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Products that do what Chafa.py – Terminal Graphics with Python does

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&#x2F;sixels&#x2F;iterm2 image protocols. Chafa.py aims to be intuitive and produce very readable code. I hope you like it <3

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    Rayli120

    📸 Generate image of a code block right from the terminal

    2022

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    Freeze118

    Generate images of code and terminal output

    2024

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    Fig216

    Visual apps and shortcuts for your terminal

    2020

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    Creating code samples in simple terminal interface

    2022

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    I started writing this mostly for the Pi but ended up building it to support multiple Linux OSs. It's intended to be just that, a small dashboard providing real-time details on the usage. Still a work in progress and was done for fun, there's a demo as well :). MIT license. https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pydash.net or http:&#x2F;&#x2F;k3oni.github.io&#x2F;pydash

    2014

  8. 8AP

    feast your eyes

    May 2026 · github.com

  9. 9RA

    Hello HN! Just wanted to share a small project I've been working for the last few months. It's a tool called Runal, a text-based creative coding environment that runs in the terminal. It works similarly as processing or p5js but it does all the rendering as text. And it can either be scripted with JavaScript or used as a Go package. It's open-source and cross-platform (linux, macOS, windows). It seems to me that text&#x2F;ascii-art aesthetics are really popular in creative coding communities, so I though it would make sense to create a tool that runs on a platform which can render text only.…

    2025 · github.com

  10. 10IM
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    Hey HN! I've been having a play with the idea of building a Python AST viewer that can be used in the terminal. It's very early days yet, but the basic approach is now available for playing with. Also on PyPi and works fine on GNU&#x2F;Linux, macOS and Windows.

    2022 · github.com

  12. 12NT

    I built a CLI tool that turns codebases and PRs into diagrams so you can quickly understand how things fit together. Originally made it because I couldn't follow my own AI-generated repos. Just shipped a big update: - Switched from D2 to Mermaid for rendering - Tree-sitter AST parsing + agentic flow instead of raw LLM calls. ~50x faster. - Works on any GitHub repo or PR, not just local - Dropped the web frontend, it's just a CLI now - Published as a pip package Still a ton to improve and I'm building fast. Feedback, issues, PRs all welcome.

    Feb 2026 · github.com

  13. 13SA

    The startup I work for has an internal, bash-based, cli that basically amounts to shared aliases with a common entrypoint. As the number of aliases has grown, I've had a desire to group functionality together in subcommands, add more help strings, and have better tab completion. I know I could convert it to, e.g., a python script, but I was curious what was possible if we continued to use bash. I couldn't find anything that solved those problems without lots of extra machinery. I understand why, shell scripts are generally not long, and focused on a dedicated task; adding cli features to…

    Mar 2026 · github.com

  14. 14DA

    https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;tombasche&#x2F;debut As part of work I was tasked with doing a presentation on a part of the Agile Manifesto, so as a way to make it interesting I initially decided to do it as an animated CLI app. Then I remembered curses existed! And a weekend later I ended up with a mini-framework for doing your own presentations in the terminal complete with borders, colours and keyboard interaction. It's also 100% Python with no external dependencies, so feel free to clone it and run it as the readme states.

    2020

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    Supports text and image generation. For text generation you can query, chat or enter a glob + a query. For any of the commands xargs-like argument replacement can be used. It's written using only go's standard library (plus go experimental, within my boilerplate package)

    2024 · github.com

  17. 17TC

    Agents can run non-interactive commands, but they often fail once a workflow needs a real terminal (SSH sessions, installers, debuggers, REPLs, TUIs). I built term-cli so an agent can drive an interactive terminal session (keystrokes in, output out, wait for prompts). And it comes with agent skill for easy integration. It supports in-band file transfer: the agent can move files through the terminal stream itself (same channel as the interactive session), which is useful when the agent doesn’t have scp&#x2F;sftp, shared volumes, or direct filesystem access across boundaries. Recent example:…

    Mar 2026 · github.com

  18. 18SH

    My first public repo intended to be used by others. While I am curious on how you'd use it, I'd love feedback on the code&#x2F;setup&#x2F;pythonic nature of it all. I am on a career break and just experimenting a lot, especially on ways to make AI useful for everyday things. I've coded more in the past 6 weeks than the past 6 years and don't know a lot of python devs. Python was never big language at my previous companies, but something I used a lot for tools and projects going back to college compiler days. Old habits die hard. Are there tools that do this as you screenshot? Probably...…

    2024 · github.com

  19. 19IM

    I made my first macOS utility app that ships with a bundled Gemma 4 model, specifically the Gemma E4B one. It made my app DMG have 5.3 GB in size, but I think it is a small size for the power that this free local model can provide. It runs fine on CPU, but can also run on Apple Silicon GPU, although I did not notice any performance improvements with GPU (tested on a M5 chip). I think these local lightweight and multimodal models will open multiple possibilities for new software tools where privacy is essential.

    May 2026 · snapname.app

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    Hi HN, I just released a very simple AI Shell &#x2F; CLI tool that lets you convert natural language directly into executable shell commands. Built with python to simplify terminal workflows and help you quickly run commands without memorizing syntax. It has two main usage modes: One-shot mode: Quickly execute commands using natural language. Example: ai "find all PNG files larger than 5MB" The AI responds with the appropriate command and asks if you want to execute it. Interactive chat mode: Start a terminal chat session with the AI (ai -i) to iteratively build commands or scripts. Some…

    2025 · github.com

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    Hi HN, I'm the author of FastMCP, the most popular Python framework for building MCP servers. I've been really excited about MCP Apps for a while. I think letting a server ship a fully interactive UI directly into the conversation is one of the most compelling additions to the protocol. I wanted to make this a first-class experience in FastMCP, but I kept getting stuck on what it actually means for a Python framework to integrate with a frontend feature. The JavaScript ecosystem has extraordinary tooling for this. I didn't want to build a worse version of it just to stay in Python. What…

    Apr 2026 · prefab.prefect.io

  24. 24MG

    Hello everybody, I built Memory Graph to help students (and myself) build a correct mental model of Python references, mutability, and copying, and to make debugging data structures less “print-driven”. It’s inspired by Python Tutor, but focuses on clearer graphs and on running locally in many different environments and debuggers. The Memory Graph Web Debugger quickly turns your web browser into a Python debugger where the whole program state is visualized in each step, clearly showing aliasing and the structure of the data, giving insight that is hard to get with just printing. Some…

    Jan 2026 · memory-graph.com

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