Settings

By using the Demo Time: Settings command, you can quickly access and modify the settings of the Demo Time extension.

The settings view groups the settings in categories, like Presenting, Highlight & zoom, Slides and Export:

• Use the category list to jump to a group, or search the settings by name, description or key (Cmd+F / Ctrl+F).
• Modified only shows the settings that differ from their default. A modified setting has a Reset to default link, and a setting you changed but didn’t save yet is marked Unsaved.
• Select Save (or press Cmd+S / Ctrl+S) to store your changes, or Discard to undo them.
• The highlight colors have a Theme color, Custom and None option, and a preview of the highlight with the colors of your current theme. See customizing the highlight.

The settings are stored in the .vscode/settings.json file of your workspace. A setting you reset to its default is removed from that file. The demoTime.videoExport.command and demoTime.videoExport.extension settings are stored in your user settings, as Demo Time only reads them from there. The EngageTime API key is stored in the VS Code secret storage.

Overview

Here is a list of all the settings available in Demo Time.

Setting	Description	Default
demoTime.previousEnabled	Enable the previous command when in presentation mode.	false
demoTime.presentationViewToggles	Which UI areas to hide when toggling presentation view. Allowed values: statusBar, tabs, activityBar, sideBar, secondarySideBar, panel.	["statusBar", "tabs", "activityBar", "sideBar", "secondarySideBar", "panel"]
demoTime.highlightBackground	The background color of the highlighted code: a VS Code theme color (var(--vscode-...)), a CSS color, or transparent.	var(--vscode-editor-selectionBackground)
demoTime.highlightBorderColor	The border color of the highlighted code: a VS Code theme color (var(--vscode-...)), a CSS color, or transparent.	rgba(255,0,0,0.5)
demoTime.highlightBlur	Blur effect on the text which is not highlighted.	0
demoTime.highlightOpacity	The opacity of the text which is not highlighted. Number between 0 and 1.	1
demoTime.zoom	The number of steps the zoomIn and zoomOut actions zoom the VS Code window.	1
demoTime.highlightZoomEnabled	Enable zooming when highlighting code.	false | number (zoom level)
demoTime.nextActionBehaviour	Defines how the next action/step behaves. lastExecuted (default): The “Next” action always advances from the furthest step you have executed, even if you go back and view previous steps. This is the current behavior. currentPosition: The “Next” action advances from your current position, regardless of how far you have previously gone. If you go back and then press “Next”, it moves forward from where you are.	lastExecuted
demoTime.showClock	Show a clock in the status bar.	true
demoTime.timer	Count down timer for how long the session should last. If not set, it will not count down. The value is the number of minutes.	null
demoTime.nextSceneButtonText	The text of the next scene button in the status bar, like Next. Use a fixed text to keep the button the same width for every scene. You can use codicons, like $(arrow-right) Next. Leave empty to show the title of the next scene. See next scene button.	""
demoTime.insertTypingMode	The typing mode for inserting text. Options are: instant, line-by-line, character-by-character, or hacker-typer	instant
demoTime.insertTypingSpeed	The speed in milliseconds for inserting text.	50
demoTime.insertTypingSpeedRandomness	Adds a semi-random variation to the character-by-character typing speed so it feels less robotic. The value is the maximum percentage (0-100) of extra delay added on top of demoTime.insertTypingSpeed for each character. Set to 0 to disable.	0
demoTime.hackerTyperChunkSize	Number of characters to insert per ‘keystroke’ in hacker-typer mode	3
demoTime.terminalCommandBoundaryDelay	Delay (in milliseconds) between sequential terminal commands to prevent character bleed. Increase this if commands overlap or if you use custom shell prompts (Oh My Posh, Starship, Powerlevel10k) which can cause VS Code shell integration to be unreliable. See VS Code issue #242897.	200
demoTime.api.enabled	Enable the API to control the extension.	false
demoTime.api.port	The port on which the API should run.	3710
demoTime.hideEditorActions	Hide the editor actions (add new demo and toggle highlight).	false
demoTime.customWebComponents	Custom web components to be used in the slides. Provide the relative paths to the JS file(s).	[]
demoTime.customTheme	Custom CSS file to be used in the slides. Provide the relative path to the CSS file.	“
demoTime.defaultFileType	The default file type for new act files. Options: json (default), yaml.	json
demoTime.slideHeaderTemplate	Relative path to an HTML file with the template for the slide header. See the placeholders you can use.
demoTime.slideFooterTemplate	Relative path to an HTML file with the template for the slide footer.
demoTime.slideProgressBar	Show a progress bar on the slides. Options: none, top, bottom. Use the progress front matter property to change it for a slide.	none
demoTime.presentationTitle	The title for the {{presentationTitle}} placeholder in slide header and footer templates. When empty, the name of the workspace folder is used.	“
demoTime.slidePreviewSync	Sync the slide preview with the markdown editor: the preview shows the slide under the cursor, and double-clicking a slide moves the cursor to its source. Never applies in presentation mode.	true
demoTime.slideReducedMotion	Reduce motion on the slides: slide transitions become a short crossfade, and animations show their end state. Options: auto (follow the workbench.reduceMotion setting of VS Code and your OS), on, off.	auto
demoTime.pdfExport.includeHiddenSlides	Include hidden slides (hide: true) when exporting the slides to PDF.	false
demoTime.pdfExport.notes	Add the speaker notes of the slides to the PDF export. Options: none, below (below each slide), page (on a separate page after each slide).	none
demoTime.debug	Enable debug mode for Demo Time.	false
demoTime.openInConfigEditor	Open the act file in the act editor GUI.	true
demoTime.remote.showScreenshot	Enable remote screenshot functionality.	true
demoTime.remote.showNotes	Enable remote notes functionality.	true
demoTime.redaction.enabled	Enable redaction mode to automatically mask sensitive data (API keys, tokens, passwords, emails) during presentation mode.	false
demoTime.redaction.customPatterns	Additional regex patterns to redact sensitive data. Each pattern should be a valid JavaScript regular expression string.	[]
demoTime.recording.captureSaves	When recording a demo, capture file saves as save moves.	true
demoTime.analytics.enabled	Track timing, navigation and performance while presenting, for the analytics dashboard.	true
demoTime.videoExport.command	The command that runs the video export CLI. Only read from your user settings.	npx --yes @demotime/video@latest
demoTime.videoExport.extension	The Demo Time build to record the video export with: a Marketplace id (with @version) or a path to a VSIX. Empty uses the version you are running. Only read from your user settings.	“

