Hermes-agent ascii-art

Generate ASCII art using pyfiglet (571 fonts), cowsay, boxes, toilet, image-to-ascii, remote APIs (asciified, ascii.co.uk), and LLM fallback. No API keys required.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/skills/creative/ascii-art" ~/.claude/skills/nousresearch-hermes-agent-ascii-art-366f0a && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: skills/creative/ascii-art/SKILL.md

ASCII Art Skill

Multiple tools for different ASCII art needs. All tools are local CLI programs or free REST APIs — no API keys required.

Tool 1: Text Banners (pyfiglet — local)

Render text as large ASCII art banners. 571 built-in fonts.

Setup

pip install pyfiglet --break-system-packages -q

Usage

python3 -m pyfiglet "YOUR TEXT" -f slant
python3 -m pyfiglet "TEXT" -f doom -w 80    # Set width
python3 -m pyfiglet --list_fonts             # List all 571 fonts

Recommended fonts

Style	Font	Best for
Clean & modern	`slant`	Project names, headers
Bold & blocky	`doom`	Titles, logos
Big & readable	`big`	Banners
Classic banner	`banner3`	Wide displays
Compact	`small`	Subtitles
Cyberpunk	`cyberlarge`	Tech themes
3D effect	`3-d`	Splash screens
Gothic	`gothic`	Dramatic text

Tips

Preview 2-3 fonts and let the user pick their favorite
Short text (1-8 chars) works best with detailed fonts like
```
doom
```
or
```
block
```
Long text works better with compact fonts like
```
small
```
or
```
mini
```

Tool 2: Text Banners (asciified API — remote, no install)

Free REST API that converts text to ASCII art. 250+ FIGlet fonts. Returns plain text directly — no parsing needed. Use this when pyfiglet is not installed or as a quick alternative.

Usage (via terminal curl)

# Basic text banner (default font)
curl -s "https://asciified.thelicato.io/api/v2/ascii?text=Hello+World"

# With a specific font
curl -s "https://asciified.thelicato.io/api/v2/ascii?text=Hello&font=Slant"
curl -s "https://asciified.thelicato.io/api/v2/ascii?text=Hello&font=Doom"
curl -s "https://asciified.thelicato.io/api/v2/ascii?text=Hello&font=Star+Wars"
curl -s "https://asciified.thelicato.io/api/v2/ascii?text=Hello&font=3-D"
curl -s "https://asciified.thelicato.io/api/v2/ascii?text=Hello&font=Banner3"

# List all available fonts (returns JSON array)
curl -s "https://asciified.thelicato.io/api/v2/fonts"

Tips

URL-encode spaces as
```
+
```
in the text parameter
The response is plain text ASCII art — no JSON wrapping, ready to display
Font names are case-sensitive; use the fonts endpoint to get exact names
Works from any terminal with curl — no Python or pip needed

Tool 3: Cowsay (Message Art)

Classic tool that wraps text in a speech bubble with an ASCII character.

Setup

sudo apt install cowsay -y    # Debian/Ubuntu
# brew install cowsay         # macOS

Usage

cowsay "Hello World"
cowsay -f tux "Linux rules"       # Tux the penguin
cowsay -f dragon "Rawr!"          # Dragon
cowsay -f stegosaurus "Roar!"     # Stegosaurus
cowthink "Hmm..."                  # Thought bubble
cowsay -l                          # List all characters

Available characters (50+)

beavis.zen

bong

bunny

cheese

daemon

default

dragon

dragon-and-cow

elephant

eyes

flaming-skull

ghostbusters

hellokitty

kiss

kitty

koala

luke-koala

mech-and-cow

meow

moofasa

moose

ren

sheep

skeleton

small

stegosaurus

stimpy

supermilker

surgery

three-eyes

turkey

turtle

tux

udder

vader

vader-koala

www

Eye/tongue modifiers

cowsay -b "Borg"       # =_= eyes
cowsay -d "Dead"       # x_x eyes
cowsay -g "Greedy"     # $_$ eyes
cowsay -p "Paranoid"   # @_@ eyes
cowsay -s "Stoned"     # *_* eyes
cowsay -w "Wired"      # O_O eyes
cowsay -e "OO" "Msg"   # Custom eyes
cowsay -T "U " "Msg"   # Custom tongue

Tool 4: Boxes (Decorative Borders)

Draw decorative ASCII art borders/frames around any text. 70+ built-in designs.

Setup

sudo apt install boxes -y    # Debian/Ubuntu
# brew install boxes         # macOS

Usage

echo "Hello World" | boxes                    # Default box
echo "Hello World" | boxes -d stone           # Stone border
echo "Hello World" | boxes -d parchment       # Parchment scroll
echo "Hello World" | boxes -d cat             # Cat border
echo "Hello World" | boxes -d dog             # Dog border
echo "Hello World" | boxes -d unicornsay      # Unicorn
echo "Hello World" | boxes -d diamonds        # Diamond pattern
echo "Hello World" | boxes -d c-cmt           # C-style comment
echo "Hello World" | boxes -d html-cmt        # HTML comment
echo "Hello World" | boxes -a c               # Center text
boxes -l                                       # List all 70+ designs

Combine with pyfiglet or asciified

python3 -m pyfiglet "HERMES" -f slant | boxes -d stone
# Or without pyfiglet installed:
curl -s "https://asciified.thelicato.io/api/v2/ascii?text=HERMES&font=Slant" | boxes -d stone

Tool 5: TOIlet (Colored Text Art)

Like pyfiglet but with ANSI color effects and visual filters. Great for terminal eye candy.

