numbpill3d/deadcolors

Deadcolors is a small project that understands its scope. It gives terminal users an easy way to cycle through custom ASCII artwork, select palettes, center output, list available pieces, and load either a combined pack or individual files. The pack format is simple enough to edit by hand, and the README includes screenshots, practical shell-startup instructions, browser rendering advice, and several useful command examples. Keeping the implementation in a compact Python package is a good fit for a personal terminal customization tool. The MIT license also makes reuse clear. The installation experience is the main area to improve. The project includes a pyproject.toml, but the README tells users to run the source file directly or create their own launcher. If the package already defines a console command, the documentation should show a standard installation command. If it does not, adding one would let users install or remove Deadcolors cleanly with tools such as pipx or uv tool. The README should also state the supported Python versions and operating systems.

There is no visible test suite or CI workflow. A few focused tests would provide a lot of value without making the project heavy. They could cover pack separators, optional names, empty drawings, missing files, random selection, palette lookup, plain output, and terminal widths. Unicode characters, combining marks, tabs, and ANSI color codes can make centering harder than ordinary string length suggests, so these cases deserve special attention. Tests should also confirm that malformed user files produce a friendly message rather than a traceback.

An example pack with several pieces and a short palette guide would encourage community contributions. A contribution note could explain naming, artwork licensing, and how to submit a pack. Deadcolors is already a charming and useful terminal tool. Standard packaging, a small test suite, and clearer compatibility information would give it a polished finish.