ascim

name	ascim
description	Create Manim-style ASCII animations in the terminal with the ascim_play Pi tool. Use when the user asks for an ASCII animation, terminal animation, CLI visualization, animated diagram, or educational math/programming animation.
license	MIT

ascim

Use the ascim_play tool to render terminal ASCII animations while chatting. Provide a structured scene spec, not Python code.

For a built-in 30-second smoke/demo flow, run /ascim-demo or /ascim-demo core.

Scene Spec

Recommended defaults:

• width: 60-100
• height: 16-28
• fps: 8-16
• total duration: under 15 seconds

Objects need stable id values. Supported object types:

• text: text, position, style
• dot: char, position, style
• line: start, end, char, style
• arrow: start, end, char, head, style
• vector: vector or end, optional start, char, head, style
• path: points, char, closed, style
• brace: length, position, orientation, side, char, style
• label: text, anchor, offset, pointer, pointer_char, style
• number_line: x_range, length, tick_every, label_every, position, style
• matrix: values, cell_width, position, style
• arc: radius, start_degrees, degrees, char, position, style
• rectangle: width, height, char, fill, position, style
• circle: radius, char, position, style
• axes: x_range, y_range, tick_every, style
• function_graph: expression, x_range, samples, char, style

Supported actions:

• add, remove, wait
• write, create, fade_in, fade_out
• move_to, shift, scale
• rotate: degrees or angle, optional about
• follow_path: points or a path object id
• morph_text: text
• animate with move_to, shift, scale, or rotate
• grouped play: { "type": "play", "duration": 1.0, "animations": [...] }

For explanatory scenes, add a short caption to each major action. Captions are shown outside the ASCII canvas, so they do not collide with the animation.

Example

{
  "scene": {
    "title": "orbit",
    "width": 72,
    "height": 20,
    "fps": 12,
    "objects": [
      {"id": "title", "type": "text", "text": "orbit", "position": [0, 8]},
      {"id": "ring", "type": "circle", "radius": 4, "char": ".", "style": {"fg": "bright_blue"}},
      {"id": "dot", "type": "dot", "char": "@", "position": [-8, 0], "style": {"fg": "bright_yellow", "bold": true}}
    ],
    "actions": [
      {"type": "write", "target": "title", "duration": 0.5},
      {"type": "play", "duration": 1.0, "animations": [
        {"type": "create", "target": "ring"},
        {"type": "fade_in", "target": "dot"}
      ], "caption": "Draw the path before moving the point."},
      {"type": "animate", "target": "dot", "move_to": [8, 0], "duration": 1.5, "caption": "The point moves across the circle."},
      {"type": "wait", "duration": 0.5, "caption": "Final state."}
    ]
  }
}

For explanatory motion, prefer these patterns:

{"type": "follow_path", "target": "dot", "path": "curve", "duration": 2.0}
{"type": "rotate", "target": "arrow", "degrees": 90, "about": [0, 0], "duration": 1.0}
{"type": "morph_text", "target": "equation", "text": "E = mc^2", "duration": 0.8}