Opal Screen Recorder
2024
Opal is a real-time screen recording platform built to revolutionize client outreach — a powerful Loom-style SaaS for freelancers, agencies, and business owners.
Overview
Opal Screen Recorder is a next-generation screen recording and client outreach platform designed to help professionals close more deals by using personalized videos instead of traditional cold outreach. Inspired by platforms like Loom—which was acquired for $975M—Opal goes beyond recording by offering real-time video streaming, instant uploads, viewer activity tracking, and AI-powered performance tools.
Built with Electron and React for native desktop support on macOS and Windows, Opal streams recordings directly to AWS S3 using Socket.IO and Express while simultaneously generating AI titles, descriptions, and full transcript extraction via Whisper and OpenAI. Users are instantly notified when prospects view their videos, enabling high-conversion follow-ups.
Opal features a free tier and a Pro Plan model, giving users access to 720p/1080p recording, cloud libraries, embedded video previews for email outreach, AI summaries, multiple workspaces, real-time comments, public share pages, and a Stripe-powered subscription flow. The application also includes optimistic UI, CMS-powered onboarding pages, and real-time collaboration in shared workspaces.
The native Electron studio allows users to record screens, microphone, and camera with a floating controller window and real-time streaming of video chunks to AWS. Each recording becomes instantly available on the dashboard with AI metadata, transcript search, and activity tracking — turning simple screen recordings into powerful outreach tools that convert.
Technologies
Key Features
- •Real-time video streaming and chunk uploading
- •Instant AI-powered titles, descriptions & transcript
- •720p/1080p recording with camera + screen capture
- •Instant availability of videos after recording
- •Viewer activity notifications
- •Client comment threads & discussion dashboard
- •Workspace system with invites and search
- •Embed code generator for email outreach
- •Private & public video share pages
- •Optimistic UI for seamless performance
- •Stripe-powered subscription system
- •Native desktop app for Windows & macOS
Challenges
Building a real-time recorder capable of saving and streaming video chunks without blocking performance, while coordinating AWS storage, socket communication, and native hardware access through Electron.
Solution
Implemented an Electron + Socket.IO real-time streaming pipeline that processes buffer chunks on an Express server, writes temporary files, and pushes them to AWS S3. Integrated OpenAI + Whisper for instant AI metadata and transcripts, CloudFront for secure streaming, and a Stripe + Clerk workflow for subscription and authentication.