artscii

ASCII art & kaomoji for AI agents, CLI tools, and chatbots. 101 built-in arts + 100 kaomoji, searchable via MCP or REST API.

     .::-::.         .:-::.        --- apple (16w) ---
  .=#%@@@@@%#=:  .=*%@@@@@%#+:           +:
 -%@@@@@@@@@@@%*+%@@@@@@@@@@@%+      :--:#*.--:
.%@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@-    -#@@@@#%@@@@%=
-@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@*   :@@@%****+#%@@@:
.%@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@=   -@%%%+*@@+*@%%@-
 =@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@*     *@@%+*+#=#%@@#
  -#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@%=       +%@@@#@@@@%+
    =%@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@%*.         .-+**=*+=.
      =#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@%+.
        =#@@@@@@@@@@@@%+.    ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ  (◕‿◕)  (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
          -#@@@@@@@@%+.
            -#@@@@%=.
              -*#=

Use Cases

Give your CLI personality. Replace boring spinners with ASCII art loading screens, success badges, or error illustrations.

import { execSync } from 'child_process';
// npx artscii runs the MCP server — or just fetch from the REST API:
const art = await fetch('http://localhost:3001/art/trophy/raw').then(r => r.text());
console.log(art); // 16w trophy on build success

Make chatbots expressive. Discord/Slack bots can react with kaomoji that match the mood — no custom emoji uploads needed.

const res = await fetch('http://localhost:3001/kaomoji?q=celebrate');
const [first] = await res.json();
bot.reply(`Deploy complete! ${first.text}`); // Deploy complete! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Add visuals to AI agents without wasting tokens. A 16w art is only 8 lines — far cheaper than describing an image in natural language.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "artscii": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "artscii"] }
  }
}

"Show me a cat" → MCP search("cat") → returns 32w cat silhouette + ฅ•ω•ฅ kaomoji

Install

Claude Code — one command:

claude mcp add artscii -- npx -y artscii

Claude Desktop — add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "artscii": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "artscii"] } } }

Cursor — add to .cursor/mcp.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "artscii": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "artscii"] } } }

VS Code — search @mcp artscii in Extensions panel, or add to settings.json:

{ "mcp": { "servers": { "artscii": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "artscii"] } } } }

REST API — npx artscii starts the server on :3001

MCP Tools

Tool	Parameters	Description
search	query, type?	Search art + kaomoji. type: "art", "kaomoji", or "all"
kaomoji	query?, category?	Get kaomoji by emotion. Omit for random
get	id	Get art by ID
random	—	Random art
list	—	List all arts
categories	—	List categories
submit	name, category, tags, size?, art	Submit new art
convert	url?, base64?, size?, ...	Convert image to ASCII
delete	id	Delete user-submitted art

REST API

Endpoint	Description
GET /search?q={query}&type=art|kaomoji	Unified search
GET /art/:id	Art by ID (JSON)
GET /art/:id/raw	Raw ASCII text
GET /random	Random art
GET /categories	List categories
GET /categories/:name	Arts in category
GET /list	All arts metadata
POST /art	Submit art
POST /convert	Image → ASCII
DELETE /art/:id	Delete user art
GET /kaomoji?q={query}	Search kaomoji
GET /kaomoji/random	Random kaomoji
GET /kaomoji/categories	Kaomoji categories
GET /kaomoji/categories/:name	Kaomoji by category

Submit Art

curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/art \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"name":"Robot","category":"objects","tags":["robot","tech"],"size":16,"art":" [o_o]\n /| |\\\n  d b"}'

Convert Image

curl -X POST http://localhost:3001/convert \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"url":"https://example.com/icon.png","size":16}'

Field	Type	Default	Description
url / base64	string	—	Image source (one required)
size	16 / 32 / 64	16	Size tier
invert	boolean	false	Invert brightness
contrast	boolean	true	Auto-contrast
gamma	number	1.0	Gamma correction
save	object	—	{ name, category, tags } to persist

Size Tiers

Each art is stored at its minimum identifiable size.

Tier	Dimensions	For
16w	16 x 8	Icons, symbols, simple shapes
32w	32 x 16	Animal silhouettes, emoji
64w	64 x 32	Detailed scenes (rare)

Kaomoji

90 curated entries across 22 categories. Source: kao.moji (MIT).

Category	Examples
happy	(◕‿◕) ◉‿◉ (≧◡≦)
sad	(ಥ﹏ಥ) ╥﹏╥ (;﹏;)
angry	ಠ_ಠ (¬_¬) 눈_눈
love	♡＾▽＾♡ (•ө•)♡ ✿♥‿♥✿
confused	¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ◔_◔ (・・?)
animals	ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ ฅ•ω•ฅ (•ㅅ•)
table-flip	(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ┬─┬ノ(ಠ_ಠノ)
+ 15 more	excited, greeting, celebrate, hug, surprised, sleepy, nervous, wink, magic, laughing, determined, eating, dancing, hopeful, jealous

License

MIT. Art icons from game-icons.net (CC BY 3.0, Lorc & Delapouite).