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Presets are named bundles of presentation defaults — theme, sound, cursor, and HUD settings — that you can apply with a single line. They set sensible defaults without locking you in: any setting a preset provides can be overridden in your config.

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Using a Preset

Add the preset field to your config: 
{
  "preset": "polished",
  "output": "demo.mp4",
  "steps": [
    { "type": "launch", "command": "bash" },
    { "type": "type", "text": "echo 'Hello!'" },
    { "type": "press", "key": "Enter" },
    { "type": "pause", "duration": 2 }
  ]
}
Presets never control output behavior — they don’t set steps, output, format, or $schema. They only set visual and audio presentation.

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Built-in Presets

PresetThemeSound EffectsCursorHUD
polishedcatppuccinclick + key (variant 1)visiblevisible
minimaltokyo-nightnonevisiblehidden
demodraculaclick + key (variant 1)visiblevisible
silent(none)nonehiddenhidden

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polished

The go-to preset for professional-looking recordings. Applies a warm Catppuccin color scheme with subtle click and keypress sound effects, a visible cursor, and HUD overlay. 
// Equivalent to:
{
  "theme": "catppuccin",
  "sound": { "effects": { "click": 1, "key": 1 } },
  "cursor": { "visible": true },
  "hud": { "visible": true }
}

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minimal

Clean recordings with a Tokyo Night theme and cursor only. No sound, no HUD — just the terminal and a cursor. 
// Equivalent to:
{
  "theme": "tokyo-night",
  "cursor": { "visible": true },
  "hud": { "visible": false }
}

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demo

Similar to polished but with the Dracula theme. Good for quick demos where you want a familiar dark look with full audio-visual polish. 
// Equivalent to:
{
  "theme": "dracula",
  "sound": { "effects": { "click": 1, "key": 1 } },
  "cursor": { "visible": true },
  "hud": { "visible": true }
}

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silent

The bare-bones preset: no cursor, no HUD, no sound. Useful when you want a clean terminal recording with no overlays, or as a baseline when you plan to customize everything yourself. 
// Equivalent to:
{
  "cursor": { "visible": false },
  "hud": { "visible": false }
}

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Overriding Preset Defaults

Preset values are defaults — your config overrides them. For example, the polished preset enables sound, but you can turn it off: 
{
  "preset": "polished",
  "sound": { "effects": {} },
  "output": "demo.mp4",
  "steps": [...]
}
This keeps the Catppuccin theme, cursor, and HUD from polished but disables sound effects. You can also swap the theme while keeping everything else: 
{
  "preset": "polished",
  "theme": "gruvbox-dark",
  "output": "demo.mp4",
  "steps": [...]
}

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Presets in tuireel init

When you run tuireel init interactively (in a TTY), you’re prompted to select a preset: 
tuireel init
# ? Select a preset: (polished, minimal, demo, silent)
The chosen preset is written into your generated .tuireel.jsonc config. In non-interactive mode (piped input), the preset prompt is skipped.