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NEX - Terminal recording & sharing.

aryansrao/nex

nex - terminal recorder & sharing

This project contains a Rust CLI nex that records terminal sessions into .nex files.

Commands:

  • nex start — start recording the current shell session
  • nex stop — stop recording and finalize the .nex file
  • nex inspect <file.nex> — view metadata
  • nex play <file.nex> — replay recorded session (TBD)
  • nex csv <file.nex> --out <file.csv> — export to CSV
  • nex json <file.nex> --out <file.json> — export to JSON
  • nex serve <port> [--verbose] — host a collaborative session
  • nex catch <host> <port> --out <file.nex> — join a collaborative session and save
  • nex serve <port> --web — host a collaborative session with web UI (TBD)

This scaffold implements a minimal MVP for start/stop using a PTY-based approach in Rust.

Build:

bash 
cargo build --release

Installing:

bash 
cargo install --path .

nex records interactive terminal sessions into a portable .nex archive. It can:

  • Record a local interactive shell to a .nex file (nex start / exit, nex stop).
  • Replay a .nex (nex play <file>).
  • Export recorded sessions to CSV or JSON (nex csv <file>, nex json <file>).
  • Serve a shared shell over TCP for collaborative sessions (nex serve <port>).
  • Join a shared session as a client and auto-save the session (nex catch <host> <port>).

This project is a small Rust prototype. It uses a PTY-backed shell and records raw terminal bytes plus command lifecycle markers (injected via zsh hooks) into a newline-delimited JSON stream inside the .nex archive.

Quickstart

Installing:

bash 
cargo install --path .

Record locally (default timestamped filename):

bash 
nex start

Replay:

bash 
nex play recording.nex

CSV / JSON export:

bash 
nex csv recording.nex --out out.csv
nex json recording.nex --out out.json

Collaborative session (host):

bash 
nex serve 3000           # silent by default
nex serve 3000 --verbose # show connect/exits

Collaborative session (client):

bash 
nex catch <host-ip> 3000 --out mysession.nex
bash 
nex serve 3000           # silent by default
nex serve 3000 --verbose # show connect/exits

Collaborative session (client):

bash 
nex catch <host-ip> 3000 --out mysession.nex

Collaborative session (web UI):

bash 
nex serve 3000 --web

Recording format

A .nex file is a ZIP archive containing:

  • manifest.json — metadata and duration
  • session.json — newline-delimited JSON events (raw terminal bytes and command start/end objects)

Raw event example:

json 
{"t": 0.123, "data": "<base64>"}

Command event example:

json 
{"type":"command","phase":"start","t": 1234567890.123,"cwd":"/home/user","cmd_b64":"..."}
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