The Project Editor
After finishing a recording, ScreenKite opens the Project Editor — a full-featured editor designed for screen recordings. Projects are saved as .skbundle files.
Layout
The editor window uses a resizable split layout with four main regions:
Top Toolbar
Contains the core editing and navigation controls, split into a left cluster and a right cluster.
Left cluster (in order):
- Chat — opens and closes the AI Chat sidebar panel; uses a speech-bubble pair icon (
bubble.left.and.bubble.right); the icon fills (bubble.left.and.bubble.right.fill) when the panel is open - AI Agent — connects the editor to an external AI agent via the MCP server
- Undo / Redo — standard undo and redo (Pro toolbar mode only)
- Open in Finder — reveals the
.skbundlein Finder - Delete Project — moves the current project to Trash
- Command Palette — opens the command palette (⌘+⇧+P)
- Loading indicator — appears while the project is loading or while the preview is rebuilding
Right cluster (in order):
- Presets — captures or applies inspector presets
- Library — shows or hides the Library panel where you can browse and manage imported B-roll assets, organized into folders with thumbnail previews
- Import — imports audio or video into the timeline (⌘+I; Pro toolbar mode only)
- Feedback — sends feedback to the ScreenKite team
- Export — opens the export dialog (⌘+E)
Native macOS titlebar integration: The editor uses .fullSizeContentView so the editor background extends seamlessly under the native titlebar. The project name appears in the window title; clicking the title lets you rename the project in place (standard macOS document title behavior). A proxy icon appears next to the project name and supports the standard macOS document menu — Move To…, Duplicate, Lock, and related commands — when you Control-click or right-click the proxy icon.
Top toolbar showing Chat button in inactive state (unfilled bubble icon) and the rest of the left cluster
Top toolbar showing Chat button in active/panel-open state (filled bubble icon)
Project editor window showing the native macOS proxy icon next to the project name in the titlebar
Preview Canvas (Left)
The large left panel shows a live preview of your recording with all effects applied — zoom, background, device frame, and camera overlay.
Canvas zoom: Zoom the preview canvas with pinch-to-zoom on a trackpad, scroll wheel, or the keyboard shortcuts ⌘+= (zoom in) and ⌘+- (zoom out). Press ⌘+0 to snap back to fit. Option-click anywhere on the canvas to set a zoom target — a minimap overlay helps you navigate while zoomed in. Canvas zoom is for editing precision; it does not affect export.
Click-to-seek: Click anywhere on the timeline tracks area to move the playhead instantly to that position.
Preview Toolbar
Below the canvas, a floating toolbar is split into three clusters:
| Cluster | Controls |
|---|---|
| Left | Visibility dropdown (show/hide timeline tracks) · Add menu (Blur Mask, Highlight Mask, Camera Layout, Annotations, Text Overlay, Media Overlay) |
| Center | Jump to start · Play/pause · Jump to end · Current time and duration |
| Right | Zoom slider · Quality · Preview speed · Tools |
Quality control (speedometer icon): Sets the live-preview render resolution. The label shows Quality at the default tier. When you switch away from the default, the tier name is appended — for example, Quality · Balanced. Tiers are:
| Tier | Resolution scale | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| High (default) | 100 % | Full preview resolution. Best fidelity. |
| Balanced | 66 % | Lower preview resolution for smoother playback. |
| Low | 50 % | Lowest preview resolution for the smoothest playback on heavy projects. |
For more detail see Preview Quality.
Preview toolbar right cluster showing the Quality button in its default High state (speedometer icon, label reads 'Quality')
Timeline Zoom slider: A zoom control in the right cluster of the preview toolbar for quick, precise timeline zoom adjustments. Drag it to zoom in or out on the timeline.
Playback Speed control: Sets how fast the preview plays back. At the default speed (1×) the label shows Preview only; at any other speed the multiplier is shown as a suffix. Playback speed does not affect export speed.
