Screen recording · checked 2026-10-14

Can I vibecode Loom?

KINDA· weekend project

A browser recorder that saves a video and serves a share page is a day's work: getDisplayMedia, MediaRecorder, an upload route and ffmpeg for an MP4. The weekend goes on what makes Loom dependable: uploading while you record so the link is ready the moment you stop, surviving a dropped connection, fast playback for viewers far away, and system audio, which only some browsers can capture. Comments, shared workspaces and the AI titles and chapters stay with Loom, and so does the bandwidth bill if many people watch.

$18/moprice per seat

$216you'd save a year

weekendbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

TimeA day for the recorder and share page; a weekend to make long takes reliable

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Node.js 22 and ffmpegbetter-sqlite3 compiles a native module; ffmpeg makes the MP4 and the poster.
A Chromium-based browserChrome, Edge or Brave; system audio capture is not available everywhere.
A server and a domainOnly if other people will watch; a tunnel works for testing.

Before you buildLoom Starter gives 25 videos of up to 5 minutes at 720p. If your clips are short and few, you may not need to pay or build.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a personal screen-recording and sharing tool to replace Loom. Requirements:

- Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a Fastify server and a React page built with Vite. `npm start` serves
  http://localhost:4600; recording needs a Chromium-based browser.
- Recorder page: getDisplayMedia for the screen (with system audio where the browser allows it),
  getUserMedia for the microphone, and an optional draggable camera bubble drawn on a canvas.
  MediaRecorder writes video/webm (vp9, opus). Controls: 3-second countdown, pause, resume, stop.
- Upload while recording: send each 5-second chunk to POST /api/videos/:id/chunks so the share link
  is ready seconds after stop. If the network drops, queue chunks in IndexedDB and resume.
- Storage: ./data/videos/<id>/ for files and better-sqlite3 (./data/videos.db) for title, created,
  duration, size, visibility and view count. After stop, ffmpeg makes an H.264/AAC MP4 and a poster
  image; the original webm is kept.
- Share page /v/<id>: HTML5 player, title, Open Graph tags and a view counter that skips my own
  views. Visibility is unlisted by default (a random 12-character id) or password protected.
- /admin behind one password from .env: list, rename, trim start and end with ffmpeg, download MP4,
  delete with confirmation, free disk space.
- Optional transcript: run whisper.cpp when WHISPER_BIN is set in .env; otherwise skip it.
- Single user. No accounts, no telemetry, local-first: files stay on this disk.
- Out of scope: comments, teams, mobile apps, a native recorder, editing beyond trim, AI summaries.
- README: installing ffmpeg, exposing /v/ through a tunnel or a VPS with HTTPS, and a warning that
  browsers can throttle a long recording in a background tab.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

Share on X

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Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Loom.

Change the storage in the recording tool in this folder. Requirements:

- Add a storage interface with a local-disk implementation and an S3-compatible one (the AWS SDK v3),
  chosen by STORAGE=local|s3 and S3_* variables in .env.
- Upload the MP4 and poster to the bucket after processing; the share page uses signed URLs that
  expire after 6 hours and supports byte-range requests.
- Provide `migrate-storage` that copies existing videos, verifies sizes and leaves the local copy until I
  pass --delete-local.
- Update the README, including bucket permissions.

Add comments to the share pages of the recording tool in this folder. Requirements:

- A viewer enters a name and a message; the comment stores the current playback time and shows as a
  clickable timestamp that seeks the player.
- Rate-limit per IP without storing the IP, add a honeypot field, and escape every comment.
- I can delete any comment from /admin and turn comments off per video.
- Send me an email through SMTP settings in .env when a comment arrives.
- Update the README.

Add embedding to the recording tool in this folder. Requirements:

- /embed/<id> serves a minimal player page that can be framed; set frame headers only for unlisted
  and public videos, never for password-protected ones.
- /oembed?url=... returns oEmbed JSON, and the share page advertises it with a link tag.
- Respect the visibility setting and the view counter.
- Update the README with a copyable iframe snippet.

Add chapters to the recording tool in this folder. Requirements:

- When a transcript exists, send it to the Anthropic API (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in .env) and ask for 3 to 8
  chapters as JSON with a start time in seconds and a title of at most 6 words.
- Validate times against the video duration and store the chapters; show them under the player and in
  the admin list, editable by hand.
- Skip silently when there is no key or no transcript, and show what each run cost in tokens.
- Update the README.

What you lose

Comments, emoji reactions and shared spaces for a team
AI titles, summaries, chapters and transcripts in 50-plus languages
Video delivery from Loom's infrastructure to viewers anywhere
The desktop and mobile recorders
Engagement insights with per-viewer data

Why people still pay

Loom is a habit with a ready audience: viewers open a link and it plays, with no account or install. Teams pay for the library, comments and view data around the recording, and for not having to host and back up video themselves.

