Quick Video Recording with OBS Automation

Russian translation available here.

I enjoy automating repetitive tasks, and today I’ll show how I optimized screencasting.

In short, I made a Python script that greatly simplifies the process of naming screencasts and recording them.

OBS automatization form demo
Demonstration of the script

Problem

OBS is a powerful tool for streaming and recording, but I’ve always disliked the complexity of managing recordings. You need to find the latest recording, rename it, check it, etc. — and this can be cumbersome, especially when you need to record frequently.

My script is designed to solve this problem.

Solution

The script is a Python application that uses the obsws-python library to connect with the OBS WebSocket plugin.

This makes it possible to programmatically start and stop recordings, set file names, and much more.

Key Features

Start and stop recordings with a single command: The script can run in two modes: record and stop. You can bind these commands to hotkeys in your OS.
Automatic file name generation: When you start recording, the application prompts you for a file name using a small TkInter form, then sets the recording name and begins the screencast.
Simple configuration: All script settings are stored in the config.ini file.

How It Works

The script is fairly simple (about 100 lines of code). Here’s a brief overview. I deliberately used a single file to include all components (recording, forms, etc.). The code quality is medium/above average. I tested it only on Linux (Debian 13) and didn’t bother much with unit tests or other extras — adjustments may be required for your needs.

Getting Started

First, you need to install OBS and the obs-websocket plugin, clone the repository with the script, install dependencies, and set up global hotkeys in your OS.

For details, I recommend checking the documentation: https://github.com/iturdikulov/obs_auto#quickstart.

Conclusion

This script, through automation, saves me time and makes the process of recording screencasts enjoyable. It can potentially be improved further, with new features added, and so on.