macOS permissions and screen recording

Symptom: camera capture (C) does nothing, or a capture comes back blank.

Cause: macOS blocks screen capture by default. The first time VFxM tries to capture a thumbnail, macOS should show a permission prompt — but if you dismissed it, or REAPER was already granted a stale permission from a prior install, no prompt appears and captures just silently fail.

Fix

1. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.
2. Click Screen & System Audio Recording (named Screen Recording on older macOS versions).
3. Find REAPER.app in the list and turn the toggle ON.
4. Quit and fully restart REAPER. The permission does not take effect until REAPER restarts — leaving REAPER running after granting the toggle will not fix it.

Tip

After restarting REAPER, the C camera shortcut should work instantly with no further prompts.

If REAPER is not in the permissions list at all, trigger a capture attempt first (hover a plugin card and press C) — macOS only lists apps that have already requested the permission at least once.

The thumbnail scan’s own request (1.2.5)

From 1.2.5, thumbnail scans on the Mac run in a separate helper app, VFxM Capture Helper. The first scan asks once for Screen Recording, with an explanation of why. If you do not allow it, there are no automatic pictures: the scan stops with a message, the cards stay plain, and Capture by hand still works.