Loom
Screen recording with instant hosting: you record, get a link, and the video is transcribed and shareable.
Recording the screen, transcribing locally and publishing the video at a secret URL on your own server is a weekend, and the result is strikingly simple. The rest of Loom (viewing statistics, timestamped comments, per-person access rights, team library) is only useful if you share a lot with a lot of people. For your solo uses, replaceable.
What you lose
- Reliable hosting, no server to monitor.
- Sharing rights per person or per domain.
- Comments under the video.
- Viewing statistics.
- The team library and the browser extension.
Existing alternatives to Loom
- CapOpen source
Alternative to Loom with your own storage and your own server to manage.
- OBS StudioOpen source
Excellent open-source recording engine; hosting and sharing are still yours to build.
The prompt to build it yourself
Build me a screen recording and link sharing tool, to replace Loom on macOS. Two parts: a local command and a small server on my VPS. To do: - `rec start` and `rec stop` around ffmpeg's avfoundation capture (screen + microphone), file saved to ~/Recordings/YYYY-MM-DD-HHMM.mp4. No camera bubble. - On stop: conversion to web-friendly H.264, local transcription with whisper.cpp, then upload of the video and text to the server by rsync over SSH. - The server (Node, Express, better-sqlite3, behind my reverse proxy) serves each video at an unguessable /v/<random id> URL: player, title, date, transcript below with in-page search. - `rec stop` prints the URL and copies it to the clipboard. Goal: under a minute between stopping and having the link for a 2-minute video. - The list of all videos stays private (local or VPN). Shared pages are only reachable by their link. - No accounts, no telemetry. Out of scope: statistics, comments, editing, team library. README: macOS permissions (screen recording, microphone), finding the right ffmpeg device, deploying the server.
Frequently asked questions
- Can Loom be replaced by a custom-built tool?
- casevibecode verdict: Partly replaceable. Recording the screen, transcribing locally and publishing the video at a secret URL on your own server is a weekend, and the result is strikingly simple. The rest of Loom (viewing statistics, timestamped comments, per-person access rights, team library) is only useful if you share a lot with a lot of people. For your solo uses, replaceable.
- What is Loom used for?
- Screen recording with instant hosting: you record, get a link, and the video is transcribed and shareable.
- What alternatives to Loom already exist?
- Cap (open source), OBS Studio (open source). Options to compare before committing to a custom build.
Community feedback
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