rec [filename]

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 uploaded 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 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 instance), it's disabled by default, and has to be explicitly enabled via –stdin option.

play <filename>

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-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:

 

cat <filename>

While asciinema play replays the recorded session using timing information saved in the asciicast, asciinema 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 output.txt.

upload

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

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)) generated 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”.