the screenshot problem
Search the text in your screenshots.
You screenshot the pricing table, the error message, the receipt, the slide — because screenshotting is faster than writing anything down. Three weeks later the thing you need exists, somewhere, in a pile of files that all look alike. Magpie reads the text inside your screenshots and puts it in search, so you can find an image by what it says: type "error 1020" or "$29/mo" and the screenshot surfaces.
text recognition is part of the optional ai helper — off by default; your own key, or included on paid plans. everything else on this page is ai-free.
why piles fail
Named by when. Never by what.
Your operating system names screenshots after the moment you took them — the one thing you will never search for. The content is a picture of words, and filenames, folders and dates know nothing about words. So the pile grows, findable only by scrolling, and the screenshot you kept because it mattered is the one you can't produce when it does.
A searchable screenshot library flips that: the words inside the image become the index. You remember fragments — a number, an error code, a product name — and fragments are exactly what search needs.
~/Desktop/ Screenshot 2026-07-11 at 14.32.08.png Screenshot 2026-07-12 at 09.18.44.png Screenshot 2026-07-13 at 23.05.51.png Screenshot 2026-07-18 at 11.02.17.png # 214 more — one of them is the receipt
how it works
Three steps to a searchable pile.
- Get screenshots in ⌘⇧S clips a region of any page · paste or drag the desktop pile straight into the panel
- Turn on the AI helper off by default · your own key, or zero-setup on paid plans · new captures are read automatically
- Type what you remember the words inside the image are the index · ✦ search by meaning catches the near-misses
⌘ is ctrl on windows · remap at chrome://extensions/shortcuts
what people actually find
The screenshots that come back.
- receipts & invoicesOrder confirmations, totals, booking references. Search the amount or the order number — the words on the receipt are the query.
- error messagesThe QA classic: screenshot the failure, paste it in a ticket, find it again by the error code when it reappears in three months.
- pricing tablesCompetitor research that stays findable — search the plan name or the price you remember seeing.
- slides & webinarsThe one slide worth keeping from an hour of talk, findable by the phrase that made you screenshot it.
- posts & captionsScreenshots of posts become searchable by their words — and on X and Instagram, Magpie can catch the post itself, caption and author included, no OCR needed.
- everything elseRecipes, addresses, Wi-Fi passwords at the bottom of a menu, confirmation numbers — if it was words on a screen, it's a query now.
honest fine print
What it costs, and what it sends.
- off by defaultMagpie ships with AI off. Capture, boards, tags, palettes and color search are all AI-free and stay that way — text recognition is the optional layer on top.
- your key or oursFree users bring their own OpenRouter key: each screenshot goes directly from your browser to your provider account — costs a fraction of a cent per image. Paid plans include managed AI with no key and no setup.
- only the item is sentThe screenshot being processed is the only thing transmitted — never your browsing, never your other tabs. Recognized text is stored with the item on your machine.
- search stays localRecognition happens once; searching it happens offline, in the panel, every time after. Your queries aren't sent anywhere.
try it
Your next screenshot can be the last one you lose.
Install Magpie, clip something with words in it, and search for those words. The free product is the whole collector — no account, no trial clock.
questions
Fair questions.
Does this need AI turned on?
Yes — reading text out of images is the optional AI helper's job, and it's off by default. Turn it on by bringing your own OpenRouter key (free), or let a paid plan run it with no key and no setup. Everything else about Magpie — capture, boards, palettes, color search — works with AI off.
Can I make my old desktop screenshots searchable?
Yes. Drag or paste them into the panel in batches — they land on a board like any capture. Then open the board and run the ✦ batch: Magpie titles and reads each one, with a progress count, and the pile becomes searchable.
What leaves my device?
Only the screenshot being processed — sent once, at capture or backfill, to the AI provider: directly to OpenRouter under your own key, or through the managed service on paid plans. Never your browsing, never your other tabs. After that, the recognized text lives with the item on your machine, and search itself runs entirely offline.
Can I copy the recognized text out of a screenshot?
Yes. Open a screenshot and its recognized text sits in a quiet “text in this image” section — read it, select it, or copy it in one click. It's the same text search matches against, stored with the item on your machine; the web app's item view shows it too.
Does this work in the web app too?
Yes — on paid plans, synced clips keep their recognized text, and search at magpie.ee matches it the same way the panel does. Type what you remember on any machine and the screenshot surfaces.
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