// salvage your sessions.
Shellvage is a background terminal recorder and companion GUI application designed for developers. It silently captures your terminal sessions, allowing you to export, search, summarize, and browse your daily command-line work as readable documents. Built for Windows with a cross-platform architecture and zero configuration required.
- Silent Background Recording: Automatically records all commands, outputs, and exit codes without slowing down your terminal.
- Smart Session Management: Intelligently splits and groups commands into cohesive "sessions" based on timing and directory context.
- Inline Annotation: Add quick notes to your commands directly from the terminal prompt using
#! <text>orshellvage note. - Advanced Export & Sharing: Export your entire session or specific blocks to Markdown, PDF, HTML, or DOCX. Upload instantly to GitHub Gists with a single command.
- AI-Powered Summaries: Automatically generate daily standup bullet points or session summaries powered by AI.
- Cross-Platform CLI: A beautifully crafted, zero-config command-line interface featuring an ultra-wide, dual-tone typography engine.
Shellvage operates in two parts: a background daemon hooked into your shell profile, and a native GUI app to browse your history.
The easiest way to get started is to download the compiled setup file.
- Go to the Releases page on this repository.
- Download the latest
Shellvage_x.x.x_setup.exe. - Run the installer to install the native GUI application on your machine.
To power the background recording and terminal annotations, you need the CLI tool installed globally. Ensure you have Node.js (v18+) installed, then open your terminal and run:
npm install -g shellvageNote: If you are building from source instead, you can clone the repository, run npm install, and build the CLI manually.
The shellvage command provides complete control over your telemetry engine directly from the terminal.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
shellvage |
Show help and massive ASCII status overview. |
shellvage pause |
Pause background recording. |
shellvage resume |
Resume background recording. |
shellvage status |
Show recording state, active session count, and DB size. |
shellvage list |
Display a table of recent sessions. |
shellvage open |
Launch the companion Shellvage GUI application. |
Never lose context on a complex command string again. You can annotate your work in real-time.
# Tag the currently active session
shellvage tag "debugging-auth"
# Add a note to the last captured command
shellvage note "Fixed the invalid token expiration bug here"
# Pro Tip: Add notes instantly inline using the hash-bang syntax!
npm run build #! taking a while todayExport your sessions into beautifully formatted documents.
# Export the last session to a Markdown file in the current directory
shellvage export --format md
# Merge the last 3 sessions into one PDF
shellvage export --format pdf --last 3
# Upload the last session to a private GitHub Gist and copy URL
shellvage share- CLI Engine: Built with TypeScript and Node.js.
- GUI Application: Built using Tauri (Rust) for minimal footprint and maximum performance on Windows.
- Database: Local SQLite database ensuring 100% data privacy and offline capability.
Windows-Native · Telemetry Engine · Zero Config