Introduction & Core Philosophy

PanoRA Documentation

PanoRA is a 100% local-first, zero-cloud desktop capture, recording, and visual workspace station engineered for macOS and Windows.

Core Philosophy: None of your captured screenshots, copied text snippets, or recorded videos are ever transmitted to an external server. Everything is stored strictly on your local disk in a transparent, human-readable format.

0.4ms Latency Response

Opens instantly with global shortcuts, consumes minimal RAM, and sleeps cleanly in the background.

Local JSON Vault

Atomic disk writes with transparent JSON schema ensure zero corruption and complete privacy.

P2P Pano Drop Bridge

Direct device-to-device transfers over local Wi-Fi with ephemeral single-use session tokens.

Installation & System Permissions

To provide instant global shortcuts, hardware screen recording, and on-device OCR, PanoRA requires standard system permissions:

macOS First Launch & Indie Verification (Gatekeeper):

PanoRA is distributed directly outside the Mac App Store to avoid the 30% store markup. If macOS displays a "developer cannot be verified" prompt on your very first launch:

In your /Applications folder, Right-Click (or Control + Click) on PanoRA.
Select "Open" from the context menu.
Click "Open" in the confirmation dialog.

✓ This 5-second step is only required once. On all future launches, PanoRA opens immediately with your keyboard shortcuts.

1

Screen Recording Permission

Required for 60 FPS hardware capture, scrolling screenshots, and the magnifying color loupe pixel reader.

System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording → PanoRA: Enabled

2

Accessibility Permission

Allows PanoRA to capture global shortcuts (⌘⇧V, ⌘⇧S) and paste selected cards directly into your active window.

System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → PanoRA: Enabled

3

Microphone Permission (Optional)

Only requested if you choose to record your microphone voiceover during screen recording sessions.

Keyboard Shortcuts (Cheat Sheet)

PanoRA is designed for frictionless keyboard workflows. Control your entire desktop station without touching a menu:

Action	Shortcut	Description
Main Desktop HUD	`⌘` + `⇧` + `V` / `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`V`	Opens clipboard stream and visual card history directly at cursor position.
Screenshot & Annotator	`⌘` + `⇧` + `S` / `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`S`	Starts region capture and sends the image straight to Annotator Canvas.
Text Snippet (OCR)	`⌘` + `⇧` + `O` / `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`O`	Extracts unselectable text or code snippets from any area on screen.
60 FPS Video Recording	`⌘` + `⇧` + `E` / `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`E`	Captures selected region and launches Video Studio for trimming and blurring.
Scrolling Capture (Stitch)	`⌘` + `⇧` + `X` / `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`X`	Stitches long web pages and documents into a continuous high-res image.
Color Loupe (Magnifier)	`⌘` + `⇧` + `C` / `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`C`	10x pixel grid loupe; copies HEX, RGB, HSL, and closest Tailwind CSS class.
New Sticky Note	`⌘` + `⇧` + `N` / `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`N`	Spawns an always-on-top quick note card on your desktop.

Main HUD & Card Stream

The desktop HUD brings together all your captures, copied code, links, color swatches, and audio notes in a fast, searchable stream.

Main Desktop HUD: Live category tabs, instant search, and card actions.

Core Capabilities:

Smart Filtering: Switch instantly between All Cards, Today, Tasks, Links, Files, Videos, and Colors.
Pinning & Archiving: Pin important reference items or archive completed tasks with a single hotkey.
Direct Paste: Hit Enter on any card to paste its content directly into your active editor or chat.

Screenshot & Annotator Canvas

Turn screenshots into crystal-clear bug reports, technical documentation, or client guides without opening heavy graphic software.

Annotator Studio: Numbered step counters, directional arrows, highlights, and blur redactions.

Toolbar Features:

Sequential Step Counters (1, 2, 3…): Click anywhere to drop numbered badges that auto-increment.
Precision Directional Arrows: Pixel-aligned, smooth bezier guidance arrows.
Mosaic Blur Brush: Redact confidential passwords, tokens, or email addresses instantly.