Moatinfrastructure scale execution polish collaboration

Do the math

Loom or your own copy?

Seats

Over

Your usage

Count my time12h ×$/h

Loom, 1 yr$216

Your own copy, 1 yr$70running + build session

You keep$146pays for itself in the first month

Estimate · Local use costs nothing. To share links you need a tunnel or a small VPS, and video storage and bandwidth grow with what you record. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving Loom

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of Loom

1Download one video at a time: open it in your Library, use the menu above the video and choose Download. The file is an MP4.
2Downloading needs a Business, Business + AI or Enterprise plan and a Creator or Admin role. Starter users and Creator Lites can't download at all, so do it before you downgrade.
3Downloads keep your trims but drop CTAs, chapters, closed captions and filler-word and silence removal; videos over 20 GB need Loom support.
4We found no official way to export every video at once; ask Loom support first if you have a large library. Admins can export engagement insights from the Business plan, which covers viewing data, not the files.

2 · Cancel Loom

1If your Personal Settings say your profile is linked to Atlassian, only Atlassian billing or organization admins can cancel: open Billing > Subscriptions in the Atlassian Admin portal, find Loom, choose Manage, then Deactivate, give a reason and either downgrade to Starter or cancel.
2On a legacy account, open Workspace Settings > Plan & Billing > Manage Subscription and choose Downgrade to Starter.
3Cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing cycle and you keep paid features until then.
4On a Business + AI trial there is no Manage Subscription button, and you aren't charged when the trial ends.

After the move to Starter, recordings are capped at 5 minutes. With more than 25 videos you keep access to all of them but can't record new ones until you get under 25.
Engagement insights and custom branding go away and share pages revert to the defaults; SSO is switched off.
Seats you added or upgraded since your last bill can produce a prorated charge on the day you cancel.
The cancellation page doesn't describe refunds: ask Atlassian Support.

Checked 2026-10-14 against Loom's docs: 1, 2, 3, 4

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

CapOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 Loom alternative (MIT for some crates) with desktop apps, share links and local editing. Self-hosting runs the web app, a media server, MySQL and MinIO in Docker Compose, and the project offers no direct support for it.★ 23k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
macOS, Windows, WebVisit ↗ScreenityOpen sourceGPL-3.0 browser-extension screen recorder that its author calls free, privacy-friendly and without limits.★ 19k · active Oct 2026 · one-click install
WebVisit ↗OBS StudioOpen sourceGPL-2.0 recorder and streaming tool that writes to local files; there is no share link, so you upload the video yourself.★ 78k · active Oct 2026 · one-click install
Linux, macOS, WindowsVisit ↗

All 4 free alternatives to Loom ›

The numbers

Loom pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Starter	$0/user	$0/user	Up to 50 members, 25 videos per person, 5 minutes per recording, 720p, unlimited screenshots, transcriptions in 50-plus languages.
Business	$18/user	—	Unlimited videos and length, up to 4K, custom branding, password-protected videos, engagement insights you can export, 3 extra spaces, downloads.
Business + AI	$24/user	—	Business plus AI titles, summaries, chapters and tasks, edit by transcript, filler-word and silence removal, automatic meeting notes.
Enterprise	custom	—	SSO and SCIM, a 99.95% uptime SLA, activity logs, retention policies, download restrictions, a dedicated account manager.

Free tier: 25 videos per person, 5 minutes per recording and 720p; no video downloads.
Billing: Monthly or yearly (up to 17% off). Business + AI has a 14-day free trial. Workspaces linked to Atlassian are billed and cancelled in the Atlassian admin portal.
Hidden costs: Only people who record need a paid seat; viewers watch free. Downloading videos requires Business or higher, and members on the Creator Lite role can't download on any plan.
Source: www.loom.com

Also on the list

Scribe$35/mo · Screen recordingYES

Descript$24/mo · Audio & videoKINDA

Vimeo$20/mo · Audio & videoKINDA

Questions

Loom, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Ask a question ›

Starter allows 25 videos per person of up to 5 minutes each, at up to 720p.

Kinda. The core is a weekend build with the prompt on this page, but real gaps remain: Comments, emoji reactions and shared spaces for a team, AI titles, summaries, chapters and transcripts in 50-plus languages.

About $18 a month on the Business plan per seat, $216 a year (checked 2026-10-14).

Comments, emoji reactions and shared spaces for a team; AI titles, summaries, chapters and transcripts in 50-plus languages; Video delivery from Loom's infrastructure to viewers anywhere; The desktop and mobile recorders; Engagement insights with per-viewer data. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.