curl-ascii

A CLI to generate a 'curlable' ASCII animation Go project, perfect for fun terminal demos or web-based terminal art!

Features

• Generate a Go project that prints animated ASCII art in the terminal
• Easily customize the number of frames and animation speed
• Make your animation accessible via curl from anywhere

Installation

Install globally using npm:

npm install -g curl-ascii

This will provide the curlme command.

Usage

1. Generate a Go ASCII Animation Project

Run the following command:

curlme now

You will be prompted for:

• Go project name (directory will be created)
• Number of frames (max 240)
• Frames per second (max 120)

Or, to use the default template (4 frames, 5 FPS):

curlme now --default

# Or

curlme now -d

This creates a folder with go.mod and main.go containing your animation.

2. Build the Go Project

Navigate into your new project folder:

cd <your-project-name>

Build the Go binary:

go build -o ascii-anim main.go

3. Make It Curlable

To make your animation accessible via curl, you need to serve the binary over HTTP. The easiest way is to use a simple HTTP server. For example, using Python:

python3 -m http.server 8080

Or with Go:

go install github.com/codeskyblue/gohttpserver@latest
# Then run:
gohttpserver -p 8080

Place your ascii-anim binary in the served directory.

Tip: You can also test your animation locally before serving by running:

go run main.go

and then, in another terminal, run:

curl localhost:8080

4. Host on a Public Site

• Deploy your binary and HTTP server to a VPS, cloud VM, or a service like Fly.io, Railway, or Render.
• Make sure the HTTP server is accessible from the public internet.

5. Curl Your Animation!

From anywhere, run:

curl <your-server-url>:8080/ascii-anim | bash

This downloads and runs your animation in the terminal!

Example: Full Workflow

# 1. Generate project
curlme now --default
# 2. Build
cd <your-project-name>
go build -o ascii-anim main.go
# 3. Serve
python3 -m http.server 8080
# 4. On another machine/terminal:
curl http://<your-ip>:8080/ascii-anim | bash

Extra: Ping Command

You can also use:

curlme ping [host]

To send a ping and get a pretty-printed response. (It defaults to go.dev if no host is specified)

License

\

MIT