demonator

Typewriter-style text display for terminal demos. Demonator reads a YAML config file of commands and "types" them out character-by-character with realistic timing, then executes each command when you press Enter.

Install

cargo install --path .

Usage

demonator              # uses demo.yml in the current directory
demonator -c my.yml    # use a custom config file
demonator --dry-run    # preview demo flow without executing
demonator --watch      # re-run demo when config file changes

Press Enter after each step to run the command and advance to the next one.

Configuration

Create a YAML file (default: demo.yml):

speed: 20
delay: 50
jitter: 40
pause: 200
clear: true
prompt: "{green}~{reset} {blue}${reset} "

steps:
  - text: "git clone [email protected]:example/myproject.git"
  - text: "cargo build --release"
    speed: 28
  - text: "cargo test"
    speed: 28
  - text: "echo 'done!'"
    speed: 16
    jitter: 60

Global options

Option	Default	Description
prompt	{green}~{reset} {blue}${reset}	Prompt string displayed before each command
clear	false	Clear the terminal before starting
speed	--	Characters per second (overrides delay)
delay	50	Milliseconds between characters
jitter	40	Percentage of random timing variation
pause	200	Extra milliseconds after punctuation
highlight	false	Syntax-highlight commands as they are typed
auto_advance	--	Milliseconds to wait before auto-advancing (no Enter needed)

Per-step overrides

Each step can override speed, delay, jitter, and pause. If both speed and delay are set, speed takes priority.

Capturing command output

Steps can capture values from command output using regex and inject them into later steps. Add a capture block with a name and a pattern containing one capture group:

steps:
  - text: "nono run --detached --allow-cwd --profile claude-code -- claude"
    capture:
      name: session_id
      pattern: "Started detached session (\\w+)"

  - text: "nono attach {session_id}"

The first capture group (\\w+) is extracted from stdout and stored under the given name. Subsequent steps can reference it with {session_id}. Multiple captures can be used across different steps and combined in a single command.

Prompt colors

Use color placeholders in the prompt string:

{black} {red} {green} {yellow} {blue} {magenta} {cyan} {white} {bold} {dim} {reset}

Features

Commentary / narration blocks

Print styled explanatory text between commands. No prompt is shown and no command is executed.

steps:
  - comment: "First, let's clone the repository."
    style: dim
  - text: "git clone [email protected]:example/myproject.git"
  - comment: "Now build it."
    style: bold
  - text: "cargo build --release"

Supported styles: dim, bold, italic, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan. Defaults to dim when omitted.

Fake / simulated output

Show pre-defined output instead of (or in addition to) running the real command. Great for demos against systems that aren't available.

steps:
  - text: "curl -s https://api.example.com/health"
    fake_output: |
      {"status": "healthy", "version": "2.1.0"}
    execute: false

  - text: "docker ps"
    fake_output: |
      CONTAINER ID   IMAGE          STATUS
      a1b2c3d4e5f6   myapp:latest   Up 3 hours
    output_speed: 40     # type out the fake output character-by-character
    execute: false

Field	Description
fake_output	Text to display as command output
output_speed	Characters per second for typing fake output (instant if omitted)
execute	Set to false to skip running the real command (default true)

Auto-advance mode

Skip the Enter-key wait and advance automatically. Useful for recording demos with tools like asciinema.

auto_advance: 1500   # global: wait 1.5s between steps

steps:
  - text: "echo fast"
    wait: 500        # per-step override
  - text: "echo slow"
    wait: 3000

Record with asciinema:

asciinema rec -c "demonator -c auto-demo.yml"

Wait-for-pattern

Wait until a regex pattern appears in command output before advancing. The command is killed once the pattern matches (useful for long-running processes like log tailing).

steps:
  - text: "docker-compose up -d"
  - text: "docker-compose logs -f api"
    wait_for: "Listening on port 8080"
    timeout: 60
  - text: "curl localhost:8080/health"

Field	Default	Description
wait_for	--	Regex pattern to match in output
timeout	30	Seconds to wait before giving up

Setup and teardown

Run hidden commands before and after the demo. The audience never sees these.

setup:
  - "docker-compose down -v 2>/dev/null"
  - "rm -rf /tmp/demo-workspace"
  - "mkdir -p /tmp/demo-workspace"

teardown:
  - "docker-compose down -v"
  - "rm -rf /tmp/demo-workspace"

steps:
  - text: "ls /tmp/demo-workspace"

Chapters

Organize steps into named sections. A chapter header is displayed when entering each chapter.

chapters:
  - name: "Setup"
    steps:
      - text: "git clone repo"
      - text: "cd myproject"
  - name: "Build"
    steps:
      - text: "cargo build --release"
  - name: "Test"
    steps:
      - text: "cargo test"

When using chapters, navigation is available at each Enter prompt:

Input	Action
Enter	Advance to next step
n	Skip to next chapter
p	Go back to previous chapter
1-9	Jump to chapter by number

User prompts

Pause the demo and collect input from the presenter. Responses are stored as variables that later steps can reference or use as conditions.

Yes/no confirmation:

steps:
  - ask: "Deploy to production?"
    capture: confirmed

  - text: "kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml"
    if: confirmed

Displays ? Deploy to production? [y/N]. Answering y or yes sets the variable; anything else (including Enter) leaves it unset.

Free-text input:

steps:
  - input: "Save denied paths as user profile? Enter a name (or press Enter to skip):"
    capture: profile_name
    default: "default-local"

  - text: "nono profile save {profile_name}"
    if: profile_name

Displays ? ... [default-local]. Press Enter to accept the default, or type a value. When no default is set the hint shows [enter] to signal that Enter skips the step.

Expect-style interaction

Send keystrokes to interactive commands when expected output patterns appear.

steps:
  - text: "npm init"
    interact:
      - expect: "package name:"
        send: "my-cool-app"
      - expect: "version:"
        send: "1.0.0"
      - expect: "Is this OK?"
        send: "yes"

Each expect pattern is matched against accumulated stdout. When matched, the send value (plus a newline) is written to the command's stdin.

Syntax highlighting

Colorize commands as they are typed. Enable globally:

highlight: true

steps:
  - text: "cat README.md | grep -i 'install' > output.txt"
  - text: "echo $HOME"
  - text: "docker build --tag myapp:latest ."

Highlighting rules:

Element	Color
Command (first word)	Bold white
Flags (--foo, -v)	Yellow
Strings ("...", '...')	Green
Pipes, redirects (|, >)	Cyan
Variables ($FOO)	Magenta
Comments (# ...)	Green

Conditional steps

Run steps only when a captured variable exists (and is non-empty) or doesn't exist.

steps:
  - text: "which docker"
    capture:
      name: has_docker
      pattern: "(.*)"

  - text: "docker build -t myapp ."
    if: has_docker

  - text: "podman build -t myapp ."
    unless: has_docker

Dry-run mode

Preview the entire demo flow without typing animation or command execution:

demonator --dry-run

This shows every step, chapter boundaries, annotations for special features (fake output, conditionals, interactive, etc.), and setup/teardown commands.

Hot reload

Watch the config file for changes and automatically re-run the demo:

demonator --watch

The screen is cleared and the demo restarts whenever the YAML file is modified. Press Ctrl+C to exit.

License

MIT