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Durdraw is a free, open-source terminal application for creating, editing, viewing and animating ASCII, ANSI and Unicode art. It is aimed primarily at Linux, macOS and other Unix-like users who want a keyboard-driven alternative to graphical drawing software and classic DOS ANSI editors. Its strengths are terminal-native editing, frame-based animation, CP437 support, scripting and command-line playback. Its main limitations are unsupported native Windows operation, terminal-dependent rendering and restricted PNG/GIF export.
Version 0.29.0 is the version shown by the checked project, Homebrew and Debian sources as of August 18, 2026. That should be understood as the current packaged version observed in those sources, not a guarantee that no newer development build exists.
What is Durdraw?
Durdraw is not simply a text editor. It understands fixed-width canvases, terminal color attributes, character encodings and animation frames. You can use it to draw static text-mode pictures, edit ANSI files containing terminal escape sequences, compose Unicode artwork and create looping terminal animations.
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The project describes itself as inspired by MS-DOS ANSI editors including TheDraw, Aciddraw and Pablodraw. The difference is that Durdraw is designed for modern Unix-like terminals and can work with UTF-8, Unicode characters, 16-color and 256-color terminal output, as well as historical IBM PC character sets.
It runs inside a terminal emulator, including a terminal window on a graphical desktop. “Terminal-based” does not mean mouse-free: Durdraw supports terminal-mouse input, although its interface and editing model remain fundamentally keyboard-oriented.
Who should use it?
Durdraw is a good fit for:
- ANSI-art creators working with terminal color escape sequences.
- ASCII and Unicode artists using block, box-drawing and decorative characters.
- Artists making animated terminal screens or BBS-style artwork.
- People viewing
.ANS,.ASC,.DIZand.DURfiles. - Retro-computing users who need CP437 support.
- Developers interested in command-line playback, Python plugins or custom animation effects.
- Users who want to work over SSH or on a computer without a full desktop environment.
It is less suitable if you need layers, zoomable raster brushes, image effects, unrestricted true-color gradients, predictable Unicode alignment across every font, or a polished Windows-native application.
What Durdraw can do
Drawing and editing
The editor provides drawing, coloring, erasing, brushes, character selection and eyedropper-style color selection. Block selections can be copied, cut, pasted, flipped, filled, moved and recolored. Canvas dimensions are configurable, and horizontal and vertical scrolling make larger compositions practical.
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You can replace characters or colors across an artwork, browse Unicode blocks, choose custom character sets and configure cursor behavior. Themes and configuration files allow the interface to be adapted to different terminal environments.
ANSI color
Durdraw documents two main terminal color modes:
- 256-color mode: up to 256 terminal foreground colors.
- 16-color mode: 16 foreground colors and 8 background colors.
It also documents VGA, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum palettes. These are terminal colors, not true-color pixels. The final appearance depends partly on the terminal emulator’s palette, font and handling of bright or bold escape sequences, so the same file may look different on two systems.
ASCII, Unicode, ANSI and CP437
These terms describe different parts of the text-art workflow:
- ASCII art uses a relatively small character set and is usually the most portable.
- Unicode art uses a much broader range of characters, including blocks, box-drawing symbols and other scripts.
- ANSI art is text artwork containing terminal control sequences, commonly for color and cursor operations.
- CP437 is the IBM PC character encoding associated with much classic MS-DOS text-mode art.
Durdraw can load CP437-oriented ANSI art, convert it for modern Unicode terminals and ask whether saved ANSI output should use CP437 or UTF-8. The --cp437 option is documented as beta and requires an appropriate terminal and font.
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Unicode support does not guarantee perfect alignment. Combining marks, emoji, East Asian wide characters and some block symbols may occupy zero, one or two terminal cells depending on the character and environment. For precise layouts, use a known monospaced font and test the finished file in the terminals where it will be displayed.
Frame-based animation
Durdraw stores animation as multiple editable frames. Frames can be copied, cloned, deleted, moved and shifted, with per-frame delays and looping playback. The documented frame-rate range is 1–50 FPS.
