asciinema

Terminal session recorder and the best companion of asciinema.org.

asciinema [as-kee-nuh-muh] is a free and open source solution for recording terminal sessions and sharing them on the web.

Shout-out to our Platinum sponsors, whose financial support helps keep the project alive:

<img src="./.github/sponsor-logos/dashcam/logo-on-light.png" width="200" />

Quick intro

asciinema lets you easily record terminal sessions and replay them in a terminal as well as in a web browser.

Install latest version (other installation options) using pipx (if you have it):

pipx install asciinema

If you don't have pipx, install using pip with your preferred Python version:

python3 -m pip install asciinema

Record your first session:

asciinema rec first.cast

Now replay it with double speed:

asciinema play -s 2 first.cast

Or with normal speed but with idle time limited to 2 seconds:

asciinema play -i 2 first.cast

You can pass -i 2 to asciinema rec as well, to set it permanently on a recording. Idle time limiting makes the recordings much more interesting to watch. Try it.

If you want to watch and share it on the web, upload it:

asciinema upload first.cast

The above uploads it to asciinema.org, which is a default asciinema-server instance, and prints a secret link you can use to watch your recording in a web browser.

You can record and upload in one step by omitting the filename:

asciinema rec

You'll be asked to confirm the upload when the recording is done. Nothing is sent anywhere without your consent.

These are the basics, but there's much more you can do. The following sections cover installation, usage and hosting of the recordings in more detail. Also, checkout agg if you're interested in GIF generation.

Installation

Python package from PyPI

asciinema is available on PyPI and can be installed with pipx (if you have it) or with pip (Python 3 with setuptools required):

pipx install asciinema

Or with pip (using your preferred Python version):

python3 -m pip install asciinema

Installing from PyPI is the recommended way of installation, which gives you the latest released version.

Native packages

asciinema is included in repositories of most popular package managers on Mac OS X, Linux and FreeBSD. Look for package named asciinema. See the list of available packages.

Running latest version from source code checkout

If you can't use Python package or native package for your OS is outdated you can clone the repo and run asciinema straight from the checkout.

Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/asciinema/asciinema.git
cd asciinema

If you want latest stable version:

git checkout master

If you want current development version:

git checkout develop

Then run it with:

python3 -m asciinema --version

Docker image

asciinema Docker image is based on Ubuntu 22.04 and has the latest version of asciinema recorder pre-installed.

docker pull ghcr.io/asciinema/asciinema

When running it don't forget to allocate a pseudo-TTY (-t), keep STDIN open (-i) and mount config directory volume (-v):

docker run --rm -it -v "${HOME}/.config/asciinema:/root/.config/asciinema" ghcr.io/asciinema/asciinema rec

Container's entrypoint is set to /usr/local/bin/asciinema so you can run the container with any arguments you would normally pass to asciinema binary (see Usage section for commands and options).

There's not much software installed in this image though. In most cases you may want to install extra programs before recording. One option is to derive new image from this one (start your custom Dockerfile with FROM ghcr.io/asciinema/asciinema). Another option is to start the container with /bin/bash as the entrypoint, install extra packages and manually start asciinema rec:

docker run --rm -it -v "${HOME}/.config/asciinema:/root/.config/asciinema" --entrypoint=/bin/bash ghcr.io/asciinema/asciinema rec
root@6689517d99a1:~# apt-get install foobar
root@6689517d99a1:~# asciinema rec

It is also possible to run the docker container as a non-root user, which has security benefits. You can specify a user and group id at runtime to give the application permission similar to the calling user on your host.

docker run --rm -it \
    --env=ASCIINEMA_CONFIG_HOME="/run/user/$(id -u)/.config/asciinema" \
    --user="$(id -u):$(id -g)" \
    --volume="${HOME}/.config/asciinema:/run/user/$(id -u)/.config/asciinema:rw" \
    --volume="${PWD}:/data:rw" \
    --workdir='/data' \
    ghcr.io/asciinema/asciinema rec

Usage

asciinema is composed of multiple commands, similar to git, apt-get or brew.

