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😺 ChromaCat ✨

Because your terminal deserves to be fabulous ✨

Build Status crates.io License Documentation Patterns Themes

ChromaCat is a turbocharged terminal colorizer written in Rust that brings stunning gradient patterns and animations to your command-line experience. Think lolcat but with superpowers! 🚀

✨ Features

  • 🎨 Rich Pattern Library: Twelve distinct pattern types from simple gradients to complex effects
  • 🌈 40+ Built-in Themes: Everything from classic rainbow to custom color schemes
  • 🔄 Smooth Animations: Breathe life into your terminal with fluid color transitions
  • 🎮 Interactive Mode: Real-time control over animations and effects
  • 🎯 Precise Control: Fine-tune every aspect of your gradients
  • 🦀 Blazing Fast: Optimized Rust implementation with minimal overhead
  • 🌍 Full Unicode Support: Works beautifully with emojis and international text
  • 📱 Terminal-Aware: Adapts to terminal dimensions and capabilities
  • 🎨 Custom Themes: Create and share your own color schemes

🚀 Installation

Using Cargo (Recommended)

cargo install chromacat

From Source

git clone https://github.com/hyperb1iss/chromacat
cd chromacat
cargo build --release

Homebrew

brew install hyperb1iss/tap/chromacat

🎯 Quick Start

# Basic usage
echo "Hello, ChromaCat!" | chromacat

# Choose a theme
ls -la | chromacat -t cyberpunk

# Add some animation
cat your_file.txt | chromacat -a

# Use a specific pattern
echo "Wave pattern!" | chromacat -p wave --param amplitude=1.5

🎨 Pattern Types

ChromaCat offers twelve pattern types for dynamic colorization:

  • diagonal - Angled gradient with customizable direction (default)
  • horizontal - Classic left-to-right gradient
  • plasma - Psychedelic plasma effect using sine waves
  • ripple - Concentric circles emanating from center
  • wave - Flowing wave distortion pattern
  • spiral - Hypnotic spiral pattern from center
  • checkerboard - Alternating gradient colors in a grid
  • diamond - Diamond-shaped gradient pattern
  • perlin - Organic, cloud-like noise pattern
  • rain - Matrix-style digital rain effect
  • fire - Dynamic flame simulation
  • aurora - Northern lights simulation

🎨 Theme Gallery

ChromaCat comes with over 40 built-in themes across multiple categories. Here's a sample of what's available:

🌌 Space Themes

Experience cosmic-inspired gradients perfect for sci-fi interfaces and space-themed applications.

nebula
Nebula theme 		cosmos
Cosmos theme 		aurora
Aurora theme 		galaxy
Galaxy theme

💻 Tech Themes

Modern, cyberpunk-inspired themes that bring a digital aesthetic to your terminal.

matrix
Matrix theme 		cyberpunk
Cyberpunk theme 		hackerman
Hackerman theme 		quantum
Quantum theme

🎭 Aesthetic Themes

Stylish gradients perfect for creative and artistic applications.

pastel
Pastel theme 		neon
Neon theme 		retrowave
Retrowave theme 		vaporwave
Vaporwave theme

🎉 Party Themes

Vibrant, energetic themes that bring celebration to your terminal.

rave
Rave theme 		disco
Disco theme 		festival
Festival theme 		carnival
Carnival theme

🎓 Abstract Themes

Experimental and artistic gradients for unique visual effects.

fire
Fire theme 		toxic
Toxic theme 		glitch
Glitch theme 		plasma
Plasma theme

🌈 Pride Themes

Celebrate diversity with these pride flag-inspired gradients.

lesbian
Lesbian theme 		trans
Trans theme 		nonbinary
Nonbinary theme 		progress
Progress theme

