I built a VS Code extension to capture terminal output as styled screenshots

#vscode #opensource #terminal #productivity

Ever tried sharing terminal output with someone? You've got two bad options:

Copy-paste - and watch your perfectly aligned table turn into a mess. Paste into WhatsApp, Slack, Google Docs, or Word and the columns misalign, box-drawing characters break, and structured output becomes an unreadable wall of text.

Screenshot - but your platform's screenshot tool only captures what's on screen. If your table or log extends beyond the viewport, you're stitching multiple screenshots or just giving up.

I kept hitting both problems, so I built TermSnap.

What is TermSnap?

A VS Code extension that lets you select terminal text - no matter how long - press Cmd+Shift+S, and get a single Carbon-style screenshot of the entire output.

Features

One shortcut - Select text in terminal, press Cmd+Shift+S (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+S (Windows/Linux)
Full selection capture - Even hundreds of lines that don't fit on screen
Carbon-style rendering - Rounded window frame, macOS dots, shadow, themed background
11 built-in themes - Dracula, Tokyo Night, Nord, Monokai, GitHub Dark, Catppuccin Mocha, and more
Custom themes - Define your own colors in VS Code settings
Live preview - Adjust theme, font size, padding, line numbers, window chrome in real time
Export options - Save as PNG, copy image to clipboard, or copy raw text

Works great for

Tables, ASCII art, mermaid diagrams, flowcharts
Deployment logs and CLI output (kubectl, docker, aws cli, firebase)
Documentation, presentations, slides, blog posts
Anywhere plain text loses formatting when pasted

How to use

Open terminal in VS Code
Run your commands
Select the output
Press Cmd+Shift+S
Adjust theme and settings in the preview panel
Click Save as PNG, Copy Image, or Copy Text

Custom themes

Don't like the built-in themes? Define your own:

{
  "termsnap.theme": "custom",
  "termsnap.customBackground": "#1a1a2e",
  "termsnap.customTextColor": "#e0e0e0",
  "termsnap.customTitleBarColor": "#16213e"
}