Inline Visual Effects in the Terminal
- About
- Requirements
- Installation
- Usage (Application)
- Usage (Library)
- Effect Showcase
- In-Development Preview
- Latest Release Notes
- License
TerminalTextEffects (TTE) is a terminal visual effects engine. TTE can be installed as a system application to produce effects in your terminal, or as a Python library to enable effects within your Python scripts/applications. TTE includes a growing library of built-in effects which showcase the engine's features. These features include:
- Xterm 256 / RGB hex color support
- Complex character movement via Paths, Waypoints, and motion easing, with support for quadratic/cubic bezier curves.
- Complex animations via Scenes with symbol/color changes, layers, easing, and Path synced progression.
- Variable stop/step color gradient generation.
- Event handling for Path/Scene state changes with custom callback support and many pre-defined actions.
- Effect customization exposed through a typed effect configuration dataclass that is automatically handled as CLI arguments.
- Runs inline, preserving terminal state and workflow.
TerminalTextEffects is written in Python and does not require any 3rd party modules. Terminal interactions use standard ANSI terminal sequences and should work in most modern terminals.
Note: Windows Terminal performance is slow for some effects.
pip install terminaltexteffects
OR
pipx install terminaltexteffects
Add it as an input to a flake:
inputs = {
terminaltexteffects.url = "github:ChrisBuilds/terminaltexteffects/<optional-ref>"
}
Create a shell with it:
nix shell github:ChrisBuilds/terminaltexteffects/<optional-ref>
Or run it directly:
echo 'terminaltexteffects is awesome' | nix run github:ChrisBuilds/terminaltexteffects/<optional-ref> -- beams
Fetch the source and add it to, e.g. your shell:
let
pkgs = import <nixpkgs> {};
tte = pkgs.callPackage (pkgs.fetchFromGitHub {
owner = "ChrisBuilds";
repo = "terminaltexteffects";
rev = "<revision, e.g. main/v0.10.0/etc.>";
hash = ""; # Build first, put proper hash in place
}) {};
in
pkgs.mkShell {
packages = [tte];
}
View the Documentation for a full installation and usage guide.
TTE Command Line Options
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--input-file INPUT_FILE, -i INPUT_FILE
File to read input from (default: None)
--tab-width (int > 0)
Number of spaces to use for a tab character. (default: 4)
--xterm-colors Convert any colors specified in RBG hex to the closest XTerm-256 color.
(default: False)
--no-color Disable all colors in the effect. (default: False)
--wrap-text Wrap text wider than the canvas width. (default: False)
--frame-rate FRAME_RATE
Target frame rate for the animation. (default: 100)
--canvas-width CANVAS_WIDTH
Canvas width, if set to 0 the canvas width is detected automatically based on
the terminal device. (default: 0)
--canvas-height CANVAS_HEIGHT
Canvas height, if set to 0 the canvas height is detected automatically based on
the terminal device. (default: 0)
--ignore-terminal-dimensions
Ignore the terminal dimensions and use the input data dimensions for the
canvas. (default: False)
Effect:
Name of the effect to apply. Use <effect> -h for effect specific help.
{beams,binarypath,blackhole,bouncyballs,bubbles,burn,colorshift,crumble,decrypt,errorcorrect,expand,fireworks,middleout,orbittingvolley,overflow,pour,print,rain,randomsequence,rings,scattered,slice,slide,spotlights,spray,swarm,synthgrid,unstable,vhstape,waves,wipe}
Available Effects
beams Create beams which travel over the canvas illuminating the characters behind
them.
binarypath Binary representations of each character move through the terminal towards the
home coordinate of the character.
blackhole Characters are consumed by a black hole and explode outwards.
bouncyballs Characters are bouncy balls falling from the top of the canvas.
bubbles Characters are formed into bubbles that float down and pop.
burn Burns vertically in the canvas.
colorshift Display a gradient that shifts colors across the terminal.
crumble Characters lose color and crumble into dust, vacuumed up, and reformed.
decrypt Display a movie style decryption effect.