Chat Panel
The Chat panel opens to the left of the preview canvas when enabled.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Default width | 360 pt |
| Minimum width | 300 pt |
| Maximum width | 520 pt |
| Persistence | @AppStorage("chatPanel.visible") + @AppStorage("chatPanel.width") — survives across project reopens and app relaunches |
Opening and closing: Click the Chat button in the top toolbar, or right-click it for a context menu with Show Chat / Hide Chat options. The Chat panel and the Resource panel are mutually exclusive — opening one automatically closes the other.
When the Chat runtime module is not yet installed, the panel shows an Install Chat Module screen with a puzzle-piece icon and the message "Adds the local AI chat runtime without increasing the core app size." From there you can choose a local runtime module folder or retry after installation.
Library Panel
The Library panel gives you a dedicated space to import, organize, and browse your own B-roll assets — images, clips, and graphics — right inside the editor. Click the Library button in the top toolbar to toggle it.
Assets are displayed as a thumbnail grid. You can organize them into folders, right-click any asset to Move, Rename, Reveal in Finder, Copy, or Delete it, and drag assets directly from the Library onto the timeline.
Transcript Editor
The transcript editor panel lets you edit your video by editing its transcript. Select a sentence and delete it — the corresponding video is cut automatically. Rearrange paragraphs and the timeline follows. This is the fastest way to tighten a take without touching the timeline directly.
The transcript editor works alongside every other editing tool. Changes you make in the transcript are reflected in the timeline immediately, and vice versa.
Dynamic Panel Layout
The editor workspace supports dynamic panel layout — you can choose from layout presets, maximize individual panels, and adjust dividers to fit your screen and editing style. The layout persists across sessions.
Inspector Sidebar (Right)
The right panel controls project appearance and clip properties. A narrow icon strip on the left edge of the sidebar lets you switch between inspection modes.
The sidebar width is remembered and can be resized by dragging the divider.
Inspector Icons
Ten section icons are rendered from named asset images at a uniform visual weight. Each icon activates its corresponding inspector panel:
| Icon | Mode | Label |
|---|---|---|
inspector-icon-audio | Audio | Audio |
inspector-icon-autozoom | Auto Zoom | Auto Zoom |
inspector-icon-background | Background | Background |
inspector-icon-camera | Camera | Camera |
inspector-icon-cameralayout | Camera Layout | Camera Layout |
inspector-icon-cursor | Cursor | Cursor |
inspector-icon-keyboardshortcut | Keyboard Shortcut | Keyboard Shortcut |
inspector-icon-overlay | Overlay | Overlay |
inspector-icon-specialeffect | Special Effect (Mask) | Mask |
inspector-icon-transcription | Transcription | Captions |
Hovering over any icon shows a tooltip with the mode name after a short delay. Unavailable modes (for example, Auto Zoom on a project with no zoom data) appear at 50 % opacity and are non-interactive.
Inspector sidebar showing the column of redesigned section icons at uniform visual weight
Timeline (Bottom)
A multi-track timeline showing video thumbnails, audio waveforms, zoom keyframes, and overlays. Audio waveforms use a bottom-anchored, smoothed, gradient style for better readability. Clip labels show the audio source (microphone or system audio), speed, and volume at a glance.
The timeline height is remembered and can be resized by dragging the divider. You can drag clips between tracks, drag media files from Finder directly onto the timeline, and click anywhere on the tracks to move the playhead.
Playback Compatibility
ProMotion Recordings (90 Hz / 120 Hz)
Recordings captured at high refresh rates (90 Hz or 120 Hz, for example from a ProMotion display or iPhone) play back correctly in the editor. The preview engine uses a CVDisplayLink-driven render loop that matches the host display's refresh rate, so high-frame-rate source content no longer causes stalling or frozen frames that were visible in earlier versions.
The export render pipeline is capped at 60 fps regardless of the source frame rate, which means exported videos always play smoothly on any display.