winget install --id=arika0093.console2svg -e Easily convert terminal output into SVG images. Truecolor, animation, cropping and many appearance options are supported.
Easily convert terminal output into SVG images.
Truecolor, animation, cropping and many appearance options are supported.
> Of course, this hero image is generated using console2svg itself.
Console screenshots in raster formats (PNG, etc.) often make text look blurry. console2svg converts console output into vector SVG images so you can save your terminal as a crisp, scalable image.
For example, let's open this image in your browser and zoom in — the text remains sharp at any scale 👀
There are similar tools, but console2svg stands out for:
ffmpeg and resvg, it can output not only SVG but also various formats such as PNG, MP4, GIF, etc.The simplest way to use it is to put the command you want to run after console2svg capture --. For example, the following command converts the description text of console2svg into SVG (oh, how meta).
console2svg capture -- console2svg
You can also generate SVG with a window frame. and some options to customize the appearance.
For example, -w specifies the width, -c is an option to display the command at the beginning of the output, and -d is an option to specify the style of the window frame, where we specify a macOS-like frame. If the command is long, you can also write it together after --.
console2svg capture -w 100 -c -d macos-pc -- fastfetch
In video mode(-v), you can capture the animation of the command execution and save it as an SVG.
By using the replay feature, you can save the command execution record and later regenerate the SVG based on that record.
console2svg -w 40 -h 10 -v -d windows --timeout 7 -- /usr/games/pipes -t 1 -f 35
With console2svg interactive, you can run your normal interactive shell in a PTY and capture its current screen on demand. Press F10 to write a static SVG, or F9 to start recording from the exact current terminal state.
console2svg interactive -d macos -o ./captures/output.svg
# -> saves ./captures/output_yyyyMMdd_HHmmss.svg
By starting a Live Server, you can also display the terminal in a browser. This is mainly useful for streaming.
console2svg live-server -d --background your-bg.png
# -> Live terminal: http://127.0.0.1:38473/
The easiest way is the install script.
curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arika0093/console2svg/main/install.sh | bash
You can also install via package managers.
# npm global package (Windows / Linux / macOS)
npm install -g console2svg
You can also install from the release archives manually, or use the .deb / .rpm packages on Linux.
# ubuntu
curl -sSL https://github.com/arika0093/console2svg/releases/latest/download/console2svg.amd64.deb -o console2svg.deb
dpkg -i console2svg.deb
# Linux
curl -sSL https://github.com/arika0093/console2svg/releases/latest/download/console2svg.linux-x64.tar.gz -o console2svg.tar.gz
tar -xzf console2svg.tar.gz
chmod +x console2svg
The easiest way is to use winget or npm.
# Windows Package Manager (WinGet)
winget install arika0093.console2svg
# npm global package (Windows / Linux / macOS)
npm install -g console2svg
Installations made from a release archive or install.sh can check for and install the latest
release:
console2svg update --check
console2svg update
The update command asks for confirmation before replacing files. Use --yes in automation.
Installations managed by npm, winget, apt, or dnf/rpm are left to their package manager and
display the corresponding update command instead.
A convenient GitHub Action is also available for use in CI. To use the latest version of console2svg, simply add the following step to your workflow:
- uses: arika0093/console2svg@main
Example usage in GitHub Actions
Full workflow example that generates an SVG and commits it back:
jobs:
gen:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
permissions:
contents: write
steps:
- name: Checkout
uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Setup console2svg
uses: arika0093/console2svg@main
- name: Generate SVG
run: console2svg capture -w 120 -c -d macos-pc -o output.svg -- dotnet --version
- name: Commit Changes
uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v7
with:
commit_message: "[skip-ci] chore: regenerate SVG"
CI environment variables override
Some libraries (for example chalk) detect CI environments and automatically disable color output. However, when generating SVGs you always want color enabled. Therefore, console2svg automatically sets and removes the following environment variables by default:
TERM=xterm-256color: set to enable color support.COLORTERM=truecolor: enable TrueColor output.FORCE_COLOR=3: same; 3 indicates TrueColor.CI (deleted): removed because some libraries disable color when they detect a CI environment.TF_BUILD (deleted): removed for the same reason (used by Azure Pipelines).To disable this behavior, use the --no-colorenv and --no-delete-envs options.