Setup

sudo apt install toilet toilet-fonts -y    # Debian/Ubuntu
# brew install toilet                      # macOS

Usage

toilet "Hello World"                    # Basic text art
toilet -f bigmono12 "Hello"            # Specific font
toilet --gay "Rainbow!"                 # Rainbow coloring
toilet --metal "Metal!"                 # Metallic effect
toilet -F border "Bordered"             # Add border
toilet -F border --gay "Fancy!"         # Combined effects
toilet -f pagga "Block"                 # Block-style font (unique to toilet)
toilet -F list                          # List available filters

Filters

crop

gay

(rainbow),

metal

flip

flop

left

right

border

Note: toilet outputs ANSI escape codes for colors — works in terminals but may not render in all contexts (e.g., plain text files, some chat platforms).

Tool 6: Image to ASCII Art

Convert images (PNG, JPEG, GIF, WEBP) to ASCII art.

Option A: ascii-image-converter (recommended, modern)

# Install
sudo snap install ascii-image-converter
# OR: go install github.com/TheZoraiz/ascii-image-converter@latest

ascii-image-converter image.png                  # Basic
ascii-image-converter image.png -C               # Color output
ascii-image-converter image.png -d 60,30         # Set dimensions
ascii-image-converter image.png -b               # Braille characters
ascii-image-converter image.png -n               # Negative/inverted
ascii-image-converter https://url/image.jpg      # Direct URL
ascii-image-converter image.png --save-txt out   # Save as text

Option B: jp2a (lightweight, JPEG only)

sudo apt install jp2a -y
jp2a --width=80 image.jpg
jp2a --colors image.jpg              # Colorized

Tool 7: Search Pre-Made ASCII Art

Search curated ASCII art from the web. Use

terminal

with

curl

Source A: ascii.co.uk (recommended for pre-made art)

Large collection of classic ASCII art organized by subject. Art is inside HTML

<pre>

tags. Fetch the page with curl, then extract art with a small Python snippet.

URL pattern:

https://ascii.co.uk/art/{subject}

Step 1 — Fetch the page:

curl -s 'https://ascii.co.uk/art/cat' -o /tmp/ascii_art.html

Step 2 — Extract art from pre tags:

import re, html
with open('/tmp/ascii_art.html') as f:
    text = f.read()
arts = re.findall(r'<pre[^>]*>(.*?)</pre>', text, re.DOTALL)
for art in arts:
    clean = re.sub(r'<[^>]+>', '', art)
    clean = html.unescape(clean).strip()
    if len(clean) > 30:
        print(clean)
        print('\n---\n')

Available subjects (use as URL path):

Animals:

cat

dog

horse

bird

fish

dragon

snake

rabbit

elephant

dolphin

butterfly

owl

wolf

bear

penguin

turtle

Objects:

car

ship

airplane

rocket

guitar

computer

coffee

beer

cake

house

castle

sword

crown

key

Nature:

tree

flower

sun

moon

star

mountain

ocean

rainbow

Characters:
```
skull
```
,
```
robot
```
,
```
angel
```
,
```
wizard
```
,
```
pirate
```
,
```
ninja
```
,
```
alien
```
Holidays:
```
christmas
```
,
```
halloween
```
,
```
valentine
```

Tips:

Preserve artist signatures/initials — important etiquette
Multiple art pieces per page — pick the best one for the user
Works reliably via curl, no JavaScript needed

Source B: GitHub Octocat API (fun easter egg)

Returns a random GitHub Octocat with a wise quote. No auth needed.

curl -s https://api.github.com/octocat

Tool 8: Fun ASCII Utilities (via curl)

These free services return ASCII art directly — great for fun extras.

QR Codes as ASCII Art

curl -s "qrenco.de/Hello+World"
curl -s "qrenco.de/https://example.com"

Weather as ASCII Art

curl -s "wttr.in/London"          # Full weather report with ASCII graphics
curl -s "wttr.in/Moon"            # Moon phase in ASCII art
curl -s "v2.wttr.in/London"       # Detailed version

Tool 9: LLM-Generated Custom Art (Fallback)

When tools above don't have what's needed, generate ASCII art directly using these Unicode characters:

Character Palette

Box Drawing:

╔ ╗ ╚ ╝ ║ ═ ╠ ╣ ╦ ╩ ╬ ┌ ┐ └ ┘ │ ─ ├ ┤ ┬ ┴ ┼ ╭ ╮ ╰ ╯

Block Elements:

░ ▒ ▓ █ ▄ ▀ ▌ ▐ ▖ ▗ ▘ ▝ ▚ ▞

Geometric & Symbols:

◆ ◇ ◈ ● ○ ◉ ■ □ ▲ △ ▼ ▽ ★ ☆ ✦ ✧ ◀ ▶ ◁ ▷ ⬡ ⬢ ⌂

Rules

Max width: 60 characters per line (terminal-safe)
Max height: 15 lines for banners, 25 for scenes
Monospace only: output must render correctly in fixed-width fonts

Decision Flow

Text as a banner → pyfiglet if installed, otherwise asciified API via curl
Wrap a message in fun character art → cowsay
Add decorative border/frame → boxes (can combine with pyfiglet/asciified)
Art of a specific thing (cat, rocket, dragon) → ascii.co.uk via curl + parsing
Convert an image to ASCII → ascii-image-converter or jp2a
QR code → qrenco.de via curl
Weather/moon art → wttr.in via curl
Something custom/creative → LLM generation with Unicode palette
Any tool not installed → install it, or fall back to next option