Setup guide

Everything about installing and using BRB. Download BRB here.

BRB records a short, seamless loop of you, then lets you switch between that loop and your live webcam in a video meeting, so you can step away for a moment (a restroom break, a coffee refill) without your camera going dark and distracting everyone. Works with Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, Zoom and other meeting apps that let you choose a camera. Windows 10/11 and macOS 12+.

It's meant for short, courteous breaks, not for faking attendance or getting around attendance checks, identity checks, exams or any meeting where your live presence is required; see the EULA.

Download: brb.happyhacks.io (picks the right file for your Windows PC or Mac), or grab a file from the latest release.

Install

1. Download BRBSetup.exe from the latest release and run it. No admin rights needed. It adds a Start-menu entry, an optional desktop shortcut, and an uninstall entry in Settings → Apps.
2. BRB opens with a short setup guide:
   1. Add the HappyHacks Virtual Camera (the installer does this; Windows asks for permission once).
   2. Choose your webcam.
   3. Record your first loop.
   4. Pick "HappyHacks Virtual Camera" as your camera in your meeting app.

You can reopen the guide any time from the Setup guide button. OBS Studio is not needed.

Your loops and settings live in %APPDATA%\BRB and are kept if you uninstall. A copy run from its own folder that already contains config.json or loops\ (as earlier versions did) keeps using that folder.

Mac

1. Download the Mac disk image from the latest release: BRB-mac-arm64.dmg for Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) or BRB-mac-x86_64.dmg for Intel Macs. Open it and drag BRB onto Applications.
2. The first time, macOS says BRB "can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software", because the app isn't notarized by Apple yet. Click OK, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway, then open it again and choose Open. On macOS 14 or older, right-click → Open also works. A Terminal fallback: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/BRB.app.
3. Allow the camera when macOS asks.
4. OBS Studio is needed on a Mac. BRB sends your picture through the free OBS Virtual Camera, because a Mac camera driver of our own needs a paid Apple developer certificate. The setup guide checks whether OBS and its camera are installed. If they aren't, it has a Download OBS Studio button (obsproject.com/download) and walks you through the one-time steps:
   1. Install OBS Studio 30 or newer.
   2. Open OBS, click Start Virtual Camera, and allow the camera extension in System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions → Camera Extensions.
   3. Click Stop Virtual Camera and quit OBS. You don't need to open it again.
5. In your meeting app's video settings, choose OBS Virtual Camera. Keep OBS's own virtual camera stopped while BRB is running.
6. Allow BRB on your Mac. The setup guide has a page for this. It shows a ✓ for each permission once it's on, and its buttons open the right Settings page:
   • Camera (Privacy & Security → Camera): turn on BRB. macOS usually asks the first time it starts.
   • Input Monitoring (Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring): this lets the hotkeys work while your meeting app is in front. Turn on BRB; if it isn't listed, click + and pick it from Applications. When macOS offers Quit & Reopen, accept, or use the guide's Reopen BRB button. On most Mac keyboards the hotkeys are fn+F9 and fn+F10.
   • OBS camera extension (General → Login Items & Extensions → Camera Extensions): from step 4.

BRB isn't signed by Apple yet, so macOS can treat an update as a new app and ask again. If the hotkeys stop working after an update, switch Input Monitoring off and on for BRB.

On a Mac, the microphone is silenced by setting the input volume to 0 while the LOOP is on air, then setting it back. Loops and settings live in ~/Library/Application Support/BRB. Updates install themselves the same way as on Windows, as long as BRB runs from Applications and not from the disk image. Hiding from screen sharing uses macOS's "don't share this window" setting; some recent screen-capture methods may still show the window.

Text size

On a Mac, text follows the system's standard size. Settings → Text size (or Ctrl/Cmd + and Ctrl/Cmd −, with Ctrl/Cmd 0 to reset) makes it smaller or larger in every window, from 85% to 175%.

Starting up

Loading the AI model and opening the webcam takes a few seconds, so a splash screen with the logo shows what's happening until the window opens.

Updates

Each time it opens, BRB checks the releases. If there's a newer version, it shows an "Updating…" window, swaps itself out and reopens. Settings → Updates → Check now checks manually. An update never interrupts you while the LOOP is on air or a recording is running.

Code signing (self-signed)

Release files are signed with a self-signed "BRB" certificate (doppleganger-publisher.cer is attached to each release). Windows only trusts it on PCs that choose to: tick Trust the BRB publisher on this PC in the installer, and Windows asks you to confirm. Other PCs still see the SmartScreen "unknown publisher" prompt (More info → Run anyway). A commercial code-signing certificate would remove that prompt everywhere; the build already supports one, so just swap the secrets.

The window

Hidden from screen sharing: BRB's windows (main, mini bar, setup, settings) are excluded from screen capture. When you share your screen, viewers see what's behind them. This also hides them from your own screenshots. Turn it off in Settings → Privacy.

