https://github.com/dino65-dev/penguin-tools
Mouse-first floating screenshot and system toolbox for Linux
https://github.com/dino65-dev/penguin-tools
electron linux productivity screenshot wayland
Last synced: 2 days ago
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Mouse-first floating screenshot and system toolbox for Linux
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/dino65-dev/penguin-tools
- Owner: dino65-dev
- License: mit
- Created: 2026-06-27T07:42:04.000Z (2 days ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-06-27T08:25:00.000Z (2 days ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-06-27T09:20:40.497Z (2 days ago)
- Topics: electron, linux, productivity, screenshot, wayland
- Language: JavaScript
- Size: 173 KB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# Penguin Tools
A small, mouse-first Linux desktop toolbox inspired by Microsoft PC Manager's floating toolbar. It stays above other windows and gives you region screenshots, live system status, quick notes, a calculator shortcut, and a screenshot gallery without requiring keyboard shortcuts.
## Features
- Draggable, frameless floating toolbar with a Windows 11 / PC Manager visual style
- Compact light and dark appearances
- Snap to the left or right screen edge, retract to a 14-pixel tab, and reveal on hover
- Select any rectangular screen area using only the mouse
- Copy the capture directly to the system clipboard
- Also save every capture as a PNG in `~/Pictures/Penguin Tools`
- Live CPU, memory, download, upload, and uptime status
- Quick notes saved locally
- Opens your installed Linux calculator
- System tray controls, always-on-top toggle, and launch-at-login option
- X11 and Wayland support through Electron's desktop-capture APIs
- Optional BleachBit cleanup and ClamAV folder scanning from the Power Tools panel
## Install
Install or update the latest release with one command:
```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dino65-dev/penguin-tools/main/install.sh | bash
```
Then open **Penguin Tools** from your application menu. The installer:
- detects x86-64 or ARM64 automatically;
- downloads the latest AppImage from GitHub Releases;
- works without root access;
- adds the `penguin-tools` command and application-menu entry;
- falls back to AppImage extract-and-run mode when FUSE is unavailable.
- detects a missing Wayland portal and installs the appropriate GNOME, KDE, Hyprland, or wlroots backend using your distro's package manager.
Portal installation requests `sudo` only when the dependency is missing. Set `PENGUIN_TOOLS_SKIP_PORTAL=1` before the install command if you want to manage portal packages yourself.
To uninstall the application while keeping your screenshots and notes:
```bash
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dino65-dev/penguin-tools/main/uninstall.sh | bash
```
## Run from source
Requirements: Node.js 20 or later, npm, and a Linux desktop environment.
```bash
npm install
npm start
```
On Wayland, screen capture uses the desktop portal. Install the portal implementation for your desktop if capture is unavailable:
- GNOME: `xdg-desktop-portal-gnome`
- KDE Plasma: `xdg-desktop-portal-kde`
- wlroots compositors: `xdg-desktop-portal-wlr`
Some Wayland desktops show a one-time system screen-sharing chooser. That prompt is controlled by the compositor and cannot be bypassed safely by applications.
## Power Tools backends
Penguin Tools detects and integrates two established open-source Linux engines:
- [BleachBit](https://docs.bleachbit.org/doc/command-line-interface.html) previews safe user cache, temporary-file, and trash cleanup before deletion. Cleaning requires a second explicit confirmation.
- [ClamAV](https://docs.clamav.net/manual/Usage/Scanning.html) provides on-demand recursive scanning for any folder selected with the mouse.
If either engine is missing, open **Power Tools** and click **Install engines**. Penguin Tools detects APT, DNF, Pacman, or Zypper and uses the desktop Polkit authorization dialog; no terminal command needs to be typed.
## Releases
Every `v*` Git tag automatically builds x86-64 and ARM64 AppImage and Debian packages through GitHub Actions and publishes them to GitHub Releases.
## Build locally
Run this on Linux:
```bash
npm install
npm run dist:linux
```
The AppImage and Debian package are written to `dist/`.
## Mouse-only capture flow
1. Click **Screenshot** on the floating toolbar.
2. Drag around the area you want.
3. Click **Copy** in the selection controls.
4. Paste into a chat, document, or image editor.
The toolbar hides before the desktop image is captured, so it is not included in the screenshot.
## Privacy
All screenshots and notes stay on the local computer. Penguin Tools has no analytics and sends no capture data to a server.
## Known platform behavior
- Multi-monitor capture targets the monitor containing the toolbar.
- Network speed comes from `/proc/net/dev` on Linux. On other platforms it displays zero.
- Calculator launching supports GNOME Calculator, KCalc, Galculator, MATE Calculator, and xcalc.
- The app intentionally does not implement a privileged "drop Linux page cache" button. That operation generally makes performance worse and should not be presented as a RAM optimization.
## License
MIT