Annotate Your Linux Terminal Live with Wayscriber
Ever been in the middle of a live demo, a pair programming session, or recording a tutorial and wished you could just draw on the screen? You know, circle that important output, underline a command, or draw an arrow to the exact spot where the bug is hiding? If you're working in a terminal on Linux, that's usually a hard stop. You either fumble with a separate drawing tool or resort to a clunky "imagine a circle here" explanation.
Wayscriber changes that. It's a neat, open-source tool that lets you draw live annotations directly onto your Wayland desktop. Think of it as a digital whiteboard, but for your entire screen, designed with developers and presenters in mind.
What It Does
Wayscriber is a simple yet powerful annotation tool for Wayland compositors. Once running, it puts a transparent overlay on your screen. You can then use your mouse, stylus, or touch input to draw shapes, write text, or highlight areas in real-time. It's perfect for explaining complex terminal output, guiding someone through a series of commands, or making your recorded tutorials much clearer.
Why It's Cool
The beauty of Wayscriber is in its straightforward utility. It doesn't try to be a full-blown presentation suite. It does one job and does it well: letting you draw on your screen with minimal friction.
- Zero Distraction: It runs as an overlay, so you don't need to switch applications or interrupt your workflow. Start drawing, stop, and continue with your demo.
- Built for Wayland: It taps into the modern Linux graphics stack, making it a native citizen for many current distributions.
- Developer-Focused Use Case: While anyone can use it, it's particularly handy for devs. Annotating a stack trace, diagramming a system architecture on a blank desktop, or highlighting a specific line in a config file during a live share becomes intuitive.
- It's a Solo Project: This is a focused tool built to solve a specific, common pain point, which is often where the best utilities come from.
How to Try It
Ready to turn your screen into a whiteboard? You'll need to be running a Wayland session (like on GNOME, Sway, or Hyprland).
- Head over to the GitHub repository: github.com/devmobasa/wayscriber
- Check the README for the latest build and installation instructions. As with many Linux tools, you'll likely clone the repo and build it with
cargo(it's written in Rust). - Once launched, you should be able to start drawing immediately. The repository documentation will have the keybindings or controls to change colors, clear the screen, or exit.