GitHub Repository

An open-source React component library and CLI for ASCII art animations, that also lets you create your own!

22 starsTypeScript

An Open-source React UI library for ASCII animations

Name: An Open-source React UI library for ASCII animations
Availability: InStock
Author: zekejohn

by zekejohn·Feb 17, 2026·4 points·3 comments

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AI Analysis

●●SolidEye CandyCozyNiche Gem

Video-to-ASCII converter with color preservation, but ASCII animations are niche eye candy.

Strengths

•Clever brightness-to-character mapping with font-ratio compensation prevents distortion.
•Performant frame cycling via requestAnimationFrame handles many simultaneous animations smoothly.
•CLI + React component combo covers both creation and playback workflows cleanly.

Weaknesses

•Limited practical use case—ASCII animations are mostly novelty, not functional UI.
•Requires ffmpeg and ImageMagick locally; no cloud-based conversion option for non-technical users.

Post Description

Hey HN :)

I made Rune, a composable React library for ASCII animations. It lets you drop in animated ASCII the same way you would an icon component.

Rune converts video into grids of colored ASCII characters that render directly as text in the browser. Brightness maps to character density (@ -> .), and output can be tuned for different levels of detail.

It’s designed to be lightweight and very performance focused, so animations stay smooth even at higher resolutions or if there many playing at a time!