💫 Usage Examples

Basic Text Coloring

# Simple gradient
echo "Hello, World!" | chromacat

# Use the cyberpunk theme
echo "Hello, ChromaCat!" | chromacat -t cyberpunk

# Multiple files
chromacat file1.txt file2.txt

Pattern Selection and Customization

# Diagonal gradient at 45 degrees
chromacat -p diagonal --param angle=45 file.txt

# Plasma effect with custom settings
chromacat -p plasma --param complexity=3.0,scale=1.5 file.txt

# Wave pattern with customization
chromacat -p wave --param amplitude=1.5,frequency=2.0 file.txt

# Ripple pattern from center
chromacat -p ripple --param wavelength=1.0,damping=0.5 file.txt

# Fire effect with custom parameters
chromacat -p fire --param "intensity=1.5,speed=2.0,turbulence=0.7,wind=true"

# Aurora effect simulation
chromacat -p aurora --param "intensity=1.2,waviness=1.5,layers=4"

# Matrix-style digital rain
chromacat -p pixel_rain --param "speed=1.5,density=2.0,length=5,glitch=true"

Animation Effects

# Basic animation
cat your_file.txt | chromacat -a

# Smooth animation with custom FPS
ls -la | chromacat -a --fps 60 --smooth

# Infinite animation
chromacat --animate --duration 0 file.txt

Advanced Usage

# Combine with other commands
git status | chromacat -p ripple -t neon

# Custom animation speed
find . -type f | chromacat -a --speed 0.5

# Progress logging with style
yarn build | chromacat -t cyberpunk

🎮 Interactive Controls

When running in animation mode (-a):

  • Space - Pause/Resume animation
  • T - Cycle through themes
  • P - Cycle through patterns
  • Q or Esc - Quit
  • ← → - Adjust animation speed
  • ↑ ↓ - Scroll through content

🛠 Configuration Options

Common Parameters

  • --frequency <0.1-10.0> - Base pattern frequency
  • --amplitude <0.1-2.0> - Pattern intensity
  • --speed <0.0-1.0> - Animation speed

Animation Settings

  • --fps <1-144> - Frames per second
  • --duration <seconds> - Animation duration (0 for infinite)
  • --smooth - Enable smooth transitions
  • --no-color - Disable colored output

Pattern-Specific Parameters

# Plasma
chromacat -p plasma --param complexity=3.0,scale=1.5,blend_mode=add

# Ripple
chromacat -p ripple --param wavelength=1.0,damping=0.5,center_x=0.5,center_y=0.5

# Wave
chromacat -p wave --param amplitude=1.0,frequency=2.0,phase=0.0,offset=0.5

# Spiral
chromacat -p spiral --param density=2.0,rotation=90,expansion=1.5

# Checkerboard
chromacat -p checkerboard --param size=2,blur=0.1,rotation=45

# Fire
chromacat -p fire --param intensity=1.5,turbulence=0.8,height=1.2,wind_strength=0.5

# Aurora
chromacat -p aurora --param intensity=1.2,waviness=1.5,layers=4,spread=0.4

# Pixel Rain
chromacat -p pixel_rain --param speed=2.0,density=1.5,length=4,glitch_freq=1.0

🎨 Custom Themes

ChromaCat supports custom theme creation through YAML files. See our Custom Theme Guide for detailed instructions on creating your own color schemes.

# Load and use a custom theme
chromacat --theme-file mythemes.yaml -t my-custom-theme

🏗️ Architecture

For developers interested in ChromaCat's internal design and contributing to the project, check out our Architecture Overview.

🔧 Integration Tips

Shell Aliases

# Add to your .bashrc or .zshrc
alias cat="chromacat"
alias ls="ls --color=always | chromacat -t ocean"
alias gl="git log --oneline --graph | chromacat -p wave -t neon"

Build Logs

# Make your build logs fabulous
npm run build | chromacat -t cyberpunk
cargo build 2>&1 | chromacat -p plasma -t matrix

System Monitoring

# Colorful system monitoring
watch -n1 "ps aux | sort -rn -k 3,3 | head -n 5 | chromacat -t heat"

🤝 Contributing

Yes please!

  1. Fork the repository
  2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
  3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
  4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
  5. Open a Pull Request

📄 License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Created by Stefanie Jane 🌠

If you find ChromaCat useful, buy me a Monster Ultra Violet! ⚡️