ASCII Glitch GIF

Purpose

Use the bundled generator to create real looping GIFs in the black cyber-glitch / ASCII terminal style. The default path is literal character-art animation: detailed ASCII rows go in, looping GIF comes out. Legacy procedural presets still exist for quick tests, but new ASCII subjects should come from $detailed-ascii-art.

When the user says "ASCII", treat that as literal text-art made from characters, not merely ASCII-inspired linework. Default outputs should match the user's reference: black background, white monospaced characters, no labels, no border, and no scanlines. Add scanlines, frames, stamps, or terminal labels only when the user specifically asks.

Skill Chain

For any new subject, use $detailed-ascii-art first to create or refine a dense, polished monospaced ASCII composition. Preserve leading spaces and line breaks exactly. Save the finished ASCII to a .txt file, then run this skill's generator with --preset literal-ascii --ascii-file.

Only use built-in presets like literal-ascii-demon, spinning-angel, or ascii-demon when the user explicitly wants that preset or a fast test.

Quick Commands

Set paths:

SKILL_DIR="$HOME/.codex/skills/ascii-glitch-gif"
PY="/Users/tec/.cache/codex-runtimes/codex-primary-runtime/dependencies/python/bin/python3"
[ -x "$PY" ] || PY="python3"

Generate a GIF from detailed ASCII art:

"$PY" "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/generate_ascii_glitch_gif.py" \
  --preset literal-ascii \
  --ascii-file "$PWD/detailed-ascii-art.txt" \
  --spin \
  --out "$PWD/detailed-ascii-glitch.gif" \
  --preview-sheet "$PWD/detailed-ascii-glitch-contact.png"

Generate the built-in literal ASCII demon test:

"$PY" "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/generate_ascii_glitch_gif.py" \
  --preset literal-ascii-demon \
  --out "$PWD/ascii-demon-glitch-banner.gif" \
  --preview-sheet "$PWD/ascii-demon-glitch-banner-contact.png"

Generate from a pasted/custom ASCII art file:

"$PY" "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/generate_ascii_glitch_gif.py" \
  --preset literal-ascii \
  --ascii-file "$PWD/custom-ascii.txt" \
  --out "$PWD/custom-ascii-glitch.gif"

Generate a quick procedural spinning angel test:

"$PY" "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/generate_ascii_glitch_gif.py" \
  --preset spinning-angel \
  --out "$PWD/spinning-angel-glitch-banner.gif" \
  --preview-sheet "$PWD/spinning-angel-glitch-banner-contact.png"

Generate a larger wallpaper-style loop:

"$PY" "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/generate_ascii_glitch_gif.py" \
  --width 1920 \
  --height 1080 \
  --frames 72 \
  --duration 45 \
  --text "KASHWORLD" \
  --out "$PWD/spinning-angel-glitch-wallpaper.gif"

Workflow

1. Choose the output format:
   • 680x240 for Discord/Pinterest-style banners.
   • 1920x1080, 2560x1440, or the user's display size for wallpaper loops.
2. If the user asks for a new subject, invoke $detailed-ascii-art mentally/procedurally first and produce the full ASCII composition.
3. Write the ASCII composition to a .txt file with exact spacing preserved.
4. Run --preset literal-ascii --ascii-file "/path/to/art.txt".
5. Leave --text and --title unset by default for clean art with no labels.
6. Use --text only when the user asks for a lower-right stamp, such as KASHWORLD, DEM0NHUB, or 30WONTJAM.
7. Use --title only when the user asks for an upper-left terminal label.
8. Use --scanlines only when the user asks for CRT scanlines.
9. Use --frame only when the user asks for a thin rectangular border.
10. Use --glitch-bars only when the user asks for bright horizontal glitch bars.
11. Use --red-accent only when the user asks for red demon accents.
12. Use --spin when the user asks for spinning, rotating, turning, or orbiting literal ASCII art.
13. Use --seed to make alternate variants while keeping the same overall composition.
14. Generate a --preview-sheet when visual QA is useful; inspect it before final delivery.
15. For wallpaper use, combine this skill with macos-gif-wallpaper after generation.

Implementation Notes

• Script: scripts/generate_ascii_glitch_gif.py
• Current presets: literal-ascii, literal-ascii-demon, spinning-angel, ascii-demon
• Default size: 680x240
• Default frame count: 56
• Default duration: 45 ms per frame
• Default preset: literal-ascii, requiring --ascii-file
• Default output: detailed-ascii-glitch.gif
• Text overlays are off by default. Do not add a title or stamp unless the user asks.
• Scanlines, borders, bright horizontal glitch bars, and red accents are off by default.
• Spinning is off by default; add --spin when requested.

The script requires Pillow. Prefer the bundled Codex primary runtime Python when available because it includes a working ARM64 Pillow build on this machine. If Pillow is missing, install it into a local virtual environment rather than modifying system Python.

Keep GIF sizes practical. For large wallpaper loops, reduce --colors, --frames, or dimensions if the file becomes too heavy.

Style Guide

• Keep the visual base mostly black with white/blue-white linework.
• For ASCII requests, favor real monospaced character art with preserved spacing. Use literal-ascii-demon or --ascii-file for pasted art.
• The expected ASCII quality bar comes from $detailed-ascii-art: 50-100 characters wide, 18-45 lines tall, strong silhouette, layered internal texture, and balanced line lengths.
• Good prompt/style terms: black ASCII glitch, cyberpunk terminal, CRT scanline, VHS noise, datamosh, monochrome angel, occult glyph orbit, Discord GIF banner.
• Avoid bright rainbow palettes unless the user asks; the signature look is dark, sharp, and haunted-tech. Keep the main reference look monochrome unless asked otherwise.