Markers

Markers are specific time locations in a recording, useful for automation of the playback. asciinema play can use them as breakpoints, while asciinema web player can also use them for navigation and advanced automation.

Adding markers to a recording

Markers can be added to a recording in two ways.

During a recording session, you can add markers in real-time by pressing a configured keyboard shortcut. Set rec.add_marker_key config file option first as there's no default binding at the moment. When a marker is added a desktop notification is displayed.

For existing recordings, you can edit the asciicast file with your favourite editor and insert marker events at desired time locations. See marker events in asciicasts for more information.

Markers as breakpoints

When replaying a recording in a terminal you can use -m/--pause-on-markers flag to enable auto-pause-on-marker behaviour:

asciinema play -m demo.cast

In this mode, when a marker is encountered, the playback automatically pauses and can be resumed by pressing space key (or a shortcut of your choice). The playback continues until the next marker is encountered. When paused, you can also jump to the next marker by pressing ] key (also configurable).

Tip

Breakpoints can be useful in live demos: you can prepare a recording with markers, and have it stop automatically wherever you want to explain terminal contents in more detail.