Apple Vision & Windows OCR (Text Extraction)

Extract unselectable text from videos, slide decks, error dialogs, or locked PDF viewers with native on-device machine learning.

OCR HUD: JSON parsing, auto-language detection, and one-click clipboard copy.

99.8% Accuracy: Indented code snippets, SQL queries, and multi-column tables are extracted with preserved whitespace and formatting.

Scrolling Capture & Auto-Stitching

Capture extensive architecture diagrams, long code files, or entire web threads into a single seamless vertical image.

Full-Page Stitching: Up to 12 frames (5,000+ px) with live minimap preview and seam-matching.

How to Use:

Press ⌘⇧X (or Ctrl+Shift+X) and select the target window area.
Scroll the page downward slowly; PanoRA computes real-time visual overlaps on the right.
Press Space or Enter to finish; the stitched image is instantly added to your cards.

Video Studio Pro (60 FPS & Mosaic Redaction)

A lightweight, GPU-accelerated video editing suite that opens immediately after stopping a screen recording.

Video Studio: Timeline trimming and frame-accurate GPU mosaic blur overlays.

Highlights:

Instant Trimming: Drag start and end handles to discard dead air or unwanted seconds.
Time-Bounded Mosaic Redaction: Place blur boxes on sensitive screen areas active only between specific timestamps.
Multi-Format Export: High-efficiency MP4, WebM, and lightweight animated GIF outputs.

Pixel Loupe & Color Codes

Inspect and extract any pixel on your desktop with a 10x magnified pixel grid and real-time contrast calculations.

Color Loupe: HEX, RGB, HSL, and automatic matching with standard Tailwind CSS color tokens.

Desktop Sticky Notes (Always-on-Top HUD)

Floating, color-coded, markdown-supported quick note cards that stay pinned above your active workspace.

Sticky Notes: Curated soft-tint palettes, collapsible headers, and auto-sync to local cards.

Pano Drop (Local Wi-Fi Bridge)

The fastest and most secure method to transfer cards, screenshots, or files from your Mac/PC to your phone or tablet.

Pano Drop: Zero configuration, dynamic QR verification, and instant local mobile transfer.

Zero Cloud Intermediary: Data never leaves your local Wi-Fi. Pano Drop spins up a temporary local HTTP server on your computer, allowing your mobile browser to connect directly via camera scan.

Ephemeral QR Pairing & P2P Security Protocol

Pano Drop establishes a cryptographically verified, dynamic, and temporary bridge over your local Wi-Fi subnet.

Dynamic Port & Single-Session Token Allocation: Pano Drop never uses a fixed or static port. On each launch, the operating system assigns a random unprivileged port (49152–65535) and a one-time 256-bit cryptographic session token. The moment the transfer window closes, the port is freed and the token is destroyed.

1

Random Port & Session Token Generation

Opening Pano Drop allocates a random local socket (e.g. ws://192.168.1.42:52819?token=a8f9b…) and embeds this ephemeral address into the displayed QR code.

2

Local Subnet Handshake

Scanning the QR code connects your mobile browser directly to your workstation over local LAN without touching third-party routing servers.

3

Bidirectional P2P Stream & Automatic Teardown

Files transfer at full Wi-Fi bandwidth speeds (100–300 Mbps). Closing the window immediately destroys the socket and purges all memory buffers.

Zero Inbound Exposure: The dynamic server strictly listens on your private subnet. No UPnP, NAT traversal, or router port forwardings are used. External internet access is completely blocked.

Zero-Cloud & Data Privacy Guarantee

PanoRA is engineered to adhere to strict enterprise security and individual privacy standards.

Zero Telemetry

Contains zero tracking libraries, third-party analytics SDKs, or background crash reporters.

Airplane Mode Ready

Every single capability (including OCR, Video Studio, and Annotator) runs 100% offline.