> [!TIP]
> This repository uses this action itself to automatically regenerate all the SVG images in the docs/assets/ directory whenever a new release is published.
console2svg capture "git log --oneline"
# or
console2svg capture -- git log --oneline
If you want to set a fixed width and height, you can use the -w and -h options.
console2svg capture -w 120 -h 20 -- git log --oneline
Run your normal interactive shell in a PTY and capture its current screen on demand.
On Unix, console2svg uses $SHELL; on Windows, it uses the system command shell.
The shell's output is forwarded live to your terminal. Press F10 to write a
static SVG; the capture notification is printed by the host and is not sent to the shell.
console2svg interactive -o ./captures/output.svg
# -> writes ./captures/output_yyyyMMdd_HHmmss.svg (image)
Press F9 to start recording from the exact current terminal state, F12 to pause or resume it, then F9 again to save the recording. Output and elapsed time while paused are excluded from the recording.
The output format controls whether the capture is written as animated SVG or converted to the requested video format.
console2svg interactive -o ./captures/session.svg
# -> writes ./captures/session_yyyyMMdd_HHmmss.svg (animation)
You can crop the output by specifying the number of pixels or characters to crop from each side.
# ch: character width, px: pixel
console2svg capture --crop-top 1ch --crop-left 5px --crop-right 30px -- your-command
You can also crop at the position where a specific character appears.
When specifying a character, you can specify it like :(number), which crops at a relative position from the detected line.
For example, the following example crops from the line where the character Host is located to 2 lines above the line where the character .NET runtimes installed: is located.
console2svg capture --crop-top "Host" --crop-bottom ".NET runtimes installed:-2" -- dotnet --info
The result will look like this.
use -m video or -v to capture the animation of the command execution and save it as an SVG.
# apt install sl
console2svg capture -c -d -v -- sl
You can specify the --timeout option to output SVG after a certain time has elapsed.
This is useful for converting commands that do not terminate, such as nyancat, into SVG.
There is also a --sleep option to specify the stop time after playback. This allows you to display the last frame for a specified time after the command execution is finished.
# apt install nyancat
console2svg capture -w 160 -h 32 -c -d -v --timeout 5 --sleep 0.5 -- nyancat -d 10
You can also write sequential SVG files starting with frame-0000.svg to a specific folder.
This is useful for cherry-picking your favorite frames or converting them into a video using software like ffmpeg.
# apt install cmatrix
console2svg capture -c -d -v --timeout 5 --fps 30 --save-frames ./frames-dir -- cmatrix -ab
You can also save the command execution record and later regenerate the SVG based on that record.
To save the record, use the --replay-save option to save the command execution.
console2svg capture --replay-save ./replay.json -- bash
# save key inputs to replay.json
Then, generate the SVG based on the saved key input. By using this feature, you can generate an SVG that records terminal operations as shown below.
console2svg replay ./replay.json -w 80 -h 20 -v -c -d macos -- bash
The replay file is in a simple JSON format. If you make a mistake in the input, you can directly edit this file (or of course, you can ask AI to fix it for you).
Replay file format
// replay.json
{
"version": "1",
"appVersion": "0.4.0.2+17cc95284e",
"createdAt": "2026-03-01T06:52:43.3615812+00:00",
// If more than 1 second has passed from the total time,
// it will exit with an error as a timeout.
"totalDuration": 10.9530099,
"replay": [
{
// first event: absolute time from recording start (seconds)
"time": 1.5,
"key": "e",
"modifiers": [],
"type": "keydown"
},
{
// subsequent events: delta from the previous event (seconds)
"tick": 0.08,
"key": "c",
"modifiers": ["shift"],
"type": "keydown"
},
// and so on...
]
}
In v0.8 and later, you can specify the output format based on the file extension specified with -o output.mp4.
First, install ffmpeg. Release archives on Windows already include it. On Linux,
install it with your distribution's package manager; on macOS, use Homebrew:
# ubuntu
sudo apt install ffmpeg
# macos
brew install ffmpeg
# windows
# > ffmpeg is included in console2svg-win-x64.zip
Then, you can specify the output file with the desired extension. For example, to convert an animated command to any format, you can use the following command:
# apt install cmatrix
console2svg capture -o ./output.gif -w 100 -h 24 -v -c -d macos-pc --timeout 5 --fps 30 -- cmatrix -ab
You can also output as MP4, WebM, or a static PNG/JPG by changing the extension.
