Reelbird command-line tool reference

Record, edit, export, caption and share from the terminal. Every command takes --json for scripts and agents.

The reelbird tool ships inside the app. Put it on your PATH:

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
ln -sf /Applications/Reelbird.app/Contents/Helpers/reelbird ~/.local/bin/reelbird

reelbird sources                               # displays, windows, microphones and cameras, with IDs
reelbird record --display 1 --duration 30      # 30 seconds of the main display
reelbird record --window 1234 --share          # a window by ID from `sources`; Ctrl-C stops
reelbird list                                  # recent recordings
reelbird edit latest --set zoom.intensity=0.7 --trim 0:05-end
reelbird export latest --format mp4 --height 1080
reelbird captions latest                       # captions.vtt, made on this Mac
reelbird enhance latest --strength medium      # clean up the voice; the raw mic is kept
reelbird share latest                          # upload and print the link
reelbird share latest --polished               # render the edit, same link
reelbird help record

A project can be a .reelbird path, a name from reelbird list, or latest. Every command takes --json for machine-readable output and --library DIR to use another folder (the default is ~/Movies/Reelbird, or $REELBIRD_LIBRARY).

Sharing settings made in the app are used by the CLI too. To set them from the terminal, run reelbird config share --help.

When you record from a terminal, macOS asks for Screen Recording permission for the terminal app (Terminal, iTerm, your editor), not for Reelbird.

Command line