Realshot: user manuals from your real app

Every release breaks your user manual. Ask your agent for "an admin manual with screenshots" and Realshot drives your actual app: it seeds safe demo data, logs in as each role, captures every step at 2x, annotates it, and builds the PDF, demo or deck. Then it puts your database and settings back exactly as they were.

Why it's different

• Real screens, never mockups: every step comes from the latest code and a real capture.
• Safe by default: throwaway database, fictional data checked against real company names, mail switched off so no capture sends a real email.
• One command next release: steps live in a file, so the manual reruns when the UI changes.
• Built from real projects: 18 pitfalls that actually happened, each with its guard.

What it does

• Automated capture uses Playwright to log in across multiple user roles and capture @2x retina screenshots of real application flows.
• Environment isolation operates in detached worktrees and disposable databases to ensure your production environment remains untouched.
• Smart annotation measures DOM element rectangles to place perfectly aligned red boxes, badges, and callouts automatically.
• Asset generation produces annotated PDF manuals, interactive click-through demos with hotspots, pitch decks, and marketing posters.
• Data seeding populates your app with consistent, fictional data that handles pagination and state across multi-step wizards.

How it works

1. Mapping identifies application routes, role guards, and navigation steps from the latest main branch code.
2. Isolation spins up a disposable loopback server and seeds a temporary database with safe, non-PII demo data.
3. Execution runs Playwright scripts to capture every step of the user journey, freezing the system clock for visual consistency.
4. Assembly builds the final deliverable (PDF, PPTX, or interactive demo) and audits for localhost URLs or stray brand names.

Frameworks & tools

Works with any web app you can build and run locally. Uses Playwright for capture, Pillow for annotation, Chromium for PDF rendering and pptxgenjs for slides; seeds data with your framework seeders or SQL (Supabase, Postgres, MySQL and others).

Use cases

• Generating per-role user manuals that update automatically with every new release.
• Creating interactive click-through demos for sales teams without using production data.
• Building investor pitch decks that show real, functional UI instead of static mockups.
• Exporting retina-quality mobile screenshots for App Store and marketing poster assets.

Known limitations

Requires a functional local build and seedable database schema. It cannot design new UI elements or safely handle live production user data.