autoscript

File management for script(1).

script makes a typescript (recording) of everything displayed on your terminal.

autoscript manages files created by script, allowing the user to list, delete and resume recordings. autoscript also attaches some data along the created typescripts, like the current date or a user-specified message.

Requirements

• On GNU/Linux, autoscript requires Bash, and the script and scriptreplay commands.
• On macOS, autoscript requires Bash and only the script command.

Installation

1. Check out autoscript into a directory. In the following example, ~/.autoscript is used:

$ git clone https://github.com/federicotdn/autoscript.git ~/.autoscript

2. Add the autoscript executable to your $PATH, by adding a new line to your Bash configuration file:

$ echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.autoscript/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc # on GNU/Linux

$ echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.autoscript/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bash_profile # on macOS

3. Load your Bash configuration file:

$ source ~/.bashrc # on GNU/Linux

$ source ~/.bash_profile # on macOS

Usage

Once autoscript is installed, you can start recording a terminal session using the record command. Once a session has started, it can be stopped using the exit shell builtin:

$ autoscript record -m "github tutorial"
This session is being recorded by autoscript.
Script file: /home/me/.config/autoscript/3.typescript
Use 'exit' to stop recording.

$ echo "All output to the terminal will be recorded"
All output to the terminal will be recorded

$ exit # Exit the current session

After a session has been recorded, it'll show up in the sessions list:

$ autoscript list
 ID    DATE                 MESSAGE
 1     2018-04-13 14:58     -
 2     2018-04-14 20:01     -
 3     2018-04-18 11:04     github tutorial

To replay a recorded session, use the replay command, specifying the session ID:

$ autoscript replay -i 3
Script started on 2018-04-18 11:04:53

$ echo "All output to the terminal will be recorded"
All output to the terminal will be recorded

$ exit

Script done on 2018-04-18 11:05:51

To resume a stopped session, use the resume command:

$ autoscript resume -i 3
$ # Continue working inside session 3...

The context command will return an ID only when inside an autoscript session:

$ autoscript context
3

Finally, the delete command can be used to delete a stopped session:

$ autoscript delete -i 1 # Delete session with ID 1
$ autoscript list
 ID       DATE                 MESSAGE
 2        2018-04-14 20:01     -
 3 (r)    2018-04-18 11:04     github tutorial

Note that the list command will show a (r) next to the IDs of sessions that are currently being recorded.

Tips

Using junegunn's fzf, one can easily search for text in a previousy recorded session:

$ autoscript replay -i 3 -a | fzf --reverse

The -a flag removes ANSI escape sequences from the recorded script.

Uninstalling

To uninstall autoscript, delete the application directory (default: ~/.autoscript), and the configuration directory (default: ~/.config/autoscript). Finally, remove the $PATH entry that was added to .bashrc or .bash_profile.

Todo

• Add more scripts metadata
• Script compression
• Bash tab completion