Text & JSON Export

Export your ASCII art as plain text or structured JSON data for use in terminals, code, documentation, or data processing.

Text Export

Plain text export captures just the characters, perfect for sharing in terminals, forums, or code comments.

Accessing Text Export

Click Export in the toolbar

Select Text from the format dropdown

Configure trimming options

Click Export to download

Text Settings

Setting	Description
Remove Leading Spaces	Trim spaces from start of each line
Remove Trailing Spaces	Trim spaces from end of each line
Remove Leading Lines	Remove empty lines at top
Remove Trailing Lines	Remove empty lines at bottom
Include Metadata	Add header with creation info

Trimming Options

Preserves all whitespace exactly as drawn.

Use when:

Position matters
Art depends on exact spacing
You'll handle trimming yourself

Text Use Cases

Terminal art - Display in command line
Code comments - Decorative headers in source files
Forum posts - Share on Reddit, Discord (code blocks)
Documentation - README files, docs
Email signatures - Plain text signatures

Warning

Text export only includes characters - no colors or formatting. Use HTML or Image export if you need colors.

JSON Export

JSON export provides structured data of your artwork, suitable for data processing, custom rendering, or integration with other tools.

Accessing JSON Export

Click Export in the toolbar

Select JSON from the format dropdown

Configure settings

Click Export to download

JSON Settings

Setting	Description
Include Metadata	Add project info (name, date, version)
Human Readable	Pretty-print with indentation
Include Empty Cells	Export cells with default values

JSON Structure

The exported JSON includes:

json

{
  "metadata": {
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "exportDate": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "projectName": "My Artwork"
  },
  "canvas": {
    "width": 80,
    "height": 24,
    "backgroundColor": "#1a1a1a"
  },
  "frames": [
    {
      "duration": 100,
      "cells": [
        {
          "x": 0,
          "y": 0,
          "char": "#",
          "color": "#ffffff",
          "bgColor": "#000000"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Human Readable Toggle

json

{
  "canvas": {
    "width": 80,
    "height": 24
  },
  "frames": [...]
}

Easier to read and debug
Larger file size
Good for development

Include Empty Cells

Enabled: All canvas positions exported (including empty)
Disabled: Only cells with content exported (smaller)

Info

For most uses, disable "Include Empty Cells" for significantly smaller file sizes.

JSON Use Cases

Custom rendering - Build your own renderer
Data analysis - Process artwork programmatically
Conversion - Transform to other formats
API integration - Send to web services
Archiving - Preserve all data for future use

Workflow Examples

Select Text export

Enable trimming options as needed

Export and download

Copy contents and paste in Discord code block: text

Add to README

Select Text export

Enable "Remove Trailing Spaces" and "Remove Trailing Lines"

Export

Paste into README inside triple backticks

Custom Web Renderer

Select JSON export

Enable "Human Readable" for debugging

Disable "Include Empty Cells"

Export and load in your JavaScript application

Backup for Processing

Select JSON export

Enable "Include Metadata"

Enable "Include Empty Cells" (full backup)

Export for complete data preservation

Comparing Text vs JSON

Feature	Text	JSON
File size	Small	Larger
Colors	❌	✅
Multiple frames	❌	✅
Metadata	Optional	✅
Human readable	✅	Optional
Re-importable	❌	✅
Custom processing	Limited	✅

Tips

Text for sharing - Quick, works everywhere
JSON for data - When you need structure
Trim for cleaner text - Remove unnecessary whitespace
Disable empty cells - Smaller JSON files
Pretty print for debugging - Easier to read
Minify for storage - Smaller files