asciinema
Record and replay terminal sessions
TLDR
Record terminal session (filename required in 3.0+)
$ asciinema rec [recording.cast]
Play recorded session$ asciinema play [recording.cast]
Upload to asciinema.org$ asciinema upload [recording.cast]
Record with title$ asciinema rec -t "[My recording]" [recording.cast]
Record with idle time limit$ asciinema rec --idle-time-limit=[2] [recording.cast]
Live stream a terminal session$ asciinema stream -l
SYNOPSIS
asciinema rec|play|cat|convert|upload|stream|session|auth [options] [file]
DESCRIPTION
asciinema records and replays terminal sessions. It captures terminal output with timing information, creating lightweight recordings that can be shared or embedded on websites.Unlike video screen recording, asciinema recordings are text-based, allowing copy-paste from playback and producing small file sizes.
PARAMETERS
rec file
Record terminal session. In 3.0+ the filename is required, and rec no longer uploads (use the upload command).play file
Playback recorded sessioncat file...
Concatenate two or more recordings into one (3.0+).convert input output
Convert a recording to another asciicast format (3.0+).upload file
Upload recording to asciinema.orgstream
Live stream the terminal session (3.0+).session
Generic session that can record, stream, or both (3.0+).auth
Authenticate this install with your asciinema server account-t title, --title title
Recording title-c cmd, --command cmd
Command to record (default: $SHELL)--idle-time-limit sec
Maximum idle time between frames-i sec
Shorthand for --idle-time-limit-s speed, --speed speed
Playback speed multiplier--cols n / --rows n
Override terminal dimensions
CONFIGURATION
~/.config/asciinema/config.toml
User configuration file (TOML) in CLI 3.0+ for default recording settings, server URL, and authentication. Earlier 2.x releases used ~/.config/asciinema/config.
INSTALL
sudo dnf install asciinema
sudo pacman -S asciinema
sudo apk add asciinema
sudo zypper install asciinema
brew install asciinema
nix profile install nixpkgs#asciinema
CAVEATS
Recordings capture exactly what appears in terminal, including sensitive data. Review before uploading. Playback requires terminal with same capabilities as recording.
HISTORY
asciinema was created by Marcin Kulik, with the first version released around 2011. It has become the standard tool for terminal recording and sharing.