asciinema Server API

Name: asciinema Server API API
Brand: asciinema Server API
Availability: InStock

★ Only Publicly Available OpenAPI DocumentDeveloper ToolsMonitoring Observabilitybasic7 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Upload, update, and delete terminal session recordings and live streams on an asciinema server.

Quickstart

Get started with asciinema Server API in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"upload a terminal session recording to asciinema"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with asciinema Server API API.

Upload a new terminal session recording to an asciinema server

Update title and description metadata on an existing recording

Delete recordings the authenticated user owns

Create a new live terminal stream for real-time sharing

Update metadata on an existing live stream

GET STARTED

Start building with asciinema Server API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI document for asciinema Server API, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

Jentic publishes the only available OpenAPI specification for asciinema Server API, keeping it validated and agent-ready. asciinema is the open-source terminal session recorder and player, and the Server API exposes 7 endpoints for managing recordings and live streams on asciinema.org or a self-hosted instance. The spec covers create, update, and delete operations on recordings and streams, plus listing of a user's streams, secured with HTTP basic authentication.

Use Cases

Patterns agents use asciinema Server API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ CI Terminal Recording Capture

Capture interesting CI runs as terminal recordings and upload them to asciinema for later debugging or sharing. The POST /api/v1/recordings endpoint accepts the .cast file produced by the asciinema CLI, returning the public URL. Reduces the friction of sharing reproducible terminal output between engineers compared to copying scrollback.

Upload the recording.cast file produced by the deploy job to asciinema, set the title to 'Production deploy 2026-06-09', and return the recording URL

Live Demo Streaming

Spin up an asciinema live stream for a developer demo or pair-programming session, so remote viewers can watch the terminal in real time. The POST /api/v1/streams endpoint creates the stream, and PATCH/DELETE manage its lifecycle. Suitable for distributed teams running interactive walkthroughs.

Create a new asciinema stream titled 'Pair debug session', return the stream URL and broadcast token, then list all current streams to confirm

Recording Library Cleanup

Audit and prune a backlog of old asciinema recordings using PATCH for metadata fixes and DELETE for removal. Useful for self-hosted asciinema instances where storage and discoverability matter. Agents can reconcile the user's stream list against an external catalogue.

List the authenticated user's streams and delete any whose titles contain 'test-' to clean up draft broadcasts

AI Agent for Terminal Knowledge Capture

An agent integrated through Jentic can listen for shell session events, automatically upload notable recordings to asciinema, and update titles based on what was demonstrated. Jentic stores the asciinema basic-auth credentials in its vault so the agent never sees the raw username and password.

Through Jentic, upload the latest .cast file from the demo session and set its description to a summary generated from the transcript

Key Endpoints

7 endpoints — jentic publishes the only available openapi specification for asciinema server api, keeping it validated and agent-ready.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

POST

/api/v1/recordings

Create a new recording

PATCH

/api/v1/recordings/{id}

Update recording metadata

DELETE

/api/v1/recordings/{id}

Delete a recording

POST

/api/v1/streams

Create a new live stream

PATCH

/api/v1/streams/{id}

Update stream metadata

DELETE

/api/v1/streams/{id}

Delete a stream

GET

/api/v1/user/streams

List user streams

POST

/api/v1/recordings

Create a new recording

PATCH

/api/v1/recordings/{id}

Update recording metadata

DELETE

/api/v1/recordings/{id}

Delete a recording

POST

/api/v1/streams

Create a new live stream

PATCH

/api/v1/streams/{id}

Update stream metadata

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

asciinema basic-auth credentials (install ID and API token) are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault. Agents receive scoped execution access — the raw username and password never enter the agent's context.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search Jentic by intent (e.g. 'upload a terminal recording') and Jentic returns the matching asciinema operation with its input schema, so the agent can call POST /api/v1/recordings without reading docs.

Time to first call

Direct asciinema integration: a couple of hours to wire basic auth and multipart upload. Through Jentic: under 15 minutes — search, load, execute.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Alternative

Loom

Loom captures full-screen video walkthroughs rather than terminal-only sessions, with a richer sharing UI.

Choose Loom when the demo needs webcam, screen, and audio rather than just terminal text — asciinema is text-only.

Complementary

GitHub API

GitHub hosts source code; asciinema recordings often supplement README walkthroughs and PR demos.

Pair with asciinema when a recording should be embedded in a GitHub README, issue, or PR comment to demonstrate a CLI tool.

Alternative

Vimeo

Vimeo hosts general video content; asciinema is purpose-built for lightweight terminal recordings.

Use Vimeo for high-fidelity video demos; choose asciinema for text-based, low-bandwidth terminal walkthroughs.

FAQs

Specific to using asciinema Server API API through Jentic.

Why is there no official OpenAPI spec for asciinema Server API?

asciinema does not publish an OpenAPI specification. Jentic generates and maintains this spec so that AI agents and developers can call asciinema Server API via structured tooling. It is validated against the live API and kept up to date. Get started at https://app.jentic.com/sign-up.

What authentication does the asciinema Server API use?

The API uses HTTP basic authentication. The username is your asciinema install ID and the password is the API token shown in the asciinema CLI 'auth' command output. Jentic stores both as a single basic-auth credential in its vault and injects them at execution time.

Can I upload a terminal recording through the asciinema API?

Yes. POST /api/v1/recordings accepts a multipart upload of a .cast file produced by the asciinema CLI. The response returns the public URL of the recording on the server.

Does the asciinema API support live streaming?

Yes. POST /api/v1/streams creates a new live stream, PATCH /api/v1/streams/{id} updates its metadata, and DELETE /api/v1/streams/{id} removes it. GET /api/v1/user/streams returns all streams owned by the authenticated user.

What are the rate limits for the asciinema Server API?

The OpenAPI specification does not document explicit rate limits. asciinema.org is community-operated, so be conservative — implement backoff on HTTP 429 and avoid bulk uploads. For heavy use, run a self-hosted asciinema server.

How do I upload a recording through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'upload an asciinema terminal recording' — POST /api/v1/recordings will be returned. Load the operation schema, supply the .cast file, and execute. Jentic handles basic-auth credentials and returns the recording URL.