--- title: Commands description: Every command a reel can hold. url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/reference/commands --- # Commands ## What it records | Command | | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | `Import ` | A [preset](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/outputs/presets) to read first. Only on the first lines, before `Launch`, `Open`, `Screen` or `Include`. | | `Launch ` | The app to record: a bundle id, or a path with a slash (`./Name.app`). reel waits for its first window. | | `Open ` | A web page to record instead: `https://…`, `http://…`, `file://…` or an `.html` path, `#fragment` allowed. Later in the reel, goes to another page: a new fragment of the same page only scrolls, the same address reloads. | | `Screen code` | A [code screen](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/demos/code) to record instead: an editor of reel's own. | | `Attach as ` | In a reel of tracks: an app something else opens, recorded from when its window shows. See [Reels together](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/demos/together). | | `Layout `, `Split % …`, `Spotlight `, `Fullscreen `, `Pip [over ] [corner]` | In a reel of tracks, the director's moves over them, each with `off` and `@,`. See [Directing the tracks](/reel/demos/together#directing-the-tracks). | | `Screen terminal` | A [terminal](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/demos/terminal) to record instead: a real shell in a terminal of reel's own. | | `Include `, `Include@ ` | Other reels to join, as [scenes](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/demos/scenes), in order; each after the first moves in from the one before. | ## Setup Before the first step. | Command | | |--------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | `Output ` | A file to write: `.mp4`, `.mov` or `.gif`. At least one. | | `Output@ ` | Framed on a canvas: `@16:9`, `@1:1`, `@9:16`, or an exact size such as `@1080x1920`. | | `Set ` | See [Settings](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/reference/settings). | | `Intro "" ["<subtitle>"] [duration]` | A title card before the demo. | | `Outro "<title>" ["<subtitle>"] [duration]` | One after it. | | `Intro [duration]`, `Outro [duration]` | The background video alone. | | `Intro@<kind>,<easing>,<duration> …` | How it moves into the demo (an outro: out of it). See [Intro and outro](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/demos/intro-and-outro). | | `Profile <name> [extends <profile>] ["purpose"]` | A [profile](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/outputs/presets), with indented `Set` lines under it. | ## Steps | Command | | |------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | `Sleep <duration>` | Waits. | | `Wait <element>` | Waits until the element shows, up to `WaitTimeout`. | | `Wait [marker]` | Waits until the narration reaches a `[marker]` in an earlier `Say@over`. | | `Wait for <name>`, `Wait for <name> to end` | Waits until a step named `<name>` in another reel running with this one starts, or ends. See [Reels together](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/demos/together). | | `… as <name>` | At the end of any step: names it, for other reels to wait for. | | `Click <element or @x,y>` | Glides the cursor there and clicks. | | `Type "<text>"`, `Type@<duration> "<text>"` | Types a character at a time. `\n` is return, `\t` tab. | | `Key <combo> [count]` | `return`, `a`, `cmd+s`, `ctrl+shift+tab`, `f5`, `fn+left`; repeated `count` times (1 to 100). | | `Scroll <up\|down\|left\|right> [lines] [element or @x,y]` | Scrolls, over the element when one is named. | | `Say "<text>"` | Narrates the line and waits for it to end. | | `Say@over "<text>"` | Narrates and carries on. | | `Say@<voice> "<text>"`, `Say@<voice>,over "<text>"` | Narrates in a voice named with `Set Voice <name> <voice>`. | | `Caption "<text>" [duration]` | A caption from here until the next one, or for `duration`. | | `Caption off` | Ends the caption showing. | | `Zoom <element> [scale]` | Onto the element, locked and following it. Fitted, at most 4×, without a scale. | | `Zoom @x,y [scale]`, `Zoom cursor [scale]` | Onto a point, or following the cursor; 2× unless a scale is given. Scales are 1× to 8×. | | `Zoom off` | Back to the whole window. | | `Zoom@<easing>,<duration> …` | A zoom with its own move. | | `Speed <rate>x` … `Speed off` | Plays the stretch faster, above 1× up to 16×. In a reel of tracks, the director's only. | | `Hide` … `Show` | Leaves the stretch out. A `Hide` with no `Show` runs to the end. In a reel of tracks, the director's only. | ## Code screens After `Screen code`. See [Code](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/demos/code). | Command | | |--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | `Code <file> [lines <a>-<b>] [at line <n> \| at "<text>"]` | Shows a file, or lines of it numbered as in the file, the cursor at a line or the first match of the text. | | `Go line <n>`, `Go "<text>"` | Moves the cursor there, easing the view to it. | | `Focus lines <a>-<b>`, `Focus off` | Dims every other line. | | `Mark "<text>" [n]`, `Mark off` | A box around the text, numbered `n`; boxes add up until `Mark off`. | | `Callout "<text>" "<label>"`, `Callout off` | A bubble saying the label beside the text's line. | | `Code@<transition> <file> …` | The file before moves out as this one comes in: any intro transition. | | `Split <file> […]`, `Split off` | A second pane beside the first, which steps then act on. | | `Pane left`, `Pane right` | Which pane steps act on. | | `Peek "<text>" <file> […]`, `Peek off` | Another file in a box under the line with the text. | | `Link "<a>" -> "<b>" ["<label>"]`, `Link off` | An arrow from one place to another, across the panes when split. | | `Diff[@<transition>] <before> <after> [at …]`, `Diff <file> since <revision> [at …]` | Two versions as one, what changed marked. | | `Go hunk <n>`, `… at hunk <n>` | A diff's nth run of changes. | | `Follow`, `Follow off` | Marks the line of the reel the pane shows that is running right now, somewhere on the channel. See [Reels together](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/demos/together). | | `Morph[@<easing>,<duration>] <file> [lines <a>-<b>] [at …]` | The file shown turns into this one, its words moving to their new places. | ## Terminals After `Screen terminal`. See [Terminal](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/demos/terminal). `Type`, `Key` (the keys a shell takes, and `ctrl+` a letter), `Mark` and `Callout` work too. | Command | | |-------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------| | `Wait /<regex>/` | Until what was printed since the last thing typed matches. | | `Wait quiet [duration]` | Until nothing has been printed for that long, 500ms unless given. | | `Wait exit` | Until the command running ends and the prompt is back. | Elements are `"Label"`, `#identifier`, `@x,y` points, or on a web page `css:<selector>`: see [Elements](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/reel/reels/elements).