asciinema-player_skill

Overview

This skill plays .cast terminal recordings in a dedicated iTerm2 window with full playback controls and minimal memory use. It opens a clean iTerm2 window (bypassing saved arrangements) for distraction-free viewing and is designed for macOS users who need reliable playback of large recordings.

How this skill works

The skill runs mandatory preflight checks for iTerm2 and the asciinema CLI, discovers .cast files, and gathers file metadata. It prompts the user at each decision point for file selection and playback settings, constructs an asciinema play command with chosen flags, and uses AppleScript to open a fresh iTerm2 window and run the command. Playback controls and tips are shown after launch.

When to use it

• You have .cast recordings and prefer native terminal playback over a browser
• Reviewing very large recordings (>100MB) that crash browser players
• Demoing terminal sessions with pause/marker control
• Quickly skim or deeply review long sessions with speed multipliers
• When you want a clean iTerm2 window without saved layout interference

Best practices

• Run preflight checks and install missing dependencies via the provided prompts before proceeding
• Use discovery step to inspect file size and event count before playing large files
• Choose higher speeds (6x or 16x) and enable idle-time limiting for very long recordings
• Use loop, resize, and marker options deliberately—enable only what you need to avoid distractions
• Grant iTerm2 automation permissions in System Settings if AppleScript fails

Example use cases

• Play a recent demo recording to prepare for a presentation without browser memory issues
• Scan through a 700MB troubleshooting session at 16x speed and limit idle gaps
• Review recordings with markers, auto-pausing at key moments for step-by-step review
• Open a clean iTerm2 window to replay a colleague’s session during a code review meeting
• Stream a long capture from disk to avoid browser crashes when validating logs