Silence while on the LOOP: loops never contain sound, since BRB only handles video. While the LOOP is on air, BRB also mutes your microphone at the Windows level, so nothing you say or no background noise goes out, and unmutes it the moment you cut back to live. It only touches microphones that were unmuted, and if the app is ever closed unexpectedly while muted, your mic is restored the next time it starts. Turn it off in Settings → Privacy.

Hotkeys (work while your meeting app is in front)

The tray icon (by the clock) has the same commands, plus a webcam picker and Install/Remove camera.

Finding you in the picture (no setup)

BRB uses AI person detection (Google's MediaPipe selfie segmentation, the kind of model video-call apps use for background blur) to find you in every frame. It needs no setup, works in any room and with any webcam, and copes with lighting changes. The mask is snapped to real edges in the picture (guided filter, plus GrabCut for the start-pose silhouette), so hair and shoulders get a clean outline.

Settings → Calibrate room is still there as an optional fallback, and is used automatically only if the AI model can't run on a PC. Lean or step slowly to the side the banner asks for while it learns what the empty room looks like.

Free time and license keys

• Free: every computer gets 1 hour of LOOP time in total. The clock runs only while the LOOP is on air; the live camera, recording loops and everything else are never limited.
• Countdown: when 5 minutes are left, BRB warns you and shows a countdown (in the window, the mini bar and, for the last 30 seconds, on the preview). At 0:00 it cuts back to LIVE.
• Unlimited: a license key from brb.happyhacks.io/license, $5/month, cancel any time. Subscribe before your free hour runs out (use Get License Key in the app) and it's 50% off ($2.50/month) for as long as you stay subscribed.
• Applying a key: click Get License Key (or Settings → License key…), paste the key, click Apply. A key works on one computer; to move it to a new one, contact support.
• Internet: BRB checks your free time or license with brb.happyhacks.io, so the LOOP needs an internet connection.

Recording a loop

When you press Record (button, R or the tray menu), a short Before you record card lists what to expect first: - Sit the way you will in the meeting. - Hold still for the first 10 seconds. - Keep movement subtle and natural: blink, breathe, nod slightly, glance at your screen. - Avoid anything memorable, like big laughs, waves, touching your face or drinking. The loop repeats, so a distinctive moment gets noticed the second time. - Come back to the start pose for the last 10 seconds. - Keep the room the same.

Press Start recording (or R again) to begin. You can turn the card off with Don't show this again or in Settings. While a new loop is being stitched, a small progress window appears and cuts are paused for a moment.

The app finds the frame in the final seconds that best matches the first, ends the loop there, and adds a few motion-matched bridge frames if needed, so the restart is invisible. The loop starts at its first frame the first time you cut to it, then keeps playing in the background, so later cuts pick it up wherever it is.

Before you cut

• Before the first cut, the loop's start pose shows as a soft apricot shape with your green outline on top (with outlines on). Line them up ("In start pose – cut is seamless"), then cut, or just hold F9 and let BRB cut when you're there. The white silhouette appears only while recording.
• After that, the preview shows the off-air feed faded over the on-air one: the loop while you're LIVE, your camera while the LOOP is on air. Line up until the green border appears, or hold F9.
• Outlines (O, or the checkbox under the sync meter): an green line traces you live and a apricot line traces the loop, or the frozen picture during a glitch. When the two lines sit on top of each other, the cut is seamless.

Glitch effect

Need a few seconds to sit back down? Press F10. The picture your meeting sees turns jerky and random: frozen frames, uneven bursts, and the occasional sharp in-between frame. It never goes blurry or blocky and never drops out. Your preview keeps the overlay, so you can line up with the frozen picture. Then press (or hold) F9: the next jump reveals you live, with a few catch-up steps before it runs smoothly. F10 again also ends it, and it stops by itself after 30 s.

The HappyHacks Virtual Camera

A small DirectShow camera filter (64- and 32-bit) installed in C:\ProgramData\BRB, built from softcam (MIT) with its own name and ID, so it never clashes with OBS or other virtual cameras.

Meeting apps and browsers list it as HappyHacks Virtual Camera (older versions called it "BRB": pick the new name once in your meeting app). The installer adds it, and BRB installs or updates it by itself when needed (Windows asks for permission). On Windows BRB always uses it, never OBS, unless you set output_camera to obs. Your meeting app can select it any time. Whenever the BRB app isn't running (not started yet, or quit), the camera shows a neutral dark "Camera starting…" picture. It's deliberately generic, because meeting participants can see it, and it's never a frozen frame of you. To make sure the camera always has a real picture, turn on Settings → Start BRB when Windows starts; it opens minimized.

Settings file

config.json in the data folder. Useful fields: camera_name, output_camera (auto/doppleganger/obs), width/height/fps, loop_seconds, hold_still_seconds, return_prompt_seconds, crossfade_ms, overlay_opacity, hotkey, glitch_hotkey (pynput format, e.g. "<ctrl>+<alt>+l"), glitch_max_seconds, mute_mic_on_loop, hide_from_screen_share, auto_update.