> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.origami.techmitten.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Smart Screen Recording with Auto-Zoom — Origami AI

> Record any browser tab or desktop window with cinematic auto-zoom on mouse idle periods — no editing skills needed to produce polished tutorial videos.

Record a browser tab or your full desktop and let Origami AI do the camera work for you. While you record, it tracks your mouse cursor and automatically applies smooth cinematic pan-and-zoom effects during idle pauses — turning a raw screen capture into a polished, engaging video without any manual editing.

## Auto-Zoom

Origami AI watches your mouse cursor throughout the recording. Whenever the cursor stays still for a moment, it treats that pause as a moment of focus and smoothly zooms the camera in on that area of the screen. When movement resumes, the view gracefully pans and zooms back out.

Key details:

* **Default idle threshold:** 2 seconds. If the cursor is stationary for 2 seconds or longer, an auto-zoom is triggered at the cursor's resting position.
* **Adjustable:** You can raise or lower the idle duration in **⚙️ Settings → General** to suit your recording pace. A shorter threshold gives more frequent zooms; a longer one reserves them for deliberate pauses.
* **Zoom level:** Also configurable in Settings, so you control how close the camera pulls in during each pause.

The result is a recording that naturally draws viewer attention to whatever you're demonstrating — without any post-production work.

## Chrome Extension (Optional)

For the most precise auto-zoom, install the Origami AI Chrome extension. It provides DOM-level telemetry: exact cursor coordinates, click events, and scroll actions are captured with high fidelity and fed directly to the zoom engine.

Without the extension, Origami AI falls back to an in-page tracker that captures basic window-level mouse movements. Auto-zoom still works in fallback mode, but cursor tracking is less precise.

<Tip>
  Install the Chrome extension for the best auto-zoom results, especially when recording complex UI interactions, code editors, or anything with dense interface elements where cursor position really matters.
</Tip>

**To load the extension manually:**

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Chrome extensions page">
    Navigate to `chrome://extensions` in your Chrome or Chromium-based browser.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enable Developer mode">
    Toggle **Developer mode** on using the switch in the top-right corner of the page.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Load the extension">
    Click **Load unpacked** and select the `chrome-extension/` folder from the Origami AI repository.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Alternatively, download a pre-packaged ZIP directly from inside the app: open the **header menu → Download Chrome Extension**, then follow the same load-unpacked steps above using the downloaded folder.

## Recording Sources

Origami AI supports two capture sources, selectable when you start a recording:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Browser Tab" icon="browser">
    Capture a single browser tab. Best for recording web apps, documentation walkthroughs, or anything running in the browser.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Desktop Window" icon="desktop">
    Capture a specific application window or your entire desktop. Useful for recording native apps, terminal sessions, or cross-app workflows.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

Your browser will display a system permission prompt the first time you start a recording — grant screen capture access to proceed.

## Settings

Fine-tune your recording behaviour in **⚙️ Settings → General**:

| Setting           | Default   | Description                                                                                                        |
| ----------------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Idle duration** | 2 seconds | How long the cursor must be still before an auto-zoom fires. Increase this if zooms are triggering too frequently. |
| **Zoom level**    | Medium    | How far the camera zooms in on the idle position. Higher levels are more dramatic; lower levels are more subtle.   |

<Warning>
  Origami AI requires specific browser security headers (`Cross-Origin-Opener-Policy` and `Cross-Origin-Embedder-Policy`) to enable screen recording and in-browser video processing. These headers are automatically present when you use the [hosted app](https://origami.techmitten.com/) or run `npm run dev` locally. **Never open `index.html` directly via the `file://` protocol** — that bypasses the dev server and the required headers will be missing, causing recording and rendering to fail.
</Warning>