<div align="center">
<img src="https://github.com/sassman/t-rec-rs/blob/main/resources/logo.png?raw=true" width="250" height="250">
<h1><strong>t-rec: Terminal Recorder</strong></h1>
[](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0)
[](https://crates.io/crates/t-rec)
[](https://deps.rs/repo/github/sassman/t-rec-rs)
[](https://github.com/sassman/t-rec-rs/actions?query=branch%3Amain+workflow%3ABuild+)
[](https://github.com/Aaronepower/tokei)
Blazingly fast terminal recorder that generates animated gif images for the web written in rust.
</div>
# Demo
## Features
- Screenshotting your terminal with 4 frames per second (every 250ms)
- Generates high quality small sized animated gif images or mp4 videos
- **Build-In idle frames detection and optimization** (for super fluid presentations)
- Applies (can be disabled) border decor effects like drop shadow
- Runs on MacOS and Linux
- Uses native efficient APIs
- Runs without any cloud service and entirely offline
- No issues with terminal sizes larger than 80x24
- No issues with fonts or colors
- No issues with curses based programs
- No issues with escape sequences
- No record and replay - just one simple command to rule them all
- Hidden feature: Record every window you want
- Written in Rust 🦀
## Installation on MacOS
### with homebrew
```sh
brew install t-rec
```
### with cargo
**NOTE** `t-rec` depends on `imagemagick`.
```sh
brew install imagemagick
cargo install -f t-rec
```
**NOTE** `-f` just makes sure the latest version is installed
## Installation on Linux
### as .deb
```sh
sudo apt-get install imagemagick
wget https://github.com/sassman/t-rec-rs/releases/download/v0.5.0/t-rec_0.5.0_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i t-rec_0.5.0_amd64.deb
```
### as snap
[](https://snapcraft.io/t-rec)
- installation [for Linux Mint](https://snapcraft.io/install/t-rec/mint)
- installation [for Arch Linux](https://snapcraft.io/install/t-rec/arch)
*TL;DR:*
```sh
sudo snap install t-rec --classic
/snap/bin/t-rec --version
t-rec 0.4.3
```
### with cargo
```sh
sudo apt-get install libx11-dev imagemagick
cargo install -f t-rec
```
| ubuntu 20.10 on GNOME |
|  |
| ubuntu 20.10 on i3wm |
|  |
| linux mint 20 on cinnamon |
|  |
| ArcoLinux 5.4 on Xfwm4 |
|  |
## Usage
```sh
t-rec
```
or with specifying a different program to launch
```sh
t-rec /bin/sh
```
### Full Options
```sh
t-rec --help
t-rec 0.5.0
Sven Assmann <sven.assmann.it@gmail.com>
Blazingly fast terminal recorder that generates animated gif images for the web written in rust.
USAGE:
t-rec [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] [shell or program to launch]
FLAGS:
-h, --help Prints help information
-l, --ls-win If you want to see a list of windows available for recording by their id, you can set env var
'WINDOWID' to record this specific window only
-n, --natural If you want a very natural typing experience and disable the idle detection and sampling
optimization
-q, --quiet Quiet mode, suppresses the banner: 'Press Ctrl+D to end recording'
-V, --version Prints version information
-v, --verbose Enable verbose insights for the curious
OPTIONS:
-b, --bg <bg> Background color when decors are used [default: transparent] [possible values: white, black,
transparent]
-d, --decor <decor> Decorates the animation with certain, mostly border effects [default: shadow] [possible
values: shadow, none]
-m, --video <video> Generates additionally to the gif a mp4 video of the recording [default: mp4] [possible
values: mp4]
ARGS:
<shell or program to launch> If you want to start a different program than $SHELL you can pass it here. For
example '/bin/sh'
```
### Disable idle detection & optimization
If you are not happy with the idle detection and optimization, you can disable it with the `-n` or `--natural` parameter.
By doing so, you would get the very natural timeline of typing and recording as you do it.
In this case there will be no optimizations performed.
### Disable shadow border decor
In order to disable the drop shadow border decor you have to pass `-p none` as an argument. If your only want to change
the color of the background you can use `-b black` for example to have a black background.
## Hidden Gems
You can record not only the terminal but also every other window. There 2 ways to do so:
1) abuse the env var `TERM_PROGRAM` like this:
- for example lets record a window 'Google Chrome'
- make sure chrome is running and visible on screen
```sh
TERM_PROGRAM="google chrome" t-rec
Frame cache dir: "/var/folders/m8/084p1v0x4770rpwpkrgl5b6h0000gn/T/trec-74728.rUxBx3ohGiQ2"
Recording window: "Google Chrome 2"
Press Ctrl+D to end recording
```
this is how it looks then:
2) use the env var `WINDOWID` like this:
- for example let's record a `VSCode` window
- figure out the window id program, and make it
- make sure the window is visible on screen
- set the variable and run `t-rec`
```sh
# set the WINDOWID variable and run t-rec
WINDOWID=27600 t-rec
Frame cache dir: "/var/folders/m8/084p1v0x4770rpwpkrgl5b6h0000gn/T/trec-77862.BMYiHNRWqv9Y"
Press Ctrl+D to end recording
```
this is how it looks then:
## Contribute
To contribute to t-rec you can either checkout existing issues [labeled with `good first issue`][4] or [open a new issue][5] and describe your problem.
Also every PR is welcome. Support for Linux and Windows needs to be done.
## On the web & social media
- t-rec [on producthunt.com](https://www.producthunt.com/posts/t-rec)
- t-rec [on hacker news](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24742378)
- t-rec [on reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/j8tqs9/trec_a_blazingly_fast_terminal_recorder_that/)
## License
- **[GNU GPL v3 license](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0)**
- Copyright 2020 - 2021 © [Sven Assmann][2].
[2]: https://www.d34dl0ck.me
[4]: https://github.com/sassman/t-rec-rs/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22
[5]: https://github.com/sassman/t-rec-rs/issues/new/choose