`termgif`

Renders an animated terminal demo GIF of a workflow run from a small JSON spec.

Render a polished animated terminal demo GIF of a command or workflow run — a typed prompt, staged progress with check-offs, and a closing line — from a small JSON spec. Reach for this whenever a task calls for a terminal recording or demo GIF (a README hero, docs page, release note, or social preview) rather than describing the run in prose. Never a slash command; use it implicitly when the intent calls for one.

What it does

termgif turns a small JSON spec — a typed prompt, staged progress with check-offs, and a closing line — into a polished animated terminal GIF. It is a self-contained Python renderer that provisions its one dependency (Pillow) itself, so a run produces the recording deterministically rather than asking anyone to capture their screen.

It is a tool, not a command: you never type it. The crew reach for it on their own when the natural artifact of a task is a terminal recording — a README hero, a docs page, a release note, or a social preview — instead of static text.

Examples

A few things termgif can produce, each from a small spec of its own. If you've set prefers-reduced-motion, any animation shows its final frame instead.

Terminal recording of a production deploy: BUILD, TEST and RELEASE stages check off, then a green 'Shipped v2.4.0 to production' line. — A production deploy — build, test, then a zero-downtime rollout to three regions.

Terminal recording of a model training run: DATASET, TRAIN and EVAL stages, a top-1 98.7% metric line, then a green checkpoint-saved line. — A model-training run — dataset to eval, with the headline metrics and a saved checkpoint.

Terminal recording of a rocket launch sequence: FUEL, GUIDANCE and IGNITION stages, a T-minus countdown, then a green liftoff line. — A launch countdown — fuel, guidance, ignition, and liftoff, in warm mission-control colours.

How the crew reach for it

Tools are opt-in. Add it at install time with shipmates install --harness <name> --with-tools termgif, or omit the flag and pick it from the interactive list. Once installed it sits alongside the crew as a capability they invoke implicitly; there is no slash command to type.

The renderer and its instructions are bundled together, so wherever the tool lands the agent has both the termgif.py script and the spec format it needs to drive it.

Reference

Name: termgif
Description: Render a polished animated terminal demo GIF of a command or workflow run — a typed prompt, staged progress with check-offs, and a closing line — from a small JSON spec. Reach for this whenever a task calls for a terminal recording or demo GIF (a README hero, docs page, release note, or social preview) rather than describing the run in prose. Never a slash command; use it implicitly when the intent calls for one.
Bundled files: termgif.py
Install: shipmates install --harness <name> --with-tools termgif

Where this lives

This page is generated from toolbox/termgif/tool.md. Opt in at install with --with-tools termgif and the installer copies the tool — instructions and bundled files — into the harness's skills tree.

View toolbox/termgif/tool.md on GitHub

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