When you run asciinema with no arguments help message is displayed, listing all available commands with their options.

rec [filename]

Record terminal session.

By running asciinema rec [filename] you start a new recording session. The command (process) that is recorded can be specified with -c option (see below), and defaults to $SHELL which is what you want in most cases.

You can temporarily pause the capture of your terminal by pressing <kbd>Ctrl+\</kbd>. This is useful when you want to execute some commands during the recording session that should not be captured (e.g. pasting secrets). Resume by pressing <kbd>Ctrl+\</kbd> again. When pausing desktop notification is displayed so you're sure the sensitive output won't be captured in the recording.

Recording finishes when you exit the shell (hit <kbd>Ctrl+D</kbd> or type exit). If the recorded process is not a shell then recording finishes when the process exits.

If the filename argument is omitted then (after asking for confirmation) the resulting asciicast is uploaded to asciinema-server (by default to asciinema.org), where it can be watched and shared.

If the filename argument is given then the resulting recording (called asciicast) is saved to a local file. It can later be replayed with asciinema play <filename> and/or uploaded to asciinema server with asciinema upload <filename>.

ASCIINEMA_REC=1 is added to recorded process environment variables. This can be used by your shell's config file (.bashrc, .zshrc) to alter the prompt or play a sound when the shell is being recorded.

Available options:

• --stdin - Enable stdin (keyboard) recording (see below)
• --append - Append to existing recording
• --raw - Save raw STDOUT output, without timing information or other metadata
• --overwrite - Overwrite the recording if it already exists
• -c, --command=<command> - Specify command to record, defaults to $SHELL
• -e, --env=<var-names> - List of environment variables to capture, defaults to SHELL,TERM
• -t, --title=<title> - Specify the title of the asciicast
• -i, --idle-time-limit=<sec> - Limit recorded terminal inactivity to max <sec> seconds
• --cols=<n> - Override terminal columns for recorded process
• --rows=<n> - Override terminal rows for recorded process
• -y, --yes - Answer "yes" to all prompts (e.g. upload confirmation)
• -q, --quiet - Be quiet, suppress all notices/warnings (implies -y)

Stdin recording allows for capturing of all characters typed in by the user in the currently recorded shell. This may be used by a player (e.g. asciinema-player) to display pressed keys. Because it's basically key-logging (scoped to a single shell instance), it's disabled by default, and has to be explicitly enabled via --stdin option.

play <filename>

Replay recorded asciicast in a terminal.

This command replays given asciicast (as recorded by rec command) directly in your terminal.

Following keyboard shortcuts are available by default:

• <kbd>Space</kbd> - toggle pause,
• <kbd>.</kbd> - step through a recording a frame at a time (when paused),
• <kbd>Ctrl+C</kbd> - exit.

See "Configuration file" section for information on how to customize the keyboard shortcuts.

Playing from a local file:

asciinema play /path/to/asciicast.cast

Playing from HTTP(S) URL:

asciinema play https://asciinema.org/a/22124.cast
asciinema play http://example.com/demo.cast

Playing from asciicast page URL (requires <link rel="alternate" type="application/x-asciicast" href="/my/ascii.cast"> in page's HTML):

asciinema play https://asciinema.org/a/22124
asciinema play http://example.com/blog/post.html

Playing from stdin:

cat /path/to/asciicast.cast | asciinema play -
ssh user@host cat asciicast.cast | asciinema play -

Playing from IPFS:

asciinema play dweb:/ipfs/QmNe7FsYaHc9SaDEAEXbaagAzNw9cH7YbzN4xV7jV1MCzK/ascii.cast

Available options:

• -i, --idle-time-limit=<sec> - Limit replayed terminal inactivity to max <sec> seconds
• -s, --speed=<factor> - Playback speed (can be fractional)
• -l, --loop -