| name | record-demo |
| description | Use when the user asks to "record a demo", "create a gif", "generate a tape file", "record-demo", or wants to create a VHS terminal recording for a Terraform example. Make sure to use this skill whenever the user mentions VHS, tape files, terminal recordings, or demo GIFs for any directory.
|
Record Demo Skill
Generate a VHS terminal recording (GIF) for a Terraform example directory.
Input
The user provides a path to a directory (e.g., path/to/my-example).
This directory will either contain a main.tf file directly, or sub-directories with their own main.tf files (e.g., path/to/my-example/old-way/main.tf and path/to/my-example/new-way/main.tf).
There will also be a README.md file in the example directory that has a "## Usage" section.
Process
Step 1: Analyze the Readme
In the example's README.md, find the "## Usage" section. This section will contain the Terraform commands that should be run to demonstrate the example, and may also contain additional instructions (e.g., "To force the resource to be recreated, run terraform apply -replace=random_pet.this") that modify the default flow.
Within the "## Usage" section, identify the key commands that should be included in the demo.
Each grouping of commands will be encased in a code block, example:
terraform init
terraform apply
Each of these code blocks will be a separate section that results in a *.tape file. If there are multiple code blocks, the demo should run through them sequentially.
Step 2: Generate the .tape Files
Write the tape file to assets/<example-name>-<section-n>.tape at the repo root. The example name is the directory name (e.g., 01-hello-action-01).
For each section, always start with these common settings (adjusting <section-n> appropriately):
Output assets/<example-name>-<section-n>.gif
Require terraform
Set Shell bash
Set Theme "Catppuccin Mocha"
Set FontSize 16
Set FontFamily "RobotoMono Nerd Font"
Set Width 1200
Set Height 800
Set Padding 20
Set Framerate 30
Set PlaybackSpeed 0.75
Set TypingSpeed 75ms
Set WaitTimeout 30s
Framerate 30 — captures fewer frames so fast-scrolling output is more readable per framePlaybackSpeed 0.75 — slows the GIF to 75% speed, giving viewers more time to read long output
Tape structure guidelines:
- Navigate to the target directory with
Type "cd <path-to-directory>" + Enter
Hide this and clear after.
- The following commands should be placed inside a
Hide/Show block:
terraform initcdterraform destroy -auto-approve
- The last step in any
Hide block should be to call clear to empty the terminal before showing the next command
- After any
terraform command, use a Sleep 2s to allow the command to execute and the output to be visible before the next command is typed
- End with a final
Sleep 3s for the last frame
- Use
Type + Enter for each command
- ALWAYS after any
terraform apply command (including -invoke, -replace, or plain apply), add Wait /Enter a value/ then Type "yes" then Enter. Every terraform apply variant prompts for confirmation.
Step 3: Run VHS
Execute from the repo root each generated tape file with:
vhs assets/<example-name>-<section-n>.tape
Check the output for errors. If VHS fails, diagnose and fix the tape file.
Step 4: Create or Update Example README
If the example already has a README.md, add the GIF embed directly after the code block in the "## Usage" section.
GIF markdown format:
Step 4b: Update Taskfile
If not present, create a task in the root Taskfile.yml to be able to regenerate the demo with task record-<example-name>. The task should run the VHS command to regenerate the GIF.
record:01-hello-action:
desc: Generate the demo GIF for 01-hello-action
cmds:
- vhs assets/01-hello-action-01.tape
- vhs assets/01-hello-action-02.tape
Step 5: Verify
- Confirm
assets/<example-name>.gif exists
- Confirm all expected tape files exist (for each recorded section), e.g.
assets/<example-name>-01.tape, assets/<example-name>-02.tape, ...
- Confirm the example's
README.md contains the GIF reference
- Report the GIF file size to the user
