Skip to content

TermCap

TermCap records Unix terminal sessions as asciicast v2 streams and renders them as standalone SVG animations or GIF files. Capture, replay, templates, and media export share one timeline, making the tool useful for project demos, operational tutorials, and reproducible command-line sessions.

TermCap terminal capture to GIF quick-start example

View the matching SVG and complete generation commands

  • Capture a terminal

    Record ANSI output, colors, cursor state, and terminal geometry inside a PTY and write an asciinema-compatible .cast file.

    Start capturing

  • Render SVG

    Rebuild terminal state with pyte and emit a lightweight scalable animation with discrete CSS keyframes.

    Understand rendering

  • Export GIF

    Freeze exact keyframes in Chrome and correct the viewport before capture to avoid clipped frames, black frames, and duplicate sampling.

    Export GIF

  • Templates and themes

    Use 16 built-in templates or customize colors, fonts, window chrome, and scripts.

    Browse templates

Choose by goal

Goal Recommended command Read next
Capture an interactive shell termcap record demo.cast -g 80x20 Quick start
Capture one command termcap record demo.cast -c "python demo.py" Capture and rendering
Run and capture like a wrapper termcap exec --media-output demo.svg -- python demo.py Quick start
Convert CAST to SVG termcap render demo.cast demo.svg CAST → SVG
Convert CAST directly to GIF termcap render demo.cast demo.gif --format gif CAST → GIF
Convert an existing SVG to GIF termcap svg2gif demo.svg demo.gif SVG → GIF
Inspect every command termcap CLI tree

Shortest workflow

pip install termcap
termcap record demo.cast -g 80x20
termcap render demo.cast demo.svg
termcap render demo.cast demo.gif --format gif

Control blank space

Output dimensions come from the recorded terminal geometry. Use -g 80x12 or another compact size for short demos. TermCap does not automatically remove valid terminal rows because full-screen programs and earlier frames may use them.

Current capabilities

  • asciicast v2 capture and replay
  • exec wrapper for running the original command, saving CAST, optionally rendering SVG/GIF, and propagating the exit code
  • ChatEnv termcap config type for managing default execution-environment entries such as TERMCAP_EXEC_ENV_SCRIPTS
  • ANSI/256-color, wide-character, cursor, and text-style rendering
  • template-based SVG animations and still SVG frames
  • CAST → GIF and SVG → GIF
  • keyframe-first sampling, GIF timing quantization, and speed control
  • packaged built-in templates that work from an installed wheel

See the capability map for implemented boundaries and explicit non-goals.