asciinema-play(1)

NAME
asciinema-play - Play back a terminal session

SYNOPSIS
asciinema play [-s|--speed] [-l|--loop] [-i|--idle-time-limit] [-m|--pause-on-markers] [-r|--resize] [-q|--quiet] [-h|--help] <FILE>

DESCRIPTION
Play back a recorded terminal session.

Displays a previously recorded asciicast file in your terminal with various playback controls (see below). Supports local files and remote URLs.

Press <ctrl+c> to interrupt the playback. Press <space> to pause/resume. Press '.' to step forward (while paused). Press ']' to skip to the next marker (while paused).

OPTIONS

-s, --speed=SPEED
    Control the playback speed as a multiplier of the original timing. Values greater than 1.0 make playback faster, while values less than 1.0 make it slower. For example, --speed 2.0 plays at double speed, while --speed 0.5 plays at half speed. The default is 1.0 (original speed). Can also be set via the config file option playback.speed.

-l, --loop
    Enable continuous looping of the recording. When the recording reaches the end, it will automatically restart from the beginning. This continues indefinitely until you interrupt playback with <ctrl+c>.

-i, --idle-time-limit=SECS
    Limit the maximum idle time between events during playback to the specified number of seconds. Long pauses in the original recording (such as when the user stepped away) will be shortened to this duration, making playback more watchable. This overrides any idle time limit set in the recording itself or in your config file (playback.idle_time_limit).

-m, --pause-on-markers
    Automatically pause playback when encountering marker events. Markers are special events that can be added during recording to mark important points in a session. When this option is enabled, playback will pause at each marker, allowing you to control the flow of the demonstration. Use <space> to resume, '.' to step through events, or ']' to skip to the next marker.

-r, --resize
    Automatically resize the terminal window to match the original recording dimensions. This option attempts to change your terminal size to match the size used when the recording was made, ensuring the output appears exactly as it was originally recorded. Note that this feature is only supported by some terminals and may not work in all environments.

-q, --quiet
    Suppress diagnostic messages and progress indicators. Only error messages will be displayed.

-h, --help
    Print help (see a summary with '-h')

<FILE>
    The path to an asciicast file or HTTP(S) URL to play back. Can be a local file path, HTTP(S) URL for remote files, or '-' to read from standard input. Remote URLs allow playing recordings directly from the web without need for manual downloading. Supported formats include asciicast v1, v2, and v3

EXTRA
Examples:
  asciinema play demo.cast
      Plays back a local recording file once
  asciinema play --speed 2.0 --loop demo.cast
      Plays back at double speed in a loop
  asciinema play --idle-time-limit 2 demo.cast
      Plays back with idle time capped at 2 seconds
  asciinema play https://asciinema.org/a/569727
      Plays back directly from a URL
  asciinema play --pause-on-markers demo.cast
      Plays back, pausing automatically at every marker