w.is

What is, who is, where is — w.is

Ask it anything. It'll draw a picture and tell you a story.

$ w.is banana

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                    Banana
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
            %%%%@@%%@@%%@@░@░▒▒░░░░░@- %@@@%@%%%##*=+#
            #%%@@@@░@%@@@░░@-:%▒░░░@*==+#@@@@####+=:-#
            %@@@%░@#=-#░%-=*. .+░░@=+-+++%░%#%%####*+%
            @@@+.+:--%%@%.  . +.=░==*-*++*##%%*%%###*@
            @#=:.:::=@ .--    .  :*%░:++++*%%*#%###*#@
            %::=-::==%*  .:  ... .-%░@%░░*#%**####**░░
            %::==-====**- ::....   .@▒▒▒▒%#*+#**##+@░░
            @+::==:==++++:.  -:.+*░▒▒▒▒▒▓▓░#@#:*##*░░░
            @%+::=====+**#*+==+#%▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒@*=#░░░
            @@@#=:::=====+*#%%%%%▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒░@░@%#
            @@@░░%*=:::===+*%░▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒░@%#*+=::---.
            @@@░░░▒▒░%%###*+==░░░@#*+=::-...  ....---:

  [living thing]
  Tropical, edible, staple fruit
  species: – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana, or their hybrids
  genus: Musa
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Want the truth? Just ask.

$ w.is --is banana --a fruit
true

$ w.is --is banana --a vegetable
false

Install

Pick your poison:

npm install -g @elephant_dev/w.is
# or
bun install -g @elephant_dev/w.is

Then run:

w.is <name>

Or one-shot it:

npx @elephant_dev/w.is banana
bunx @elephant_dev/w.is banana

Usage

Look things up:

w.is <name>

Verify claims:

w.is --is <subject> --a <predicate>

Examples:

w.is einstein
w.is france
w.is --is saturn --a planet

How it works

1. Fetches the Wikipedia page for whatever you asked about
2. Downloads the article image and converts it to colored ASCII art
3. Extracts a short bio — description, lifespan, awards, medals, achievements
4. Prints it all to your terminal in glorious ANSI true color

If you use --is / --a, it skips the art and just tells you true or false by cross-referencing Wikipedia data.

The tool auto-detects your terminal's background (dark or light) so the art looks right every time.

Categories

w.is sorts every entity into one of four buckets:

| Category | Example | |----------|---------| | person | Einstein, Duplantis, Cleopatra | | place | France, Tokyo, Amazon River | | living_thing | Banana, Lion, Giant Sequoia | | thing | Saturn, Moon, Internet |

Each gets a tailored bio — athletes get their medals, cities get their population, species get their taxonomy.

Requirements

• Node.js 18 or later (or Bun for development)
• A terminal that speaks ANSI true color (the 2020s called)

License

MIT — go nuts.

Disclaimer

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