Performance Optimization

Every 2 seconds:
  1. Capture screenshot
  2. Run OCR on entire screen
  3. Encode to video
  4. Write to database

Result: Constant CPU usage even on static screens

On meaningful events:
  - App switch
  - Mouse click
  - Keyboard input
  - Window change
  - Scroll
  - Clipboard change

Idle screen:
  - Hash comparison detects no changes
  - Skip capture entirely
  - Near-zero CPU usage

Result: CPU scales with actual activity

performance:
  idle_detection: true
  idle_threshold: 30  # seconds of inactivity

capture:
  quality: "balanced"  # "high" | "balanced" | "light"

monitors:
  active_priority: true  # Focus on active monitor
  idle_reduce_rate: 0.3  # Reduce idle monitor capture by 70%

ocr:
  backend: "apple-vision"  # macOS only
  # backend: "windows-media-ocr"  # Windows only
  # backend: "tesseract"  # Cross-platform

audio:
  transcription_mode: "batch"  # "realtime" | "batch"
  batch_cpu_threshold: 70  # Pause if CPU > 70%

power:
  battery_mode: "auto"  # "auto" | "always" | "never"
  battery_threshold: 20  # % battery to trigger

ocr:
  worker_count: 2  # Default: 4

database:
  page_cache_mb: 50  # Default: 100

audio:
  whisper_model: "base"  # "large-v3" | "medium" | "base" | "tiny"

video:
  chunk_duration_minutes: 5  # Default: 10

~/.screenpipe/
├── db.sqlite           # 100-500 MB (text, metadata)
├── frames/            # 2-5 GB/month (screenshots)
└── videos/            # 3-5 GB/month (video chunks)

retention:
  max_age_days: 90  # Delete after 90 days
  max_size_gb: 100  # Delete oldest when exceeding 100 GB

capture:
  jpeg_quality: 75  # Default: 85 (1-100)

video:
  codec: "h264"  # "h264" | "h265" | "vp9"
  crf: 28  # Constant Rate Factor (18-32, higher = smaller)

video:
  enabled: false  # Only store screenshots, no video chunks

monitors:
  - name: "Primary"
    capture: true
    video: true
  
  - name: "Secondary"
    capture: true
    video: false  # Screenshots only, no video
  
  - name: "Third"
    capture: false  # Skip entirely

# Reclaim space from deleted data
screenpipe db vacuum

# Or manually:
sqlite3 ~/.screenpipe/db.sqlite "VACUUM;"

sync:
  enabled: true
  mode: "text-only"  # Don't sync video chunks
  wifi_only: true    # Pause on mobile/metered networks
  bandwidth_limit_kbps: 500  # Throttle uploads

PRAGMA journal_mode = WAL;
PRAGMA synchronous = NORMAL;
PRAGMA cache_size = -100000;  -- 100 MB cache

# Stop screenpipe
screenpipe stop

# Move data
mv ~/.screenpipe /Volumes/External/screenpipe

# Create symlink
ln -s /Volumes/External/screenpipe ~/.screenpipe

# Restart
screenpipe start

database:
  batch_size: 100  # Insert N frames before committing
  commit_interval_ms: 5000  # Or commit every 5 seconds

# Real-time stats
screenpipe stats

# Example output:
CPU: 8.2%
Memory: 1.2 GB
Disk: 45 GB (18 days)
Capture rate: 3.2 frames/min (idle)
OCR queue: 0
Transcription: batch mode (waiting)

# Activity Monitor
open -a "Activity Monitor"

# CLI
top -pid $(pgrep screenpipe)

# Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc)
# Or PowerShell:
Get-Process screenpipe | Select-Object CPU,WS

# htop
htop -p $(pgrep screenpipe)

# Or top
top -p $(pgrep screenpipe)

logging:
  level: "debug"
  performance_metrics: true

# Check build type
screenpipe --version
# Should say "release", not "debug"

# Switch to batch transcription
screenpipe config --transcription-mode batch

# Enable idle detection
screenpipe config --idle-detection true

# Reduce OCR workers
screenpipe config --ocr-workers 2

# Enable adaptive multi-monitor
screenpipe config --active-monitor-priority true

# Use smaller Whisper model
screenpipe config --whisper-model base

# Reduce OCR workers
screenpipe config --ocr-workers 2

# Reduce database cache
screenpipe config --db-cache-mb 50

# Restart (clears memory)
screenpipe restart

# Vacuum database
screenpipe db vacuum

# Rebuild FTS5 index
screenpipe db reindex

# Optimize for read performance
screenpipe config --optimize-for-read true

# Move to SSD (see "Move Storage" above)

# Enable hardware video decoding
screenpipe config --hw-decode true

# Reduce timeline cache
screenpipe config --timeline-cache-frames 100

# Move database to faster drive

quality: "balanced"
idle_detection: true
transcription_mode: "batch"