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FlashPaste Overlay CLI

flashpaste-overlay is the human and shell scripting client for flashpaste-overlayd. It builds one protocol message, connects to $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/flashpaste-overlay.sock or /tmp/flashpaste-overlay.sock when XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is unset, sends the JSON line, prints the daemon response, and exits 0 only when the response has {"ok":true,...}.

The CLI currently generates draw annotation ids automatically. Use the JSON response id if a later script needs to clear the annotation.

Draw Options

These options are shared by rect, circle, arrow, and label:

Option Default Notes
--color #rrggbb or --color #rrggbbaa #ffae00 Shell-quote colors so # is not treated as a comment.
--ttl-ms MS 3000 Must be <= 30000.

The client sends protocol stroke_width as the default 2.0; the current CLI does not expose a stroke-width flag.

rect

Draw a rectangle.

flashpaste-overlay rect --x 420 --y 220 --w 260 --h 120 --color '#ffae00' --ttl-ms 5000

circle

Draw an ellipse bounded by x, y, w, and h.

flashpaste-overlay circle --x 840 --y 260 --w 180 --h 180 --color '#00aaffcc'

arrow

Draw an arrow from (x1, y1) to (x2, y2).

flashpaste-overlay arrow --x1 300 --y1 180 --x2 560 --y2 360 --color '#ff3b30' --ttl-ms 8000

label

Draw a text label. --text is capped at 200 characters by the protocol and client.

flashpaste-overlay label --x 520 --y 420 --text 'click here next' --color '#ffffff'

clear

Clear all annotations:

flashpaste-overlay clear

Clear one annotation by response id:

flashpaste-overlay clear --id 018f4c7d-7f2e-7c80-8e6f-b5c1eb1d2d0f

Why Not Gromit-MPX Or Wayscriber

Gromit-MPX and wayscriber are strong human-driven screen annotation tools. FlashPaste credits them as reference projects for overlay behavior, compositor constraints, and annotation UX.

The design difference is the control surface. Gromit-MPX and wayscriber are interactive applications: a person toggles tools, hotkeys, trays, toolbars, devices, boards, presets, and drawing modes. flashpaste-overlayd is a tiny programmatic endpoint: agents, MCP tools, tests, and shell scripts send a bounded JSON command such as "draw this arrow for 5 seconds" and receive a machine-readable response. It is not trying to replace a presenter drawing app; it is the automation layer FlashPaste needs for precise agent callouts.

License Notes

FlashPaste is MIT licensed; see ../LICENSE. Gromit-MPX and wayscriber retain their own licenses and copyrights. FlashPaste does not vendor their code. Overlay dependency and reference-project notices are listed in ../THIRD_PARTY.md.