Note

The demoTime.previousEnabled is by default disabled to avoid conflicts when the previous action inserted content into a file.

When you enable this setting, you can use the Demo Time: Previous command to go back to the previous step or use the left clicker button.

Terminal Command Boundary Delay

The demoTime.terminalCommandBoundaryDelay setting controls the delay between sequential terminal commands. The default value of 200ms works for most shells, but you may need to increase it if you experience command overlap or character bleed when running multiple commands in sequence.

When to increase this setting:

• You use a custom shell prompt (Oh My Posh, Starship, Powerlevel10k)
• You’re running VS Code 1.98+ (shell integration sequencing became less reliable)
• Commands appear to overlap in the terminal (e.g., commandAc instead of commandA followed by commandB)

Recommended values:

• 300-500ms: For custom shell prompts or unreliable shell integration
• 1000ms+: For PowerShell on Windows or other complex shell setups

Act file Format Examples

Demo Time supports both JSON and YAML formats for act files. You can configure the default format with the demoTime.defaultFileType setting.

JSON

{
  "$schema": "https://demotime.show/demo-time.schema.json",
  "title": "My Demo",
  "description": "A sample demo",
  "version": 3,
  "scenes": [
    {
      "title": "Step 1",
      "moves": [
        {
          "action": "create",
          "path": "test.txt",
          "content": "Hello World"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

YAML

title: My Demo
description: A sample demo
version: 3
scenes:
  - title: Step 1
    moves:
      - action: create
        path: test.txt
        content: Hello World