macOS Screen Capture Lifecycle

Treat capture as a user-consented, stateful resource. Completion means the exact executable can start, deliver, stop, drain, release, and—when promised—restart without stale work.

Route the work

First identify the caller's executable path, bundle ID, signature, PID, launch method, deployment target, current lifecycle owner, and failing stage. Do not infer TCC state from another build, process, checkbox, or compilation.

• For one frame, prefer SCScreenshotManager with a narrow fresh filter when it is available for the deployment target; otherwise use a tested, bounded one-frame SCStream path or raise the deployment floor deliberately.
• For SCStream, callbacks, teardown, restart, permission diagnosis, or runtime checks, read references/stream-lifecycle.md.
• Before changing APIs or review dates, read references/apple-documentation.md and query Xcode DocumentationSearch for the exact symbols.

Non-negotiable invariants