vhs

VHS Write terminal GIFs as code for integration testing and demoing your CLI tools. The above example was generated with VHS (view source). Tutorial To get started, install VHS and create a new .tape file. vhs new demo.tape Open the .tape file with your favorite $EDITOR. vim demo.tape Tape files consist of a series of commands. The commands are instructions for VHS to perform on its virtual terminal. For a list of all possible commands see the command reference. # Where should we write the GIF? Output demo.gif # Set up a 1200x600 terminal with 46px font. Set FontSize 46 Set Width 1200 Set Height 600 # Type a command in the terminal. Type "echo 'Welcome to VHS!'" # Pause for dramatic effect... Sleep 500ms # Run the command by pressing enter. Enter # Admire the output for a bit. Sleep 5s Once you've finished, save the file and feed it into VHS. vhs demo.tape All done! You should see a new file called demo.gif (or whatever you named the Output) in the directory. For more examples see the examples/ directory. Installation NoteVHS requires ttyd and ffmpeg to be installed and available on your PATH. Use a package manager: # macOS or Linux brew install vhs # Arch Linux (btw) pacman -S vhs # Nix nix-env -iA nixpkgs.vhs # Windows using scoop scoop install vhs Or, use Docker to run VHS directly, dependencies included: docker run --rm -v $PWD:/vhs ghcr.io/charmbracelet/vhs <cassette>.tape Or, download it: Packages are available in Debian and RPM formats Binaries are available for Linux, macOS, and Windows Or, just install it with go: go install github.com/charmbracelet/vhs@latest Windows, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, RHEL, Void Instructions Debian / Ubuntu # Debian/Ubuntu sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings curl -fsSL https://repo.charm.sh/apt/gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/charm.gpg echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/charm.gpg] https://repo.charm.sh/apt/ * *" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/charm.list # Install ttyd from https://github.com/tsl0922/ttyd/releases sudo apt update && sudo apt install vhs ffmpeg Fedora / RHEL echo '[charm] name=Charm baseurl=https://repo.charm.sh/yum/ enabled=1 gpgcheck=1 gpgkey=https://repo.charm.sh/yum/gpg.key' | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/charm.repo # Install ttyd from https://github.com/tsl0922/ttyd/releases sudo yum install vhs ffmpeg Void sudo xbps-install vhs Windows winget install charmbracelet.vhs # or scoop scoop install vhs Record Tapes VHS has the ability to generate tape files from your terminal actions! To record to a tape file, run: vhs record > cassette.tape Perform any actions you want and then exit the terminal session to stop recording. You may want to manually edit the generated .tape file to add settings or modify actions. Then, you can generate the GIF: vhs cassette.tape Publish Tapes VHS allows you to publish your GIFs to our servers for easy sharing with your friends and colleagues. Specify which file you want to share, then use the publish sub-command to host it on vhs.charm.sh. The output will provide you with links to share your GIF via browser, HTML, and Markdown. vhs publish demo.gif The VHS Server VHS has an SSH server built in! When you self-host VHS you can access it as though it were installed locally. VHS will have access to commands and applications on the host, so you don't need to install them on your machine. To start the server run: vhs serve Configuration Options VHS_PORT: The port to listen on (1976) VHS_HOST: The host to listen on (localhost) VHS_GID: The Group ID to run the server as (current user's GID) VHS_UID: The User ID to run the server as (current user's UID) VHS_KEY_PATH: The path to the SSH key to use (.ssh/vhs_ed25519) VHS_AUTHORIZED_KEYS_PATH: The path to the authorized keys file (empty, publicly accessible) Then, simply access VHS from a different machine via ssh: ssh vhs.example.com < demo.tape > demo.gif VHS Command Reference NoteYou can view all VHS documentation on the command line with vhs manual. There are a few basic types of VHS commands: Output <path>: specify file output Require <program>: specify required programs for tape file Set <Setting> Value: set recording settings Type "<characters>": emulate typing Left Right Up Down: arrow keys Backspace Enter Tab Space: special keys ScrollUp ScrollDown: scroll terminal viewport Ctrl[+Alt][+Shift]+<char>: press control + key and/or modifier Sleep <time>: wait for a certain amount of time Wait[+Screen][+Line] /regex/: wait for specific conditions Hide: hide commands from output Show: stop hiding commands from output Screenshot: screenshot the current frame Copy/Paste: copy and paste text from clipboard. Source: source commands from another tape Env <Key> Value: set environment variables Output The Output command allows you to specify the location and file format of the render. You can specify more than one output in a tape file which will render them to the respective locations. Output out.gif Output out.mp4 Output out.webm Output frames/ # a directory of frames as a PNG sequence Require The Require command allows you to specify dependencies for your tape file. These are useful to fail early if a required program is missing from the $PATH, and it is certain that the VHS execution will not work as expected. Require commands must be defined at the top of a tape file, before any non- setting or non-output command. # A tape file that requires gum and glow to be in the $PATH Require gum Require glow Settings The Set command allows you to change global aspects of the terminal, such as the font settings, window dimensions, and GIF output location. Setting must be administered at the top of the tape file. Any setting (except TypingSpeed) applied after a non-setting or non-output command will be ignored. Set Shell Set the shell with the Set Shell <shell> command Set Shell fish Set Font Size Set the font size with the Set FontSize <number> command. Set FontSize 10 Set FontSize 20 Set FontSize 40