Recorder overview
The Recorder is the compact starting point for every Beam project. It prepares the screen or window, optional crop, camera, microphone, system audio, interactions, and teleprompter before capture begins.
What the Recorder captures
Beam can record a full display, one application window, or a custom region of a display. Camera, microphone, and system audio can be added as separate sources when the platform makes them available.
website/docs/public/screenshots/recorder/hud-overview.webpRecording workflow
- Choose Screen or Window and select the source to capture.
- In Screen mode, optionally choose a size preset or draw a custom recording region.
- Choose a microphone and camera, then turn system audio on if the recording needs it.
- Enable interaction recording when you want supported clicks and shortcut tokens in the project.
- Open the teleprompter and prepare a script when needed.
- Select Start Recording. Beam applies the configured countdown before capture begins.
- Use the floating Recording Bar to pause, resume, toggle supported devices, stop, or cancel.
- After Stop, Beam finalizes the session and opens the project in the editor.
Source summary
| Source | What it records | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Screen | A complete display, optionally limited to a region | Selected mode |
| Window | One application window | Off until selected |
| Microphone | Audio from a selected input device | No Audio |
| Camera | Video from a selected camera | Camera Off |
| System audio | Sound produced by the computer | Off |
| Interactions | Supported click metadata and safe shortcut tokens | Depends on preference and permission |
Platform note
Linux capture
Beam uses the system capture picker on Linux. Region cropping is unavailable, and Beam cannot hide its own windows from a full-screen capture. Screen mode remains the recommended capture mode on Linux.
Separate media sources
System audio is the sound produced by the computer, such as a browser video or a Discord call. Microphone audio is the sound received from the selected input device. Beam keeps supported screen, camera, microphone, and system-audio media separate so they can be processed independently later.
Avoid feedback
When recording system audio and a microphone together, use headphones or lower the speaker volume so the microphone does not record the computer output a second time.
Implementation overview
Screen recording uses the native capture path for the operating system. On Linux, screen and system-audio capture use the portal and PipeWire stack. Camera and microphone capture are managed by the Electron application. Beam's capture-domain code is written in Rust, and its cross-platform interface is built with Electron and Vue.