asciinema (formerly known as ascii.io) is a free and open source solution for recording terminal sessions and sharing them on the web. It records only terminal output. asciicasts are self-contained JSON files which users can edit before uploading.
asciinema is composed of multiple commands. It consists of a command-line based terminal session recorder, a website with an API, and a JavaScript player. The terminal recorder (called rec) is the most important element as it actions the tool’s main function. You can replay a recorded asciicast directly in a terminal using the play command. As the name suggest, the upload command lets you upload recorded asciicasts to the asciinema.org site.
The word “asciinema” is a combination of English “ASCII” and Ancient Greek “κίνημα” (kínēma, “movement”).
Key Features
- Simple recording.
- Copy & paste.
- Limit recorded terminal inactivity.
- Embed an asciicast player in your blog post, project documentation page or in your conference talk slides. Share any recording by copying its URL and sending it to a friend or posting it on a social network. asciinema.org supports oEmbed/Open Graph/Twitter Card protocols, displaying a nice thumbnail where possible.
- Source code for the server is available.
- Uses a config file to keep API token and user settings.
Website: asciinema.org
Support: Blog, GitHub Code Repository
Developer: Marcin Kulik and contributors
License: GNU General Public License v3.0
asciinema is written in Python. Learn Python with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Console Screencasting Tools / Terminal Session Recording | |
|---|---|
| Terminalizer | Generates animated GIF images of your terminal |
| VHS | Wwrite terminal GIFs as code for integration testing and demoing |
| ttyd | Shares your terminal over the web |
| asciinema | Record and share terminal sessions |
| t-rec | Generates animated GIF images for the web |
| agg | asciinema gif generator |
| ttystudio | Excellent terminal-to-gif recorder |
| ffscreencast | Shell wrapper for ffmpeg that allows fool-proof screen recording |
| tty2gif | Record scripts into both binary and gif formats |
| TermRecord | Terminal session recorder with easy-to-share self-contained HTML output |
| IPBT | High-tec terminal player |
| rec | Records terminal sessions and turns them into reusable workflows |
| ttyrec | Terminal recorder, incudes a playback tool |
| termrec | Set of tools for recording and replaying tty sessions |
| screencast | Interface to record a X11 desktop |
| rewindtty | Terminal session recorder and replayer |
| Showterm | Terminal record and upload utility |
| termtosvg | Render SVG animations of shell sessions |
| script | The granddaddy of terminal recorders |
| Shelr | Broadcast plain text screencasts |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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