Portable Open JSON Format

No vendor lock-in. Your data is your property and can be backed up or parsed by standard tools anytime.

Memory Management & Hardware Performance

Leveraging GPU hardware acceleration and native OS capture utilities, PanoRA eliminates the bloated memory overhead common in typical Electron apps.

Component	Underlying Engine	Idle Memory	Active Performance
Main Desktop HUD	Virtual Canvas & Memory Pool	~38 MB RAM	< 0.4ms Latency / 120Hz Smooth List
Screen Capture Engine	Native CLI & DesktopCapturer	0 MB (On-demand)	60 FPS Zero Frame Drop
Video Studio Editor	GPU Canvas Acceleration	0 MB (On-demand)	Real-time Mosaic Blur & Trimming
OCR Text Engine	Apple Vision / Windows Media OCR (Offline)	0 MB (On-demand)	~120ms / 4K Screen Text Parse

Local Storage & Data Schema

PanoRA stores all cards and configuration in transparent, portable formats:

pano.json — Sample Card Schema

{
  "id": "card_9a8b7c",
  "type": "screenshot",
  "timestamp": 1728403200000,
  "title": "Visual_Annotation_Proof.png",
  "content": "API Configuration & Security Architecture",
  "tags": ["#screenshot", "#design", "#vault"],
  "metadata": {
    "dimensions": { "width": 2880, "height": 1800 },
    "fileSizeKB": 159.4,
    "ocrText": "const config = { host: '127.0.0.1' };"
  },
  "isPinned": true,
  "isEncrypted": true
}

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Does PanoRA work without an internet connection?

Yes, 100% offline. On-device OCR, video editing, screenshot annotation, and Pano Drop local Wi-Fi transfers require zero internet access.

Is there a monthly or recurring subscription?

No. PanoRA operates on a One-time Lifetime License model. There are no recurring subscription fees or hidden renewals.

Does it drain laptop battery or CPU?

When idle in the background, PanoRA consumes ~38 MB RAM and less than 0.1% CPU. Heavy GPU operations only engage during active captures and edits.

How do I open PanoRA on macOS on the first launch?

Because PanoRA is distributed directly outside the Mac App Store to avoid the 30% store markup, macOS Gatekeeper may show a verification notice on the very first launch. Simply Right-Click (or Control + Click) PanoRA in your Applications folder, select "Open", and click "Open" to confirm. This 5-second step is only required once!

Troubleshooting & Permission Reset (macOS & Windows)

Step-by-step resolution guides for system permission caches and network rules across both platforms:

🍎 macOS Troubleshooting

If macOS Sequoia/Sonoma permission cache becomes stale after an OS update, reset TCC permissions via Terminal:

Terminal (macOS) — Reset TCC Permissions

# 1. Reset Screen Recording Permission
tccutil reset ScreenCapture com.panora.desktop

# 2. Reset Accessibility (Global Shortcut) Permission
tccutil reset Accessibility com.panora.desktop

# 3. Relaunch PanoRA and approve the system prompts

🪟 Windows 10 & 11 Troubleshooting

1

Screen Capture Privacy Settings

Ensure Windows Graphics Capture permission is enabled for desktop applications:

Start → Settings → Privacy & Security → Screenshots and App Windows: On

2

Windows Defender Firewall Rule (Pano Drop)

To allow Pano Drop to communicate with mobile devices on private LAN, create an inbound firewall rule using Administrator PowerShell:

PowerShell (Admin) — Inbound Firewall Rule

New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "PanoRA Local Wi-Fi Bridge" -Direction Inbound -Program "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\panora\PanoRA.exe" -Action Allow -Profile Private

3

Elevated UAC Shortcut Conflicts

When an elevated application (e.g., Visual Studio Run as Administrator) is in foreground, Windows may suppress standard user shortcuts. In this scenario, launch PanoRA as Administrator as well.

Custom Keybindings: If Ctrl+Shift+S or ⌘⇧S is occupied by another application, you can rebind any shortcut in PanoRA Preferences.