Four steps from a screen recording to a GIF that fits in a pull request.
A GIF is still the easiest way to show a UI change where video players do not reach: a README, a pull request, a changelog entry, a support reply. The catch is that GIFs get heavy fast, so the recording has to be short and the edit tight. This guide does it with Capta, a free macOS screen recorder that trims pauses and adds zooms automatically, then exports GIF directly.
Press ⌥⌘R, or open the capture panel with ⌥⌘5 and pick Window or Area so the GIF only contains the part that matters. Perform the one action the GIF is about: the click, the drag, the result. Five to fifteen seconds is plenty. Stop with ⌥⌘R.
In the editor, drag the trim handles on the filmstrip so the clip starts a beat before the action and ends right after the result. Pauses are already cut and typing is already sped up, so the trim is usually two drags. Shorter GIFs are smaller files and loop better.
In Style, pick a solid or a simple gradient. Mesh and photo backgrounds look great in MP4 but a GIF has 256 colours per frame, so busy backgrounds dither and bloat the file. Keep padding small. The automatic zooms help here too: a zoomed-in GIF at a small size stays legible.
Press Export and choose GIF. Square or 16:9, and pick the smallest size that still reads. For Slack, an issue tracker or a support reply, choose the clipboard as the destination and paste. For a README or a GitHub release, save the file and drag it into GitHub's editor, which uploads it and writes the image tag for you.
GIFs have no sound. If the clip needs narration or the app's audio, export MP4 instead; GitHub, Slack and most trackers play MP4 inline now.
Anything longer than about fifteen seconds, anything with narration or app audio, and anything that will be watched on a phone. Capta exports MP4 from the same recording in one click, up to 4K at 60 fps, and Share gives you a view-only iCloud link if the file is too big to attach.
One shortcut to record, one click to export.