CLI Demo GIF Generator

Prerequisites

brew install vhs

Usage

1. Create tape file

docs/demo/

mkdir -p docs/demo

2. Tape file structure

# Description comment
Output docs/demo/demo.gif

Set Shell "bash"
Set FontSize 16
Set Width 900
Set Height 500
Set Padding 20
Set Theme "Catppuccin Mocha"
Set TypingSpeed 50ms

# Commands here
Type "command --help"
Enter
Sleep 2s

3. For unpublished CLI packages

# Set up alias without showing it
Hide
Type "alias mycli='bun run src/cli/index.ts'"
Enter
Sleep 500ms
Show

# Now show the demo with clean commands
Type "mycli --help"
Enter
Sleep 2s

4. Generate GIF

vhs docs/demo/cli.tape

Tape Commands Reference

Output <path>

Set Shell "bash"

Set FontSize <n>

Set Width <n>

Set Height <n>

Set Padding <n>

Set Theme "<name>"

Set TypingSpeed <duration>

Type "<text>"

Enter

Sleep <duration>

Hide

Show

Ctrl+C

Recommended Themes

• Catppuccin Mocha

  - dark, modern

• Dracula

  - dark purple

• Tokyo Night

  - dark blue

• One Dark

  - dark

• GitHub Dark

  - GitHub's dark theme

Tips

• Keep GIFs under 1MB for fast loading
• Use

  Sleep

  generously so viewers can read output
• 50ms typing speed looks natural
• 900x500 works well for most CLIs
• Show 3-5 commands max per GIF