# cinetty

> Template library that plays cinematic architecture animations in the terminal from a single YAML file, designed for coding agents to fill.

cinetty is an open-source terminal animation tool created by Joseph Zhou. It provides pre-choreographed animation templates that render architecture diagrams directly in terminal cells, driven by one YAML project file. Photo templates use the Kitty graphics protocol for image assets.

## What It Is

cinetty works like a curated pack of motion templates for the terminal. Each template has a fixed coordinate grid, color palette, timing, and named content slots. Users supply components, values, and timed events in a YAML file, while the layout stays locked.

## Agent-first workflow

The README describes a workflow where an AI coding agent inspects a codebase, picks a template, writes the project YAML, runs `make check` until layout constraints pass, and then plays the result. The repository root includes a SKILL.md so the clone can operate as a skill for Claude Code and OpenAI Codex, and AGENTS.md documents the equivalent workflow for other agents.

## Templates and constraint checking

Six templates are listed: loop-landscape, loop-portrait, photo-loop, pipeline, screen-flow, and circuit-flow. They illustrate concepts such as self-improving agent loops, agent pipelines with routers and workers, phone-operating agents, and module circuit flows. The checker measures text in terminal cells (CJK characters count as two) and reports the exact field path and overflow, without auto-truncating text.

## Setup path

It runs on macOS or Linux with Bash and Make, and requires Python 3.12+ or uv. `make setup` installs text-rendering dependencies (about 73 MB), while `make setup-photo` adds PyTorch and vision models (about 2 GB) for the photo template, which needs a Kitty-protocol terminal such as Ghostty, Kitty, or WezTerm. Playback uses `make play INPUT=...`, with optional looping.

## Features
- Pre-choreographed terminal animation templates
- Single YAML project file defines components and timed events
- Layout constraint checker with cell-width overflow reports
- Kitty graphics protocol support for photo template
- Agent skill support for Claude Code and Codex
- Looping playback
- Localization by copying YAML per language
- Six built-in templates with examples

## Integrations
Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Kitty graphics protocol, Ghostty, Kitty, WezTerm

## Platforms
MACOS, LINUX, API, CLI

## Pricing
Open Source

## Links
- Website: https://github.com/JosssphZhou/cinetty
- Repository: https://github.com/JosssphZhou/cinetty
- EveryDev.ai: https://www.everydev.ai/tools/cinetty