This differs from many older ANSI animation workflows, where apparent speed depended on simulated modem or terminal transmission speed and characters were rendered one by one. Durdraw uses full-frame updates with explicit timing. That is generally better suited to modern terminals, but it does not guarantee identical playback behavior in every legacy ANSI player.
Viewer, scripting and plugins
Durdraw can play native animations and view ANSI-art packs. It supports command-line playback, Python plugins, animation effects and Neofetch-based animated screens. The project also documents Durview for local and online art-pack viewing.
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Documented input and output areas include:
.DUR- ANSI and
.ANS .ASCand plain ASCII text- ANSImation
- HTML
- mIRC color output
- JSON
- PNG and GIF
The native .DUR format is gzip-compressed JSON containing animation data, colors, artwork and metadata. It is useful for retaining editable projects and inspecting the underlying data, but other art programs may not open it directly. Keep the original .DUR file when exporting to a more interoperable format.
PNG and animated GIF export have an important limitation: the project documents these exports as requiring ansilove and working only with 16-color mode and CP437-compatible characters. Unicode-heavy or 256-color compositions should generally be exported as ANSI, HTML or another text-oriented format if preserving the original artwork matters.
Requirements and platform support
The project recommends Python 3, with Python 3.10 or newer recommended in its documentation. You also need a terminal emulator capable of displaying the relevant UTF-8 characters and ANSI colors, plus a suitable monospaced font for box-drawing, block and CP437 characters.
Optional dependencies include ansilove for PNG/GIF export and neofetch for the durfetch integration.
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How to install Durdraw
Homebrew
For macOS or Linux with Homebrew:
brew install durdrawHomebrew currently lists stable version 0.29.0 and provides a bottle where available. Its formula metadata includes Python and related dependencies.
Debian-based systems
Where the package is available in your configured repositories:
sudo apt install durdrawThe installed version depends on your distribution release and repository state. Debian trixie documentation lists packages based on 0.29.0, while Ubuntu releases may carry different versions. Confirm locally with durdraw --version.
Install from the source repository
For the project source tree:
git clone https://github.com/cmang/durdraw.git
cd durdraw
python3 -m pip install --upgrade .To install the sample configuration and themes:
./installconf.shThese are placed under ~/.durdraw/, with themes under ~/.durdraw/themes/.
Install directly from Git
python3 -m pip install 'git+https://github.com/cmang/durdraw'You can select a tagged version:
python3 -m pip install 'git+https://github.com/cmang/[email protected]'The project warns that Git-based installation does not include every repository asset, such as example .dur files and some entry-point scripts.
Nix
nix run github:cmang/durdrawThe project documents flake-based use for NixOS and Home Manager. Its Nix package includes dependencies such as neofetch and ansilove for fuller functionality.
Run from a checkout without installing
./start-durdraw
./start-durdraw -p examples/*.durFirst launch and a practical first session
Start the editor with:
durdrawPress Esc-H for help, or use:
durdraw --help- Create or choose a canvas size suitable for the terminal you are using.
- Select a character, including a Unicode block or box-drawing character if appropriate.
- Draw a small shape and apply foreground and background colors.
- Use block selection to copy, paste, fill, flip or recolor repeated elements.
- Add or duplicate a frame, then edit the changed area.
- Set frame delays and preview the loop.
- Save the editable project as
.DUR. - Export to ANSI or HTML when sharing the work as text.
- Use PNG/GIF export only after checking the 16-color and CP437-compatible-character restrictions.
Function-key mappings vary between terminals. F1–F10 may be replaced by Esc-1 through Esc-0. If F1 or F10 does nothing, check whether the terminal emulator has intercepted the key for its own menu or shortcut.
