rec is a command-line utility that records terminal sessions and turns them into reusable workflows.
It captures commands run in supported shells together with contextual information such as working directory, exit code, and timing, then lets you replay sessions with guardrails or export them into portable artifacts such as shell scripts, CI/CD pipelines, Dockerfiles, and Markdown documentation.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Supports Bash, Zsh, and Fish through native shell hook integration.
- Stores sessions in crash-safe NDJSON format with automatic recovery support.
- Provides session management tools including search, diff, rename, tagging, aliases, and statistics.
- Offers smart parameterization to replace environment-specific values with reusable variables during export.
- Includes an optional terminal user interface for browsing, replaying, exporting, and deleting sessions.
- Can import existing shell history and scripts into new recorded sessions.
- Cross-platform support – runs under Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Website: github.com/zeybek/rec
Support:
Developer: Ahmet Zeybek
License: MIT License
rec is written in Rust. Learn Rust 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 |
| ffscreencast | Shell wrapper for ffmpeg that allows fool-proof screen recording |
| IPBT | High-tec terminal player |
| rec | Records terminal sessions and turns them into reusable workflows |
| TermSVG | Record terminal sessions and export them as animated SVG files |
| termrec | Set of tools for recording and replaying tty sessions |
| screencast | Interface to record a X11 desktop |
| script | The granddaddy of terminal recorders |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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