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Introduction

cli-screencast is an easy to use Node.js package designed to capture and render terminal screenshots and recordings to SVG or PNG formats.

Features:

  • Capture terminal recordings from a variety of sources like spawned processes, shell sessions, and Node.js code.
  • Generate clean, high-resolution SVG or PNG images of the captured terminal output.
  • Customize rendering to fine-tune the look and feel of your terminal output, adjusting colors, fonts, and other visual elements.

Installation​

Install the module using your Node.js package manager of choice:

npm install cli-screencast

Usage​

The package exports six key functions:

renderScreen()
Renders a single-frame terminal screenshot - ideal for capturing the state of the terminal at a specific point in time.
captureSpawn()
Records the output of a spawned subprocess - ideal for showcasing CLI tools.
captureShell()
Launches and records an entire shell session, capturing everything that occurs within the shell - ideal for creating tutorials or demos.
captureCallback()
Captures terminal output within a callback function, giving you fine-grained control over what output to capture.
captureFrames()
Renders a recording from an array of terminal frames - ideal for when you need to control the content and timing of each frame in a capture.
renderData()
Renders either a screenshot or a full recording from a data file generated by one of the other api methods.