Provided by: asciinema_2.1.0-1_all 
NAME
asciinema - terminal session recorder
SYNOPSIS
asciinema --version
asciinema command [options] [args]
DESCRIPTION
asciinema lets you easily record terminal sessions and replay them in a terminal as well as in a web
browser.
COMMANDS
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.
Recording finishes when you exit the shell (hit Ctrl+D 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 up‐
loaded to asciinema-server (https://github.com/asciinema/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 (doc/asciicast-v2.md))
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
-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 (https://github.com/asciinema/asciinema-
player)) to display pressed keys. Because it's basically a key-logging (scoped to a single shell in‐
stance), 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:
Space - toggle pause,
. - step through a recording a frame at a time (when paused),
Ctrl+C - exit.
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-asci‐
icast" 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)
cat <filename>
Print full output of recorded asciicast to a terminal.
While asciinema play replays the recorded session using timing information saved in the asciicast, asci‐
inema cat dumps the full output (including all escape sequences) to a terminal immediately.
asciinema cat existing.cast >output.txt gives the same result as recording via asciinema rec --raw out‐
put.txt.
upload
Upload recorded asciicast to asciinema.org site.
This command uploads given asciicast (recorded by rec command) to asciinema.org, where it can be watched
and shared.
asciinema rec demo.cast + asciinema play demo.cast + asciinema upload demo.cast is a nice combo if you
want to review an asciicast before publishing it on asciinema.org.
auth
Link your install ID with your asciinema.org user account.
If you want to manage your recordings (change title/theme, delete) at asciinema.org you need to link your
“install ID” with asciinema.org user account.
This command displays the URL to open in a web browser to do that. You may be asked to log in first.
Install ID is a random ID (UUID v4 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universally_unique_identifier)) gener‐
ated locally when you run asciinema for the first time, and saved at $HOME/.config/asciinema/install-id.
It's purpose is to connect local machine with uploaded recordings, so they can later be associated with
asciinema.org account. This way we decouple uploading from account creation, allowing them to happen in
any order.
Note: A new install ID is generated on each machine and system user account you use asciinema on, so in
order to keep all recordings under a single asciinema.org account you need to run asciinema auth on all
of those machines.
Note: asciinema versions prior to 2.0 confusingly referred to install ID as “API token”.
EXAMPLES
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 <https://asciinema.org>, which is a default asciinema-server
(<https://github.com/asciinema/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, so nothing is sent anywhere without
your consent.
ENVIRONMENT
ASCIINEMA_API_URL
This variable allows overriding asciinema-server URL (which defaults to https://asciinema.org) in
case you're running your own asciinema-server instance.
ASCIINEMA_CONFIG_HOME
This variable allows overriding config directory location. Default location is $XDG_CON‐
FIG_HOME/asciinema (when $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set) or $HOME/.config/asciinema.
BUGS
See GitHub Issues: <https://github.com/asciinema/asciinema/issues>
AUTHORS
asciinema's lead developer is Marcin Kulik.
For a list of all contributors look here: <https://github.com/asciinema/asciinema/contributors>
This Manual Page was written by Marcin Kulik with help from Kurt Pfeifle.
Version 2.0.1 ASCIINEMA(1)