ClutchCut Shadow Help

Professional macOS replay buffer — reference guide.

Questions not covered here? Email support@clutchcut.studio.

Getting Started

ClutchCut Shadow lives in your menu bar. Launch the app, grant Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions when prompted, and you're ready to capture.

  • Standard mode — traditional start/stop recording. Press the global hotkey or click Record in the HUD.
  • Clutch mode — a rolling replay buffer runs silently. When something happens, press the Clutch hotkey to save the last 30 seconds to 10 minutes.
  • Settings — open from the menu bar icon or HUD gear button. Configure resolution, audio source, buffer duration, save folder, and hotkeys.

Capture Sources

  • Entire display — captures the full screen. Multi-monitor supported via the Display picker.
  • Specific app — captures all windows of one application.
  • Specific window — captures a single window in isolation.
  • Region — draw a custom crop area on screen.

Resolution

Choose from 720p, 1080p, 2K (1440p), or 4K (2160p). Default is 1080p. Higher resolutions use more disk and CPU.

Audio Modes

Set in Settings → Audio Source. Four modes:

  • None (Silent) — no audio recorded.
  • App Sound Only — system / app audio via ScreenCaptureKit.
  • Microphone Only — mic input only.
  • App & Microphone (dual-track) — both recorded on separate, labeled tracks inside one MP4. No sync drift. Open in ClutchCut Video for independent mixing.

Global Hotkeys

These work system-wide — even when Shadow is in the background or behind other windows.

⌘⇧RToggle Recording — starts/stops recording (Standard) or replay buffer (Clutch). Cancels a 3-second countdown if active.
⌘⇧SClutch / Mark — saves the replay buffer as a clip (Clutch mode), or drops a highlight marker (Standard mode).

Hotkeys are configurable in Settings → Hotkeys. Changes take effect immediately. Global hotkeys may require Accessibility permission in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.

Schedule & Auto-Stop

Scheduled Start

Set a future start time from the Recording Timer popover. Shadow counts down on the HUD and begins recording automatically. Useful for unattended captures — overnight keynotes, late-night streams, etc.

Auto-Stop Timer

Set during or before recording. The HUD shows "Stops in Xm Xs" and Shadow stops on the dot. Prevents runaway sessions from eating disk space.

Sessions & Handoff

Recordings accumulate into a session stored as a .clutchmeta manifest file.

  • Edit in ClutchCut Video — hands off the full session (clips, markers, audio-track metadata) to ClutchCut Video for assembly and export.
  • Discard Session — clears the current session while keeping archived manifests.
  • Markers — Clutch, chapter, highlight, mistake, decision, and bug marker types carry over to Video.

Floating HUD

The HUD floats above all windows while recording but is excluded from the capture — it will never appear in your recording. It shows elapsed time, countdown timers, and recording status.

  • Drag to reposition anywhere on screen.
  • Click the cursor toggle to show/hide your mouse cursor in the recording.

Troubleshooting

  • Global hotkeys don't work — grant Accessibility permission in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility. Restart Shadow.
  • No audio in recording — check Settings → Audio Source is not set to None. For app sound, ensure Screen Recording permission is granted.
  • High CPU during Clutch mode — lower the resolution or buffer duration. Clutch mode continuously encodes to maintain the rolling buffer.
  • Clear cache — Settings → Clear Cache removes temporary Clutch chunk files.

Still stuck? Contact support@clutchcut.studio.