asciinema

Recipe card from the charly-coder plugin (Images — the deployable catalog).

asciinema – Terminal session recorder

Candy Properties

Property	Value
Install files	`charly.yml` (packages + one binary download)
Depends	none

Packages

RPM: asciinema + dejavu-sans-mono-fonts · PAC: asciinema + ttf-dejavu · DEB: asciinema + fonts-dejavu-core

What It Does

Records terminal sessions as .cast files (asciicast v2 format). Recordings capture timing, input, and output — can be replayed with asciinema play, uploaded to asciinema.org, or converted to GIF/video. Also installs the agg gif generator (asciinema/agg, pinned v1.9.0, prebuilt binary at /usr/local/bin/agg) plus a DejaVu Sans Mono font so a stopped recording can be rendered to an animated GIF — the engine behind the record: gif method.

Cross-distro coverage

RPM: asciinema · PAC: asciinema · DEB: asciinema — full parity.

Usage

# box charly.yml — compose the candy as an inline list in the box body
my-box:
    candy:
        base: fedora
        candy: [asciinema]

Used by the record: check verb (a record: start step with record_mode: terminal) for terminal recording sessions. Also available standalone via asciinema rec.

Integration with the `record:` check verb

Author ordered record: plan steps (the declarative verb served out-of-process by candy/plugin-record — there is no host charly check subcommand for it) and run them with charly check live <image> --filter record:

plan:
    - check: a terminal recording starts
      record:
          method: start
          record_name: demo
          record_mode: terminal
      context: [deploy]
    - check: a command is sent into the recording
      record:
          method: cmd
          record_name: demo
          text: echo hello
      context: [deploy]
    - check: the recording stops and is copied out
      record:
          method: stop
          record_name: demo
          artifact: demo.cast
      context: [deploy]

charly check live <image> --filter record   # runs the steps above
asciinema play demo.cast                     # play back the copied-out artifact

Converting a recording to an animated GIF

The record: gif method (served by the same plugin) renders a stopped terminal recording to an animated GIF with agg — the binary this candy installs. It runs agg in the container and copies the .gif to the host artifact path:

plan:
    - check: the recording is rendered to an animated gif
      record:
          method: gif
          record_name: demo
          artifact: demo.gif
          theme: monokai
          speed: 2
          idle_time_limit: 1
      context: [deploy]

agg options (theme, font_size, speed, idle_time_limit, fps_cap, select, cols, rows, no_loop, last_frame_duration, renderer) map 1:1 to agg’s CLI flags; the recording’s embedded theme is used when theme: is unset.

Note

Also available via the dev-tools candy (which includes asciinema among many other tools). This standalone candy is for boxes that need terminal recording without the full dev-tools bundle.

Used In Boxes

/charly-selkies:sway-browser-vnc (via sway-desktop metalayer)
/charly-selkies:selkies-labwc (via selkies-desktop metalayer)
/charly-selkies:selkies-labwc-nvidia (via selkies-desktop metalayer)

/charly-check:record — Terminal recording via asciinema (start, stop, cmd, gif)

Cross-References

/charly-check:record — the record: check verb (record_mode: terminal records, record: gif renders) uses asciinema + agg
/charly-coder:dev-tools — Also includes asciinema (larger candy)

When to Use This Skill

Use when the user asks about:

Terminal session recording
Converting a terminal recording to an animated GIF
asciinema in containers
The asciinema candy

/charly-image:layer — candy authoring reference (charly.yml schema, plan-step verbs, service declarations)
/charly-check:check — declarative testing (check: block, charly check box, charly check live)