Can I change the ASCII cell size?

Yes. cell sets the size of each character, so smaller cells give finer lettering.

How do I install ASCII Text?

ASCII Text is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/ascii-text. It copies ascii-text.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.

Is ASCII Text free for commercial use?

ASCII Text needs a Charcoal UI Pro seat, monthly or a one-time lifetime price. A seat covers unlimited personal and commercial projects, including client work, and every future Pro component.

Does ASCII Text work with Next.js?

Yes. It is a client component for React 19 styled with Tailwind CSS 4, so it works in the Next.js App Router and Pages Router, Vite, Remix and Astro.

Can an AI coding agent install ASCII Text?

Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns ASCII Text's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.

ASCII Text

Text drawn as a grid of ASCII characters picked by brightness, with a wave travelling through the glyph density and a brighter patch under the pointer.

Category: Text
Licence: Charcoal UI Pro
Built with: React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, Motion
Dependencies: motion, clsx, tailwind-merge

Examples

ASCII Text

API reference

Prop	Type	Default	Description
`text`	`string`	—
`cell`	`number`	`10`	Size of one character cell in px.
`speed`	`number`	`1`	Speed of the travelling wave.
`color`	`string`	`"var(--ember)"`
`fontSize`	`number`	`120`
`className`	`string`	—

About ASCII Text

ASCII Text draws lettering as a grid of ASCII characters picked by brightness, with a wave travelling through the glyph density and a brighter patch under the pointer.

ASCII Text is a text animation for React 19, styled with Tailwind CSS 4 and animated with Motion. It drops into Next.js, Vite, Remix or Astro through the shadcn CLI as a single file you own.

When to use ASCII Text

Developer tools.
Retro and terminal brands.
Hacker-style heroes.
Music and art releases.

How it works

The text is rasterised to a small grid and each cell maps brightness to a character. cell sets the grid size and speed the wave.

The real text stays in the page for screen readers and search engines; the animated letters are decorative copies marked aria-hidden. With prefers-reduced-motion on, it holds still or settles instantly instead of animating.

Customizing ASCII Text

Every prop is documented in the API reference above with its type and default. The ones you will reach for first are listed here.

The Customize panel next to the preview lets you change text, cell, speed, color live, and the Code tab updates to match, so the snippet you copy already carries your values.

text (string).
cell (number, default 10): Size of one character cell in px.
speed (number, default 1): Speed of the travelling wave.
color (string, default "var(--ember)").
fontSize (number, default 120).

Goes well with ASCII Text

These text pieces share its tokens and motion language, so they sit together on one page without clashing.

Scramble Text: React scramble text: characters cycle through glyphs before locking in
Rotating Text: React rotating text that rolls between words letter by letter and resizes smoothly
Highlight Text: React highlight text: a marker sweep, hand-drawn underline or scribbled circle on scroll
Text Morph: React text morph: shared letters glide to new spots while the rest blur in and out
Split Flap: A React split-flap display: every cell flips through the drum to its letter

Install ASCII Text

npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/ascii-text

ASCII Text is part of Charcoal UI Pro. One seat unlocks all 300 Pro components, 107 landing-page sections and 100 full templates, for every personal and client project, with updates included. Add the @charcoal registry once with your access token, then the command above copies ascii-text.tsx into components/ui and installs clsx, tailwind-merge.

You own the file you install: no runtime package, no lock-in, nothing to keep in sync. Change it however your product needs.

See Charcoal UI Pro pricing · Pro setup

Frequently asked questions

Can I change the ASCII cell size?: Yes. cell sets the size of each character, so smaller cells give finer lettering.
How do I install ASCII Text?: ASCII Text is part of Charcoal UI Pro. Add the @charcoal registry to components.json with your access token, then run npx shadcn@latest add @charcoal/ascii-text. It copies ascii-text.tsx into components/ui and installs motion, clsx, tailwind-merge.
Is ASCII Text free for commercial use?: ASCII Text needs a Charcoal UI Pro seat, monthly or a one-time lifetime price. A seat covers unlimited personal and commercial projects, including client work, and every future Pro component.
Does ASCII Text work with Next.js?: Yes. It is a client component for React 19 styled with Tailwind CSS 4, so it works in the Next.js App Router and Pages Router, Vite, Remix and Astro.
Can an AI coding agent install ASCII Text?: Yes. Connect the Charcoal UI MCP server (https://charcoalui.com/mcp) to Claude Code, Cursor or any MCP client; get_component returns ASCII Text's props and get_install_command returns the exact command.

ASCII Text as Markdown · llms.txt