sigil

Brand your project in seconds.
Turn any name into a gradient ASCII banner - then drop it straight into your CLI, README, or source code.

Give your project a look that's unmistakably yours. sigil takes a word, renders it as a FIGlet banner, and paints it with a smooth, perceptually-uniform gradient (blended in Oklab, so colors stay vivid instead of passing through muddy middles). Pick a font, a palette, a theme - then export it in whatever format your project speaks: a splash for your CLI's --help, a header for your README, a startup logo baked right into your source. One command, endlessly customizable.

A single self-contained binary. No runtime dependencies. Every banner in this README was made with sigil -F svg.

Contents: Install · Quick start · Usage · Embed in your own tool · Config · Development

Install

# From source (this repo)
cargo install --path .

# Directly from git
cargo install --git https://github.com/moose25/sigil

# Prebuilt binaries: grab the archive for your platform from the Releases page,
# then move `sigil` onto your PATH.

# Or fetch a prebuilt binary with cargo-binstall (no compile):
cargo binstall sigil

Once published to crates.io: cargo install sigil.

Quick start

sigil "My Project" --gradient sunset
sigil demo                     # see a showcase of fonts, gradients, and effects

Gallery

As simple or as elaborate as you like. Reach for one flat color and a small font, or pile on a gradient, a frame, a theme, and effects - sigil scales from a quiet mark to a full statement. Here's the same word at three levels of styling, in a single image:

The spectrum, one step at a time

Each step just adds one thing to the last (command under each):

-f small -c "#8ab4f8" one flat color	-c "#f7768e" + a bigger font	-g ocean + a gradient
-f small -g mint -b round + a frame	--theme cyberpunk + a theme	-f big -g sunset -b double --shadow the works

More combinations

Every image below was generated with sigil … -F svg (see the command under each):

-f slant -g sunset	-f doom -g fire --shadow
-f ansiregular -g neon --outline	-f big -g vaporwave -b double
-f small -g aurora -b round --title sigil	--theme cyberpunk

Run sigil demo to see the showcase live, or try an animation:

sigil "launch" -g fire --animate sweep
sigil "ready"  --animate type --fps 60
sigil "loop"   -g rainbow --animate scroll
sigil "shimmer" -g fire --animate sweep -F png -o banner.png  # animated PNG (APNG)

Usage

sigil "Hello" --gradient ocean --direction diagonal --align center
sigil "Ship it" --colors "#ff5f6d,#ffc371"     # custom gradient stops
sigil "Brandy" --from "#ff5f6d"                # a gradient from one brand color
sigil "Deploy" --font ansishadow               # pick a font
echo "From stdin" | sigil                      # or pipe the text in
sigil --art cat.txt -g rainbow                 # colorize existing ASCII art
sigil "Launching" -g fire --animate sweep      # animated shimmer (TTY only)
sigil "Ready" --animate type --fps 60          # typewriter reveal
sigil "Angle" -g rainbow --angle 60 --cycle 2  # tilted, repeating palette
sigil "Boxed" -g ocean --border round          # frame it in a box
sigil "Deploy" --icon "*" -g fire              # a small icon beside the wordmark
sigil "Acme" --subtitle "ship faster" -f big   # a logo with a smaller tagline
sigil "Surprise" --random                      # random font + gradient (--seed N to repeat)
sigil --lines "deploy" "prod"                  # stack multiple banners in one frame
sigil "A long project tagline" --wrap 60       # word-wrap long text to fit 60 cols
sigil "Neo" --theme cyberpunk                  # a curated font+gradient+border+bg bundle
sigil mark "acme" -g aurora -o mark.svg        # a unique geometric logo from a name
sigil gallery "Acme" -o gallery.html           # a page of your text in every style
sigil gradients                                # preview all presets
sigil fonts                                    # preview all fonts
sigil "plain" --no-color                       # respects NO_COLOR too
sigil "Docs" -F markdown                       # a fenced code block for READMEs

Options

Flag	Description	Default
-g, --gradient <name>	Named preset (see sigil gradients)	ocean
-c, --colors <hex,...>	Custom gradient stops (optional @pos, e.g. #000@0,#fff@0.8)	-
--from <hex>	Derive a gradient from one brand color (overridden by --colors)	-
--gradient-file <file>	Load stops from a palette file (hex-per-line or GIMP .gpl)	-
-d, --direction <dir>	horizontal | vertical | diagonal | radial | conic	horizontal
--angle <deg>	Sweep angle in degrees (overrides --direction)	-
--color-by <mode>	banner | line | char (per-line / per-glyph coloring)	banner
--fill <mode>	glyph | shade (block-shade ░▒▓█ by brightness, reads without color)	glyph
--interpolate <space>	Blend space: oklab | rgb | hsl	oklab
--reverse	Flip the gradient direction	-
--cycle <n>	Repeat the palette N times across the banner	1
-b, --border <style>	none | round | single | double | heavy | ascii	none
-p, --padding <n>	Interior padding inside the frame	1 (with border)
--pad-x <n> / --pad-y <n>	Horizontal/vertical padding (override --padding per axis)	-
--title <text>	Caption embedded in the top border	-
--border-color <hex>	Solid frame color (default: share the gradient)	-
--background <hex>	Solid background fill behind the banner (alias --bg)	-
--bg-gradient <spec>	Gradient background (preset name or hex,hex,…)	-
--shadow	Draw a drop shadow behind the glyphs	-
--shadow-color <hex>	Shadow color	dark gray
--outline	Draw an outline (halo) around the glyphs	-
--outline-color <hex>	Outline color	near-black
-a, --align <align>	left | center | right	left
-f, --font <name>	Font (see sigil fonts)	standard
--icon <glyph>	Prefix a small icon/emoji to the left of the banner	-
--letter-spacing <n>	Extra blank columns between glyphs (airier look)	-
--subtitle <text>	A smaller tagline stacked beneath the banner	-
--subtitle-font <name>	Font for the subtitle line	small
--fit <cols>	Auto-pick the boldest bundled font whose banner fits N columns (overrides --font)	-
-w, --width <cols>	Target width for alignment	terminal width
--min-width <cols>	Pad the banner box out to at least N columns (centered)	-
--wrap <cols>	Word-wrap long text so each rendered line fits within N columns (alias --max-width)	-
-m, --margin <n>	Blank lines above/below	0
--margin-x <n>	Left indent in columns (on top of alignment)	0
-F, --format <fmt>	term | ansi | raw | rust | go | python | js | ts | c | cpp | ruby | shell | svg | html | png | json	term
-o, --out <file>	Write to a file instead of stdout	-
--animate <style>	none | sweep | type | pulse | scroll (terminal only)	none
--fps <n>	Animation speed, 1–120	30
-l, --lines	Stack each input line/argument as its own banner	-
--random	Random font + gradient for anything unset	-
--seed <n>	Seed for --random (reproducible)	-
--copy	Also copy the output to the system clipboard	-
--no-color	Disable color	-

Gradients

sunset, ocean, fire, mint, grape, cyberpunk, gold, ice, vaporwave, rainbow, matrix, flamingo, mono, aurora, lava, neon, pastel, dusk, berry, steel, forest, coral, glacier, nebula, moss, peach, twilight - or roll your own with --colors.

Themes

Curated bundles of font + gradient + border + background (+ shadow/outline): cyberpunk, retro, terminal, fire, ocean, gold, mono, sunset, forest, candy, midnight, synthwave, arctic, sepia. Apply one with --theme <name> (individual flags still override), define your own under [themes.<name>] in config, and list them with sigil themes.

Fonts

standard, ansishadow, slant, big, small, doom, bloody, 3d, ansiregular, ghost (with aliases like shadow, italic, mini, ansi). Run sigil fonts for a live preview. Bundled fonts are embedded in the binary - see src/fonts/NOTICE.md for attribution.

Custom fonts: pass a path to any FIGlet font - sigil "Hi" -f ./cool.flf - or drop .flf files in ~/.config/sigil/fonts/ and use them by name (-f cool). They show up in sigil fonts too. Code-tagged glyphs are trimmed automatically so most fonts "just work."

Embed in your own tool

Generate a banner once and paste it into your project - a splash for --help, a startup logo, a script header. --format emits ready-to-use output:

sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F rust   > src/banner.rs   # pub const BANNER: &str = ...
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F go     > banner.go        # const Banner = ...
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F python > banner.py        # BANNER = ...
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F js     > banner.js        # export const BANNER = ...
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F ts     > banner.ts        # export const BANNER: string = ...
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F c      > banner.c         # static const char *BANNER = ...
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F cpp    > banner.hpp       # inline constexpr ... BANNER = ...
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F ruby   > banner.rb        # BANNER = ...
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F shell  > banner.sh        # cat <<'…' heredoc that prints it
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F ansi   > banner.ansi      # raw colored ANSI bytes
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F svg    > banner.svg        # standalone SVG image
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F html   > banner.html       # standalone HTML page
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F png -o banner.png          # PNG raster image
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F json   > banner.json       # structured grid + colors
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F png --scale 3 -o big.png   # 3x-resolution PNG

-F svg produces a self-contained SVG (colored monospace grid on a dark backdrop) - drop it straight into a README or docs. Add --animate sweep for an animated SVG whose gradient shimmers in the browser (no gif tooling needed). -F png writes a raster image (one color block per cell - crisp, font-free, and best with block fonts like ansishadow/ansiregular).

The rust/go/python/js/ts/c/cpp/ruby snippets define a BANNER constant (with a comment showing how to print it); shell is a runnable heredoc. Color is baked into every snippet format. Use -o <file> instead of a shell redirect if you prefer.

Prefer a ready-to-call function over a bare constant? Add --func:

sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F rust --func > src/banner.rs   # pub fn print_banner() { … }
sigil "Acme" -g sunset -F python --func > banner.py      # def print_banner(): …

Config

Set defaults so you don't repeat flags. sigil reads two optional files and merges them, then command-line flags override everything:

Precedence: CLI flag > .sigil.toml (project, current dir) > ~/.config/sigil/config.toml (user) > built-in default.

# ~/.config/sigil/config.toml  or  ./.sigil.toml
gradient = "vaporwave"
font = "ansishadow"
align = "center"
border = "round"
# any of: colors, direction, angle, reverse, cycle, padding,
# border_color, margin, width, animate, fps, format

# Define your own named gradients and use them like built-ins (-g brand):
[gradients]
brand   = ["#0f2027", "#203a43", "#2c5364"]
sunset2 = ["#ff9966", "#ff5e62"]

Unknown keys are rejected so typos surface early. Your gradients show up in sigil gradients. Run sigil init to drop a commented starter config in place (--print to preview, --force to overwrite).

Not sure what's being applied? sigil config path prints the files sigil reads (and whether each exists), and sigil config show prints the effective merged values:

sigil config path   # where are my config files?
sigil config show   # what settings are actually in effect?

Color support

sigil emits 24-bit truecolor when COLORTERM advertises it, falls back to the 256-color palette otherwise, and prints plain glyphs under NO_COLOR or --no-color.

Shell completions & man page

sigil completions zsh  > ~/.zfunc/_sigil       # bash | zsh | fish | powershell | elvish
sigil man              > sigil.1               # roff man page

Development

cargo build          # debug build
cargo test           # run the test suite
cargo fmt            # format
cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings
cargo run -- "Hi"    # try it

Contributions welcome. The codebase is small and modular:

• color - sRGB/Oklab math and ANSI escapes
• gradient - presets, sampling, interpolation spaces
• fonts - bundled + custom FIGlet fonts
• render - layout, the cell grid, effects, and the SVG/HTML/PNG/JSON renderers
• animate - terminal animations
• text / config / themes / export - input folding, config, themes, formats

The README's showcase images are regenerated from sigil itself with bash assets/generate.sh (it shells out to sigil -F svg and stacks a few renders with assets/compose.py).

Ideas and open work are tracked in issues and grouped by milestone. See CHANGELOG.md for the feature history.

License

MIT © Chris Williams. Bundled FIGlet fonts retain their original permissive licenses - see src/fonts/NOTICE.md.