terminal-screenshots-recordings-with-vhs

name: Terminal Screenshots & Recordings with VHS description: Generate terminal screenshots and animated GIFs/videos using VHS from Charmbracelet.

Terminal Screenshots & Recordings with VHS

Generate terminal screenshots and animated GIFs/videos using VHS from Charmbracelet.

When to Use This Skill

Creating terminal screenshots for documentation
Recording animated GIFs of CLI demos
Generating video tutorials for command-line tools
Producing consistent, reproducible terminal visuals
Integration testing with golden file comparisons

Prerequisites

Check Installation


# Check if vhs is installed

which vhs && vhs --version



# Check dependencies

which ttyd && which ffmpeg

Installation

Recommended: Homebrew (macOS/Linux)


brew install vhs

This installs VHS with all required dependencies (ttyd, ffmpeg).

Other methods:


# 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

sudo dnf install vhs ffmpeg

# Also install ttyd: https://github.com/tsl0922/ttyd/releases



# Arch Linux

pacman -S vhs



# Docker (includes all dependencies)

docker run --rm -v $PWD:/vhs ghcr.io/charmbracelet/vhs <cassette>.tape

Basic Usage

1. Create a Tape File


vhs new demo.tape

2. Edit the Tape File

Tape files are simple scripts that describe what to type and capture.

3. Run VHS


vhs demo.tape

Tape File Syntax

Output Formats


Output demo.gif          # Animated GIF

Output demo.mp4          # Video file

Output demo.webm         # WebM video

Output frames/           # PNG sequence (directory)

You can specify multiple outputs in one tape file.

Settings (Must Be at Top)


# Terminal dimensions

Set Width 1200

Set Height 600



# Font settings

Set FontSize 22

Set FontFamily "JetBrains Mono"



# Appearance

Set Theme "Catppuccin Mocha"

Set Padding 20

Set Margin 20

Set MarginFill "#1e1e2e"

Set BorderRadius 10

Set WindowBar Colorful



# Behavior

Set Shell "bash"

Set TypingSpeed 50ms

Set Framerate 30

Set CursorBlink false

Common Themes

Run vhs themes to see all available themes. Popular ones:

Catppuccin Mocha, Catppuccin Frappe
Dracula
Tokyo Night
Nord
One Dark

Commands

| Command | Description | Example |

|---------|-------------|---------|

| Type "text" | Type characters | Type "echo hello" |

| Type@500ms "text" | Type slowly | Type@500ms "important" |

| Enter | Press Enter | Enter |

| Enter 2 | Press Enter twice | Enter 2 |

| Sleep 1s | Wait duration | Sleep 500ms |

| Backspace | Delete character | Backspace 5 |

| Tab | Press Tab | Tab |

| Space | Press Space | Space |

| Ctrl+C | Control sequences | Ctrl+L |

| Up/Down/Left/Right | Arrow keys | Up 3 |

| Hide | Stop recording frames | Hide |

| Show | Resume recording | Show |

| Screenshot file.png | Capture current frame | Screenshot out.png |

| Wait /regex/ | Wait for text to appear | Wait /\$\s*$/ |

| Env KEY "value" | Set environment variable | Env PS1 "$ " |

| Require program | Fail if program missing | Require git |

| Source file.tape | Include another tape | Source setup.tape |

Escaping Quotes

Use backticks to escape quotes:


Type `echo "hello world"`

Type `VAR='value'`

Examples

Static Screenshot


Output screenshot.png



Set Width 800

Set Height 400

Set FontSize 18

Set Theme "Catppuccin Mocha"

Set Padding 20



# Hide setup

Hide

Type "clear"

Enter

Show



# The actual content

Type "ls -la"

Enter

Sleep 500ms



Screenshot screenshot.png

Animated Demo GIF


Output demo.gif



Set Width 1000

Set Height 500

Set FontSize 20

Set Theme "Dracula"

Set TypingSpeed 50ms

Set Padding 20

Set WindowBar Colorful



# Clean start

Hide

Type "clear"

Enter

Show



# Demo sequence

Type "echo 'Hello from VHS!'"

Sleep 300ms

Enter

Sleep 1s



Type "date"

Enter

Sleep 1s



Type "echo 'That was easy!'"

Enter

Sleep 2s

MP4 Video with Clean Prompt


Output tutorial.mp4



Set Width 1200

Set Height 600

Set FontSize 24

Set Theme "Tokyo Night"

Set Shell "bash"

Set Framerate 30



# Set a clean, minimal prompt

Hide

Env PS1 "$ "

Type "clear"

Enter

Show



Type "# Welcome to the tutorial"

Enter

Sleep 1s



Type "git status"

Enter

Sleep 2s



Type "git log --oneline -5"

Enter

Sleep 3s

Tips for Clean Output

1. Hide Setup/Cleanup


# Setup (hidden)

Hide

Type "cd ~/project && clear"

Enter

Show



# Your demo here...



# Cleanup (hidden)

Hide

Type "cd - && rm temp-files"

Enter

2. Use a Simple Prompt


Hide

Env PS1 "$ "

Type "clear"

Enter

Show

3. Control Timing

Use Sleep liberally for readability
Sleep 500ms after typing, before Enter
Sleep 1s to 2s after command output
End with Sleep 2s or more for the final frame

4. Typing Speed


# Default speed for setup

Set TypingSpeed 10ms



# Slow down for important parts

Type@100ms "Important command here"

5. Wait for Output


Type "npm install"

Enter

Wait /added \d+ packages/  # Wait for completion message

Sleep 1s

6. Screenshot at Key Moments


Type "make build"

Enter

Wait /Build complete/

Screenshot build-success.png

Workflow for Documentation

Plan your demo sequence
Create a .tape file with settings
Test with vhs demo.tape (generates output)
Iterate - adjust timing, dimensions, theme
Commit both the .tape file and output to your repo

Recording Real Sessions

You can record your terminal and generate a tape file:


vhs record > session.tape

Then edit the generated tape file to clean it up.

File Reference

See example tape files in this skill directory:

basic-screenshot.tape - Simple static screenshot
demo-recording.tape - Animated GIF demo

name: Terminal Screenshots & Recordings with VHS description: Generate terminal screenshots and animated GIFs/videos using VHS from Charmbracelet.