Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to Chafa.py – Terminal Graphics with Python
Hey HN! I've been working on Python bindings for the C-API provided by the terminal image-visualizer chafa. Chafa allows you to view very reasonable approximations of images in your favourite terminal emulator by converting them to characters or, if your terminal is capable, kitty/sixels/iterm2 image protocols. Chafa.py aims to be intuitive and produce very readable code. I hope you like it <3
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Chafa.py – Terminal Graphics with Python launched in 2023; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1
A tool that lets you render beautiful graphics in both modern and classic terminal environments; this is the version 1.0 release announcement.
2019 · hpjansson.org · its alternatives →
- 2
I made a built-from scratch Wayland Compositor to display any GUI app* in the terminal! I think there is a lot of unexplored potential in custom Wayland compositors, a lot of really cool things you can embed existing applications into! So, I started with embedding apps into the terminal because that is the easiest input/output (output is just utf-8 and I use the great `chafa` library for that, and I just read from stdin for the input). If you have any other ideas for cool Wayland compositors, let me know. I purposedly wrote 80% the app in Typescript to appeal to the most developers and…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 3
Pichon for Mac▲270Best design graphics at your fingertips, just drag and drop
2021 · icons8.com · its alternatives →
- 4
Print your name in style. Contribute to arsham/figurine development by creating an account on GitHub.
2018 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 5
An awesome iTerm2 backend for Matplotlib, so you can plot directly in your terminal. - daleroberts/itermplot
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 6
Rayli▲120📸 Generate image of a code block right from the terminal
2022 · npmjs.com · its alternatives →
- 7TA
Whereas this is mostly a terminal eye-candy project to get you street cred, it does have some serious aspects. Firstly it solves the age-old problem of low-contrast text, like when you `ls` a broken symlink and the red background colour is too near your current theme's foreground colour. Tattoy solves this by using none other than the web's WCAG 2.1 contrast algorithm for accessible text. Secondly, an explicit design goal is that Tattoy should be able to polyfill new terminal protocols, the `xwayland` of the TTY if you will. Say if we want to experiment with completely deprecating ANSI…
2025 · tattoy.sh · its alternatives →
- 8
It requires no registration, no installation, and no configuration. Just run it on any computer and start drawing freely.
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 9
- 10
- 11
Not sure if I would post this for the last day of #marchintosh OR wait for tomorrow the 1st of April. Both apply equally. Anyway, here's a pet project of mine, I made it as a glued on for another pet project of mine, but it developed a life of it's own now and can soar skyward toward success, fame, and glory.
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 12
Creating code samples in simple terminal interface
2022 · terminalgif.com · its alternatives →
- 13
Screensavers for your terminal. Contribute to cxreiff/ttysvr development by creating an account on GitHub.
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 14
I've been working on an ANSI art editor off and on for a while. It works like a traditional ANSI text editor, except it supports 256 colors, Unicode and CP437 encoding, frame-based animation, custom UI themes, terminal mouse input, HTML and IRC color output, and runs in Utf-8 terminals. It's written in Python and curses, and is fairly portable across Unix systems. If you have ever used TheDraw or Aciddraw, the user interface is similar. It can also load/convert, view, edit and save most CP437 (MS-DOS style) ANSI art in a Utf-8 terminal, so you can view ANSI artscene packs in the comfort…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 15
I'm enthralled with using pen plotters to make generative art. Last August at SIGGRAPH, I built an interactive experience for others to see how code can be used to make visual art. The linked blog post is my trials and tribulations of linking a MIDI controller to one of these algorithms and sending its output to a plotter, so that people may witness the end-to-end experience.
2024 · lostpixels.io · its alternatives →
- 16
Last month, I started learning a Python TUI framework called Textual. After working on a 4x4 board game, I made an interactive app to test your CLI text processing skills with 40 beginner to intermediate level exercises. The app is fairly basic in terms of features — only single input file, so no stdin data, multiple files, etc. Most of the exercises in this app is based on my Computing from the Command Line ebook (https://learnbyexample.github.io/cli-computing/preface.html). I hope to improve the TUI app to support all the 200+ exercises sometime next year.
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 17
Render 3D models (OBJ, glTF, GLB, STL, .vox) as ASCII art — in the browser, in React or Vue, or straight in your terminal. A three.js-style API with no WebGL and no canvas: just text in a single <pre>.
Jun 2026 · glyphcss.com · its alternatives →
- 18
PyTermGUI is a highly modular framework offering most of the features one would expect from a GUI library, such as a mature and open Widget API, animations, mouse support and other goodies, right inside the terminal! The markup language is another great feature of the library, and is used by practically all elements of it. It is based on Rich's implementation, but uses a more concise and easier to humanly parse syntax, while being over 10 times faster at parsing due to a long list of optimizations. There is a full Window Manager API included as well, allowing the user to move, resize and…
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 19
Python package + CLI to generate stylistic wordclouds, including gradients and icon shapes! - minimaxir/stylecloud
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 20
I’ve been working on gotui, a modern fork of the unmaintained termui, rebuilt on top of tcell for TrueColor, mouse support, and proper resize handling. It keeps the simple termui-style API, but adds a bunch of new widgets (charts, gauges, world map, etc.), nicer visuals (collapsed borders, rounded corners), and input components for building real dashboards and tools. Under the hood the renderer’s been reworked for much better performance, and I’d love feedback on what’s missing for you to use it in production.
Dec 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 21
The lean application framework for Python. Build sophisticated user interfaces with a simple Python API. Run your apps in the terminal and a web browser. - textual/README.md at main · Textualize/textual
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 22
CPU rendered ASCII art shader writing tool with hot reloading. - danthedaniel/js-shaders
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 23
Create pixel art inside your terminal using vim movements - sebashwa/vixl44
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 24AA
2012 · ivolo.me · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →