Styling Options

Betamax offers extensive visual customization for your terminal captures. You can add window bars, drop shadows, padding, and rounded corners to create polished, professional-looking screenshots and GIFs.

All styling options work with both PNG screenshots and GIF recordings.

Window Bars

Add macOS-style window decorations to your captures with --window-bar:

Style	Description
colorful	Traffic light dots on the left
colorful_right	Traffic light dots on the right
rings	Hollow circle outlines
none	No window bar (default)

Examples

Colorful (left-aligned):

betamax "sidecar" --window-bar colorful -o demo -- @sleep:2000 @capture:demo.png q y

Colorful (right-aligned):

betamax "sidecar" --window-bar colorful_right -o demo -- @sleep:2000 @capture:demo.png q y

Rings:

betamax "sidecar" --window-bar rings -o demo -- @sleep:2000 @capture:demo.png q y

No window bar:

betamax "sidecar" --window-bar none -o demo -- @sleep:2000 @capture:demo.png q y

Bar Customization

Option	Default	Description
--bar-color	#1e1e1e	Background color of the bar
--bar-height	30	Height in pixels

Drop Shadows

Add depth to your captures with --shadow:

betamax "sidecar" --shadow --margin 30 -o demo -- @sleep:2000 @capture:demo.png q y

Compare with no shadow (margin only):

betamax "sidecar" --margin 30 -o demo -- @sleep:2000 @capture:demo.png q y

Shadow Options

Option	Default	Description
--shadow	off	Enable drop shadow
--shadow-blur	15	Blur radius (0-100)
--shadow-offset-x	0	Horizontal offset (-200 to 200)
--shadow-offset-y	8	Vertical offset (-200 to 200)
--shadow-opacity	0.4	Opacity (0.0-1.0)
--shadow-color	#000000	Shadow color

Note: Shadows require --margin to be visible. The margin provides space for the shadow to render.

Padding & Margin

Add spacing around your terminal content:

Option	Description
--padding	Inner spacing (between terminal and decorations)
--margin	Outer spacing (around the entire capture)

Padding adds space inside the capture, around the terminal content:

betamax "sidecar" --padding 20 --padding-color "#2a2a4a" -o demo -- @sleep:2000 @capture:demo.png q y

Margin adds space outside the capture:

betamax "sidecar" --margin 20 --margin-color "#2a2a4a" -o demo -- @sleep:2000 @capture:demo.png q y

Spacing Options

Option	Default	Description
--padding	0	Inner padding in pixels
--padding-color	#1e1e1e	Padding background color
--margin	0	Outer margin in pixels
--margin-color	#000000	Margin background color

Border Radius

Round the corners of your captures with --border-radius:

Sharp corners (default):

betamax "sidecar" --border-radius 0 --padding 10 -o demo -- @sleep:2000 @capture:demo.png q y

Rounded corners:

betamax "sidecar" --border-radius 16 --padding 10 -o demo -- @sleep:2000 @capture:demo.png q y

Combining Options

Create polished captures by combining multiple styling options:

betamax "sidecar" \
  --window-bar colorful \
  --border-radius 12 \
  --margin 30 \
  --padding 10 \
  --shadow \
  -o demo -- @sleep:2000 @capture:demo.png q y

Using Keys Files

All styling options can be set in .keys files with @set: directives:

@set:window_bar:colorful
@set:border_radius:12
@set:margin:30
@set:padding:10
@set:shadow:true
@set:shadow_blur:20
@set:shadow_opacity:0.5

@sleep:2000
@capture:styled_demo.png
q
y

This makes it easy to create reproducible, styled captures.

See Also

• CLI Reference - Complete list of all command-line options
• Keys File Format - Full @set: directive reference
• Capturing Screenshots - Screenshot capture guide