Getting Started#

This tutorial walks through the main user-facing flow: run richterm, generate an SVG, and then install it permanently if you want it around.

1. Run `richterm` without installing it#

The quickest way to try the tool is with uvx:

uvx richterm echo "hello from richterm"

That command runs echo "hello from richterm", renders the transcript as an SVG, and writes a file named like rich_term_20260403_153000.svg in the current directory.

2. Pick an explicit output path#

Use -o when you want the SVG somewhere predictable:

uvx richterm -o demo.svg python -c "print('hello')"

3. Customize what appears in the transcript#

You can tweak the prompt, pick a different export theme, hide the command, or show a friendlier command than the one actually executed:

uvx richterm --prompt "[bold blue]$" git status --short
uvx richterm --theme monokai python -m rich --force-terminal rainbow
uvx richterm --hide-command python -c "print('secret command')"
uvx richterm --shown-command "pytest -q" python -c "print('fixture output')"

4. Install it as a tool#

If you plan to use richterm regularly, install it once:

uv tool install richterm

After that, invoke it directly:

richterm --help

5. Run from a local checkout when contributing#

If you are working on the project itself, sync the environment and run from source:

uv sync
uv run richterm --help

For module execution from the checkout, you can also use:

PYTHONPATH=src uv run -m richterm --help

Getting Started

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