16,
  aspectRatio: 16 / 9,
})

// Get multiple crop suggestions
const frames: FrameResult[] = autoFrame(buf, scores, elements)
// → top 5 regions sorted by importance score

Intelligence — Navigation

import { crawl, discoverByScroll } from 'spectra'
import type { NavigationGraph, CrawlOptions } from 'spectra'

const graph: NavigationGraph = await crawl(driver, {
  maxDepth: 3,
  maxScreens: 50,
  scrollDiscover: true,
  changeThreshold: 0.15,
  allowExternal: false,
  allowFormSubmit: false,
})
// → { nodes: Map<id, ScreenNode>, edges: NavigationEdge[], root: string }

// Scroll to discover lazy-loaded content
const newScreens = await discoverByScroll(driver, 20)

Media — PNG Codec

Zero-dependency PNG decode/encode built on node:zlib:

import { decodePng, encodePng, cropImage, resizeNearest, toGrayscale } from 'spectra'
import type { RawImage } from 'spectra'

const raw: RawImage = decodePng(pngBuffer)
// → { width, height, data: Uint8Array (RGBA, 4 bytes/pixel) }

const cropped = cropImage(raw, 100, 50, 400, 300)   // x, y, w, h
const small = resizeNearest(raw, 9, 8)                // nearest-neighbor
const gray: Uint8Array = toGrayscale(raw)             // 1 byte/pixel
const encoded: Buffer = encodePng(cropped)             // → valid PNG buffer

Media — Capture Cleanup

import { prepareForCapture, restoreAfterCapture } from 'spectra'
import type { CleanOptions, CleanState } from 'spectra'

// Prepare environment for clean screenshots
const state: CleanState = await prepareForCapture(cdpConnection, sessionId, 'web', {
  hideScrollbars: true,   // Emulation.setScrollbarsHidden
  hideCursor: true,       // CSS injection
  cleanStatusBar: true,   // xcrun simctl status_bar (iOS/watchOS)
  viewport: { width: 1280, height: 800 },
})
// state.applied → ['scrollbars', 'cursor', 'viewport']

// ... take screenshots ...

await restoreAfterCapture(state)  // reverses all cleanup (reverse order, fault-tolerant)

Media — Video Pipeline

import { buildCaptureArgs, buildEncodeArgs } from 'spectra'
import type { VideoOptions } from 'spectra'

// Build FFmpeg arguments for lossless capture
const captureArgs = buildCaptureArgs('web', '/tmp/raw.mkv', {
  fps: 60, quality: 'lossless', hardware: false,
})
// → ['-f', 'avfoundation', '-framerate', '60', '-i', '1:none', '-c:v', 'libx264rgb', '-crf', '0', ...]

// Build FFmpeg arguments for optimized encoding
const encodeArgs = buildEncodeArgs('/tmp/raw.mkv', '/tmp/output.mp4', {
  fps: 30, quality: 'high', hardware: true,
})
// → ['-i', '/tmp/raw.mkv', '-c:v', 'h264_videotoolbox', '-b:v', '8M', '-pix_fmt', 'yuv420p', ...]

Media — Production Bundles

import { createProductionBundle } from 'spectra'

const bundle = await createProductionBundle([
  {
    id: 'capture-1',
    path: '/absolute/path/to/capture.png',
    type: 'screenshot',
    preset: 'demo',
    caption: 'Dashboard overview',
  },
], {
  outDir: '/absolute/path/to/.spectra/productions/demo-bundle',
  title: 'Demo launch assets',
})

// Writes masters/, derivatives/, manifest.json, quality-report.json, and README.md.
// PNG screenshots get thumbnail derivatives. Videos are packaged as masters
// with quality checks until probe/transcode derivatives are explicitly added.
console.log(bundle.manifest.quality.status)

Resolution Engine

import { resolve } from 'spectra'

const result = resolve(snapshot.elements, 'click the submit button', {
  bias: 'spatial',        // 'semantic' | 'spatial'
  threshold: 0.4,
})
// → { elementId: 'e12', confidence: 0.87, method: 'jaro-winkler' }

Session Management

import { SessionManager } from 'spectra'

const manager = new SessionManager()
const session = await manager.create({ name: 'my-capture', platform: 'web' })
await manager.addStep(session.id, { intent: 'click login', elementId: 'e3', action: 'click' })
const sessions = manager.list()