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Useful command-line recipes
# Open an editable project
durdraw artwork.dur
# Play an animation and exit
durdraw -p animation.dur
# Play an ANSI-art pack
durdraw -p *.DIZ *.ASC *.ANS
# Repeat playback three times
durdraw -p animation.dur --times 3
# Wait five seconds before exiting
durdraw -p animation.dur --delayexit 5
# Select a color mode
durdraw --16color artwork.ans
durdraw --256color artwork.ans
# Interpret artwork with CP437 handling
durdraw --cp437 artwork.ans
# Set loading and canvas dimensions
durdraw --wrap 132 artwork.ans
durdraw --width 160 --height 50 artwork.ans
durdraw --max artwork.ans
# Export loaded artwork as ANSI
durdraw --export-ansi artwork.dur
# Inspect the installed build
durdraw --version
durdraw --helpCommand-line flags can vary between installed builds. Use the local durdraw --help output as the authority, particularly when a distribution package and the Git repository differ.
Configuration, themes and character sets
Durdraw supports configuration files, themes and custom character sets. A configuration can include settings such as:
[Main]
color-mode: 16
disable-mouse: True
max-canvas: True
cursor-mode: underscoreCustom character-set .ini files go in:
~/.durdraw/charsetsThe project says that directory is scanned automatically and the available sets are exposed through the character-set control.
Troubleshooting
Only eight colors appear
In 16-color mode, some terminals represent bright colors through bold escape codes. Check the terminal setting commonly labelled Use bright colors for bold, and inspect the terminal’s palette. You can also compare:
durdraw --16color artwork.ans
durdraw --256color artwork.ansColors look different from the source artwork
Terminal palettes and color-capability reporting vary. The file may be correct while the emulator’s palette or bright-color behavior changes its appearance.
CP437 symbols are wrong
The file may be interpreted as UTF-8, the font may lack the needed glyphs, or the terminal may not handle the characters as expected. Try:
durdraw --cp437 artwork.ansBecause this option is documented as beta, results depend on the complete terminal-and-font combination.
Lines wrap too early
The documented default wrapping width is 80 columns. For wider art:
Best Value
durdraw --wrap 132 artwork.ans
durdraw --width 160 --height 50 artwork.ansUse --max when the canvas should follow the available terminal size.
Unicode artwork is misaligned
Check the font, locale and terminal. Avoid mixing combining characters, emoji and East Asian wide characters into layouts that require strict one-cell alignment. Unicode-capable display is not the same as universal fixed-width rendering.
The terminal is corrupted after a crash
Run:
resetThen press Enter. When reporting a problem, include the terminal emulator, operating system, Python version, triggering action and any error output or safely shareable artwork file.
Windows installation fails
Use WSL first, or try Docker. Native Windows Terminal use is not an officially supported installation path, even if it happens to work in a particular setup.
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| Workflow | Why choose it | Where Durdraw differs |
|---|---|---|
| Classic DOS ANSI editing | Legacy compatibility and authentic historical playback | Durdraw brings the workflow to modern Unix terminals and adds Unicode-oriented capabilities. |
| Graphical text-mode editors | Zoom, layers, drag-and-drop tools and visual canvas controls | Durdraw is lighter and more scriptable, but requires terminal interaction. |
| Broad terminal-art suites | Many generators, viewers and utilities in one collection | Asciiville is broader; Durdraw is more focused on editing and playback. |
| Browser-based tools | Easy access, especially on Windows | Import/export compatibility, ANSI escape support and offline behavior vary widely. |
TheDraw remains the historical comparison point, but it requires an MS-DOS-compatible environment. Durdraw is better understood as a modern Unix-terminal successor in spirit, not as a drop-in replacement for every legacy player.
Verdict
Choose Durdraw if you want a focused, open-source terminal studio for ANSI, ASCII and Unicode artwork, especially when animation frames, CP437 conversion, command-line playback or Python extensibility matter. It is unusually capable for a terminal application and far more than a plain ASCII editor.
Reconsider it if your work is primarily raster painting, if you need native Windows support, if you depend on true-color output, or if your final deliverable is a PNG/GIF made from Unicode or 256-color art. For the right Unix-oriented artist or retro-computing enthusiast, however, Durdraw offers a practical bridge between classic ANSI culture and modern terminal workflows.
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