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”).
Features include:
- 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.
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