Serialization

import { serializeSnapshot, serializeElement, normalizeRole } from 'spectra'

const compact = serializeSnapshot(snapshot)   // → compact string representation
const role = normalizeRole('AXButton', 'macos')  // → 'button' (cross-platform)

Core Types

interface Element {
  id: string
  role: string                              // normalized: 'button', 'link', 'heading', etc.
  label: string
  value: string | null
  enabled: boolean
  focused: boolean
  actions: ActionType[]                     // 'click' | 'type' | 'clear' | 'select' | 'scroll' | 'hover' | 'focus'
  bounds: [number, number, number, number]  // [x, y, width, height]
  parent: string | null
}

interface Snapshot {
  platform: Platform        // 'web' | 'macos' | 'ios' | 'watchos'
  elements: Element[]
  timestamp: number
  metadata: SnapshotMetadata
}

interface Driver {
  connect(target: DriverTarget): Promise<void>
  snapshot(): Promise<Snapshot>
  act(elementId: string, action: ActionType, value?: string): Promise<ActResult>
  screenshot(): Promise<Buffer>
  navigate?(url: string): Promise<void>
  getConnection?(): { conn: unknown; sessionId: string | null }
  close(): Promise<void>
  disconnect(): Promise<void>
}

Project Structure

spectra/
├── src/
│   ├── core/           # Types, session manager, resolve engine, serialize, normalize
│   ├── cdp/            # Chrome DevTools Protocol (connection, browser, 7 domain wrappers)
│   ├── intelligence/   # Capture optimization
│   │   ├── spatial.ts      # Shared: edgeDistance, regionLabel, boundingBox, clusterElements
│   │   ├── types.ts        # 18 shared interfaces
│   │   ├── importance.ts   # 6-factor element scoring (UEyes CHI 2023)
│   │   ├── change.ts       # dHash perceptual hash + structural diff
│   │   ├── states.ts       # UI state detection + CDP triggers
│   │   ├── framing.ts      # Smart crop with aspect ratio enforcement
│   │   └── navigation.ts   # BFS crawl + scroll discovery
│   ├── mcp/            # MCP server + 8 tool handlers
│   ├── media/          # PNG codec, capture, cleanup, video pipeline
│   └── native/         # Swift bridge, native driver, simulator driver
├── native/swift/       # Swift source for native binary (AXBridge, SimBridge)
├── web-ui/             # Next.js dashboard (browse, manage, export captures)
├── commands/           # Claude Code slash commands
├── skills/             # Claude Code skills
├── tests/              # Vitest test suite (30 files, 329 tests)
├── artifacts/          # Capture output (gitignored)
└── .spectra/           # Session data, playbooks, archive (gitignored)

Scripts

| Script | Purpose | |--------|---------| | npm run build | Compile TypeScript to dist/ | | npm run build:native | Compile Swift binary | | npm run build:test-app | Compile SwiftUI test fixture | | npm test | Run all tests (Vitest) | | npm run serve | Launch dashboard at localhost:4300 |

Environment Variables

| Variable | Purpose | |----------|---------| | SPECTRA_DEBUG | Set to 1 for verbose debug logging in navigation and discovery |

Platforms

| Platform | Driver | Target Format | Features | |----------|--------|---------------|----------| | Web | CdpDriver | Any URL | Full CDP: screenshot, navigate, act, state triggers, cleanup | | macOS | NativeDriver | App name (e.g., "Finder") | AX tree, actions, screenshot via native bridge | | iOS | SimDriver | sim:iPhone 16 Pro | Simulator AX, screenshot, status bar cleanup | | watchOS | SimDriver | sim:Apple Watch Series 10 | Simulator AX, screenshot, Digital Crown |

Codex

This package now ships an additive Codex plugin surface alongside the existing Claude Code package. The Claude package remains authoritative for Claude behavior; the Codex package adds a parallel .codex-plugin/plugin.json install surface without changing the Claude runtime.

Package root for Codex installs:

• the repository root (.)

Primary Codex surface:

• skills from ./skills when present
• MCP config from inline mcpServers metadata when present

Install the package from this package root using your current Codex plugin install flow. The Codex package is additive only: Claude-specific hooks, slash commands, and agent wiring remain unchanged for Claude Code.