Pure Cinema

A Visual Studio Code extension that provides terminal recording capabilities similar to asciinema, but integrated directly into VS Code. 100% local and private - no data leaves your machine.

Features

• 🎬 Record terminal sessions from within VS Code
• 💾 Compact file format (.pcr) for efficient storage
• 📋 Text copyability - viewers can copy text from recordings
• ✂️ Edit recordings - trim timeline and adjust dimensions
• 🚀 Export & Share - web-compatible formats with social sharing
• 🌐 Cross-platform compatibility - works on all VS Code supported platforms
• 🔒 100% Private - all data stays on your local machine
• 🚫 No network requests - works completely offline
• ✅ Open source - full code transparency

Usage

Recording a Terminal Session

1. Open a terminal in VS Code
2. Right-click in the terminal and select "Pure Cinema: Start Recording"
3. Perform your terminal actions
4. Right-click and select "Pure Cinema: Stop Recording" when finished
5. Choose where to save your recording (.pcr file)

Playing a Recording

1. Use the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Run "Pure Cinema: Play Recording"
3. Select a .pcr file to play
4. Use the player controls to play, pause, or seek through the recording
5. Click "Copy All" to copy the entire terminal output

Editing a Recording

1. Use the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Run "Pure Cinema: Edit Recording"
3. Select a .pcr file to edit
4. Adjust dimensions (width/height in characters)
5. Trim timeline (set start/end points in seconds)
6. Preview changes or save directly

Exporting & Sharing

1. Use the command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Run "Pure Cinema: Export & Share Recording"
3. Select a .pcr file to export
4. Choose format (HTML, JSON, GIF*, MP4*)
5. Configure theme and playback options
6. Export file or use quick-share buttons for social platforms

*GIF and MP4 export coming soon

Commands

• pure-cinema.startRecording - Start recording the active terminal
• pure-cinema.stopRecording - Stop the current recording
• pure-cinema.playRecording - Play a saved recording
• pure-cinema.editRecording - Edit an existing recording
• pure-cinema.exportRecording - Export & share recordings in web formats

File Format

Pure Cinema recordings are saved as JSON files with the .pcr extension containing:

• Recording metadata (start/end time, terminal info)
• Frame-by-frame terminal output with timestamps
• Input/output differentiation

Development

To run the extension in development mode:

1. Install dependencies: npm install
2. Compile TypeScript: npm run compile
3. Press F5 to launch a new VS Code window with the extension loaded

Privacy & Security

Pure Cinema is designed with privacy as the top priority:

• Local only: All recordings stored on your machine
• No data collection: We don't track or collect any user data
• No network access: Extension operates entirely offline
• Open source: Full code available for security audit
• User control: You choose when to record and where to save files

See PRIVACY.md and SECURITY.md for detailed information.

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.74.0 or higher

Contributing

This is an open source project. Contributions are welcome via GitHub pull requests.

License

MIT - See LICENSE file for details