errorcorrect Some characters start in the wrong position and are corrected in sequence.
expand Expands the text from a single point.
fireworks Characters launch and explode like fireworks and fall into place.
middleout Text expands in a single row or column in the middle of the canvas then out.
orbittingvolley Four launchers orbit the canvas firing volleys of characters inward to build
the input text from the center out.
overflow Input text overflows ands scrolls the terminal in a random order until
eventually appearing ordered.
pour Pours the characters into position from the given direction.
print Lines are printed one at a time following a print head. Print head performs
line feed, carriage return.
rain Rain characters from the top of the canvas.
randomsequence Prints the input data in a random sequence.
rings Characters are dispersed and form into spinning rings.
scattered Text is scattered across the canvas and moves into position.
slice Slices the input in half and slides it into place from opposite directions.
slide Slide characters into view from outside the terminal.
spotlights Spotlights search the text area, illuminating characters, before converging in
the center and expanding.
spray Draws the characters spawning at varying rates from a single point.
swarm Characters are grouped into swarms and move around the terminal before settling
into position.
synthgrid Create a grid which fills with characters dissolving into the final text.
unstable Spawn characters jumbled, explode them to the edge of the canvas, then
reassemble them in the correct layout.
vhstape Lines of characters glitch left and right and lose detail like an old VHS tape.
waves Waves travel across the terminal leaving behind the characters.
wipe Wipes the text across the terminal to reveal characters.
Ex: ls -a | python -m terminaltexteffects decrypt --typing-speed 2 --ciphertext-colors 008000 00cb00 00ff00 --final-gradient-stops eda000 --final-gradient-steps 12 --final-gradient-direction vertical
cat your_text | tte <effect> [options]
OR
cat your_text | python -m terminaltexteffects <effect> [options]
- Use
<effect> -h
to view options for a specific effect, such as color or movement direction.- Ex:
tte decrypt -h
- Ex:
For more information, view the Application Usage Guide.
All effects are iterators which return a string representing the current frame. Basic usage is as simple as importing the effect, instantiating it with the input text, and iterating over the effect.
from terminaltexteffects.effects import effect_rain
effect = effect_rain.Rain("your text here")
for frame in effect:
# do something with the string
...
In the event you want to allow TTE to handle the terminal setup/teardown, cursor positioning, and animation frame rate, a terminal_output() context manager is available.
from terminaltexteffects.effects import effect_rain
effect = effect_rain.Rain("your text here")
with effect.terminal_output() as terminal:
for frame in effect:
terminal.print(frame)
For more information, view the Library Usage Guide.
Note: Below you'll find a subset of the built-in effects.
View all of the effects and related information in the Effects Showroom.
Any effects shown below are in development and will be available in the next release.
Visit the ChangeBlog for release write-ups.
- Performance improvements to geometry functions related to circles.
- Fixed swarm effect not handling the first swarm (bottom right characters) resulting in missing characters in the output.
- ColorShift: Display a gradient that shifts colors across the terminal. Supports standing and traveling gradients in the following directions: vertical, horizontal, diagonal, radial. The final gradient appearance is optional using the --skips-final-gradient argument. This effect supports infinite looping when imported by setting ColorShiftConfig.cycles to 0. This functionality is not available when run from the TTE application.
- File input: Use the
--input-file
or-i
option to pass a file as input.
- Added
--wave-direction
config to Waves effect. - Added additional directions to
--wipe-direction
config in Wipe effect. - VerticalSlice is now Slice and supports vertical, horizontal, and diagonal slice directions.
- Increased compatibility with Python versions from >=3.10 to >=3.8
- Updated type information for gradient step variables to accept a single int as well as tuple[int, ...].
- Color TypeAlias replaced with Color class. Color objects are used throughout the engine.
- Renamed OutputArea to Canvas.
- Changed center gradient direction to radial.
- Characters created as
fill_characters
now adhere to--no-color
and--xterm-colors
.
- Added cookbook to the documentation and animated prompt example.
- Added printing
Color
andGradient
objects examples to docs.
Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.