Session Recording
OxideTerm can record your terminal sessions to asciicast v2 (.cast) files — the open standard used by asciinema. Recordings capture every character of output with accurate timestamps, letting you replay sessions frame-by-frame or share them with teammates.
Starting a Recording
Section titled “Starting a Recording”Click the record button (⏺) in the terminal toolbar, or use the command palette (⌘K → “Record Session”).
The recording starts immediately. The toolbar shows:
- REC indicator (red dot) while recording
- Elapsed time — running clock of the recording duration
- Event count — number of captured output events
Controlling the Recording
Section titled “Controlling the Recording”| Action | Button / Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Pause | Click ⏸ in toolbar |
| Resume | Click ▶ while paused (shows “PAUSED” indicator) |
| Stop & Save | Click ⏹ — prompts to save or discard |
| Discard | Choose “Discard” in the stop dialog — cannot be undone |
When you stop, OxideTerm shows a confirmation dialog:
- Save — opens a file picker to choose where to save the
.castfile - Discard — immediately deletes the in-memory recording
Cast Player
Section titled “Cast Player”After saving, click Open Cast File to open it in the built-in player. You can also open any .cast file from the File Manager.
Player Controls
Section titled “Player Controls”| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Play / Pause | Start or pause playback |
| Seek bar | Drag to jump to any point in the recording |
| Speed | Adjust playback speed (0.25× / 0.5× / 1× / 2× / 5×) |
| Skip silence | Auto-skip long idle periods with no output |
| Duration | Total recording length |
| Dimensions | Terminal grid size at time of recording (e.g., 220×55) |
Search in Recording
Section titled “Search in Recording”Type in the search box to find text in the recording:
- Shows match count (e.g., “12 matches”)
- Use Jump to match to seek to each occurrence
- Useful for locating specific commands or error messages in long recordings
The player pre-builds snapshots for instant seeking — a “Building snapshots…” indicator shows during the indexing phase for long recordings.
asciicast v2 Format
Section titled “asciicast v2 Format”.cast files are plain JSON — one JSON object per line (JSON Lines format):
{"version": 2, "width": 220, "height": 55, "timestamp": 1711700000, "env": {"TERM": "xterm-256color"}}[0.123, "o", "$ ls -la\r\n"][0.456, "o", "total 48\r\ndrwxr-xr-x 5 user group ..."]This format is compatible with:
- asciinema.org — upload and share online
- asciinema-player — embed in web pages or README files
asciinema playCLI — play back in your local terminal
Privacy & Security
Section titled “Privacy & Security”The recording is stored only on your local machine in the path you choose. OxideTerm never uploads or transmits recording data anywhere.