rec.sh

A small bash script using wf-recorder or wl-screenrec and ffmpeg to record GIFs of your screen.

Usage: rec-sh [OPTIONS...] [FILE]
A simple bash script to record your screen

Use Ctrl+C to stop recording

With no FILE is provided, the output file will be ./rec.gif

Options:

  -r|--region [REGION] [REGION]
  Area that will be passed to wf-recorder -r [REGION] [REGION], if none is passed, the script
  will try to use slurp if it is installed.

  -c|--compress <true|false|1|0> DEFAULT=true
  Use FFmpeg to compress the output file.

  -y DEFAULT=true
  Overwrite output file it exists.

  -v|--verbose
  Increase the logging verbosity level.

  -h|--help
  Show this help screen.

Configs:

  RECSH_RECORDER=<path to recorder binary>
  Command/path to binary of the recorder to be used instead of wf-recorder or wl-screenrec
  in your PATH.

2024 (c) Gustavo "Guz" L. de Mello <contact.guz013@gmail.com>
Licensed under WTFPL license. PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

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Why?

I wanted to stop needing to type something like wf-recorder -g $(slurp) ./temp.mp4 and then going out to the internet to know what FFmpeg magic spell I needed to use to convert the file to a usable GIF. And using OBS Studio is just overkill.

"But why create a package/repository instead of a simple script/alias?" Mostly because I wanted to learn how to package and create a NixOS and Home Manager module/flake. So why not over-engineer this simple bash script y'know? Yes, I wasted an evening doing this, but at least now I know how to create these modules and can package future projects and tools that I make.

Should I use this?

Probably not. This is something that you can create yourself easily, and probably should, maybe you learn something new in the process idk. Also, adding this to your config is another dependency to manage and trust. But if you want to use, probably just copy and paste the script, place somewhere on your system, and create an alias to use it. The code is licensed is public domain under the WTFPL license anyway. And the dependencies are under the dependencies section.

How to use

First, did you read the "Should I use this?" section? Second, again, just copy and paste it, this README.md has literally more lines and bytes than the script itself. Third, if you really want it, here's the process to use it on NixOS using flakes:

Dependencies

• wf-recorder, wl-screenrec, or another command which accepts -g to pass a area geometry and -f to define a video file output. You can set the custom command using the RECSH_RECORDER environment variable.

• ffmpeg to convert the video file into a GIF or the passed file output type.

• Optional: slurp, if -ror --region is passed without any values, the script tries to use slurp to select a area in the screen.

• Wayland, this script is made for wayland compositors, I hope you already noticed that.

Installation

Add the flake

# flake.nix
{
    inputs = {
        rec-sh.url = "git+https://codeberg.org/dot013/rec.sh"
        # Using the GitHub mirror:
        # rec-sh.url = "github:dot013/rec.sh"
    };
    outputs = { nixpkgs, ... }@inputs: {
        # ...
    };
}

Installation methods

Install as a module

NixOS

# configuration.nix
{ inputs, ... }: {
    imports = [
        inputs.rec-sh.nixosModules.rec-sh
    ];

    programs.rec-sh.enable = true;
}

Home Manager

# home.nix
{ inputs, ... }: {
    imports = [
        inputs.rec-sh.homeManagerModules.rec-sh
    ];

    programs.rec-sh.enable = true;
}

Configuration

# configration.nix or home.nix
programs.rec-sh.enable = true; # enables/installs the binary to your PATH

# Path to the recorder binary, default to wf-recorder. Can be null to unset the RECSH_RECORDER variable.
programs.rec-sh.recorder = "${pkgs.wf-recorder}/bin/wf-recorder"

Install as a package

# configuration.nix
{ inputs, pkgs, ... }: {
    environment.systemPackages = [
        inputs.rec-sh.packages.${pkgs.system}.rec-sh
        # or inputs.rec-sh.legacyPackages.${pkgs.system}.rec-sh

        # remember to install pkgs.wf-recorder, pkgs.wl-screenrec or set
        # the RECSH_RECORDER variable manually.
    ];
}

# home.nix
{ inputs, pkgs, ... }: {
    home.packages = [
        inputs.rec-sh.packages.${pkgs.system}.rec-sh
        # or inputs.rec-sh.legacyPackages.${pkgs.system}.rec-sh

        # remember to install pkgs.wf-recorder, pkgs.wl-screenrec or set
        # the RECSH_RECORDER variable manually.
    ];
}

Usage

$ rec-sh [OPTIONS...] [FILE]

By default the script will just run wf-recorder or wl-screenrec depending on who is installed, and transform the resulting video into a GIF called rec.gif in the current working directory.

All the available options are available using the -h or --help option and documented on the top of this file.

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2024 © Gustavo "Guz" L. de Mello <contact.guz013@gmail.com> Licensed under WTFPL license.

PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.