You can set the background color or image of the output SVG, and adjust the opacity of the background fill.
console2svg capture -h 10 -c -d macos-pc --background "#003060" --opacity 0.85 -- dotnet --version
You can also set a gradient background.
console2svg capture -h 10 -c -d macos-pc --background "#004060" "#0080c0" --opacity 0.85 -- dotnet --version
Image background is also supported.
console2svg capture -h 10 -c -d macos-pc --background image.png --opacity 0.85 -- dotnet --version
You can customize the appearance with various options.
For example, in the following example, the prompt (the string displayed at the beginning) is changed to [HELLO!] $,
the command header is changed to my-custom-header, and the text color is changed to #00f040.
console2svg capture -h 4 --prompt "[HELLO!] $" --header "my-custom-header" --forecolor "#00f040" --backcolor "#042515" -- echo "hi"
![console2svg capture -h 4 --prompt "[HELLO!] $" --header "my-custom-header" --forecolor "#00f040" --backcolor "#042515" -- echo "hi"](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arika0093/console2svg/main/./docs/assets/cmd-term-custom.svg)
-d option allows you to specify the style of the window frame.
| Image | Style(-d) | Description |
|---|---|---|
 | none | no window frame |
 | transparent | transparent background (text-only output) |
 | macos | macOS style window frame |
 | windows | Windows Terminal style window frame |
*-pc styles are designed for use with a background, and include padding and shadows to create a "window" effect. You can customize the spacing between the window chrome and shell with --margin, the terminal's inner spacing with --padding, and the desktop padding with --pc-padding.
| Image | Style(-d) |
|---|---|
 | macos-pc |
 | windows-pc |
tmuxBy combining with tmux, you can save the step-by-step execution process of commands as SVG images.
The tmux workflow is available on Linux and macOS; on Windows, run console2svg inside WSL.
First, open tmux. If it's not installed, install it using apt install tmux or brew install tmux, etc.
tmux
Execute commands in the default window (:0).
$ echo "say hello"
$ echo "say goodbye"
After completing the command execution you want to record, open a new window with ctrl+b c. Then, run console2svg tmux capture and choose the pane you want to save.
# -h 12: set the height of the output SVG to 12 lines (adjust as needed)
console2svg tmux capture -h 12 -o capture-$(date +%s).svg
Recording and replaying tmux usage
With the power of console2svg, you can even record and explain how to use console2svg itself :)
tmux capture-pane result example
Then repeat the workflow: press ctrl+b p to return to the original window, work on your commands, press ctrl+b n to switch to the SVG capture pane, and run the console2svg command. This allows you to progressively save the command execution process as SVG images.
Of course, you can also save all lines (useful for evidence) with --history. Use --history= to include a specific number of recent history lines.
console2svg tmux capture --target :0 --history -o full-capture-$(date +%s).svg
Use -v to repeatedly capture a tmux pane as an animated SVG. The pane is selected interactively unless you specify --target. The command runs at the interval specified by --fps until you stop it with Ctrl+C.
console2svg tmux capture -v --fps 2 -o tmux.svg
To serve a tmux pane in a browser, run a live server in another terminal window. It polls the pane at --fps and does not forward tmux output to the server terminal.
console2svg tmux live-server --target :0 --fps 2
# -> Live terminal: http://127.0.0.1:38473/
ConPTY)-o: Output SVG file path (default: output.svg)-c: Prepend the command line to the output as if typed in a terminal.-w: width of the output SVG (default: terminal width)-h: height of the output SVG (default: terminal height)-v: output to video mode SVG (animated, looped by default)-i: interactive mode (run a shell in a PTY and capture the current screen on demand)-d: window chrome style (none, macos, windows, macos-pc, windows-pc, transparent, ...)--background: background color or image for the output SVG--forecolor: override default console foreground color--header: override command header text (shown even without -c)--prompt: override prompt prefix for -c (default: $ or # when root)--verbose: enable verbose logging--crop-*: crop the output by specified pixels, characters, or text patterns