ASCII Art Customization

Each session type can have its own ASCII art with multiple variants. Press Page Up/Down at the greeter to cycle through them.

Configuration Location

/usr/share/sysc-greet/ascii_configs/

Each session gets a .conf file (e.g., hyprland.conf, kde.conf, gnome_desktop.conf).

Format

name=Hyprland

# Multiple variants (user can cycle through these)
ascii_1=
_____________________________  ________  .______________
\______   \_   _____/\______ \ \______ \ |   \__    ___/
 |       _/|    __)_  |    |  \ |    |  \|   | |    |
 |    |   \|        \ |    `   \|    `   \   | |    |
 |____|_  /_______  //_______  /_______  /___| |____|
        \/        \/         \/        \/
ascii_2=
 ________  ___  ___  ________  ___  __    ________
|\   ____\|\  \|\  \|\   ____\|\  \|\  \ |\   ____\
\ \  \___|\ \  \\\  \ \  \___|\ \  \/  /|\ \  \___|_
 \ \_____  \ \  \\\  \ \  \    \ \   ___  \ \_____  \
  \|____|\  \ \  \\\  \ \  \____\ \  \\ \  \|____|\  \
    ____\_\  \ \_______\ \_______\ \__\\ \__\____\_\  \
   |\_________\|_______|\|_______|\|__| \|__|\_________\
   \|_________|                             \|_________|

Per-Session Color Override

Override the ASCII art color for a specific session, independent of your selected theme:

name=Hyprland
color=#89b4fa

ascii_1=
...

If color= is set, that color is used for ASCII art. If omitted, the theme's primary color is used.

Creating Custom ASCII

ASCII generators:

• bit - Terminal ASCII art generator with many fonts
• patorjk.com/software/taag - Web-based generator
• ASCII Art Archive - Browse existing art

Using bit:

# Quick install (Linux/macOS)
curl -sfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/superstarryeyes/bit/main/install.sh | sh

# Or build from source
git clone https://github.com/superstarryeyes/bit
cd bit
make build
./bit  # Interactive TUI mode

# CLI mode - generate ASCII art
bit "HYPRLAND"

# List available fonts
bit -list

# Use specific font with gradient
bit -font banner -color 31 -gradient 34 "HYPRLAND"

Important: Keep ASCII art under 80 columns wide for compatibility.

Test your config:

sysc-greet --test

Roast Messages

Custom messages displayed with typewriter and scrolling ticker effects.

Example:

roasts=First message │ Second message │ Third message

How to customize roasts:

1. Open the matching session config in /usr/share/sysc-greet/ascii_configs/ (e.g., hyprland.conf, kde.conf, openbox.conf). The name= should reflect the session/WM.
2. Add or edit a single roasts= line with your messages separated by │ (pipe). Keep it on one line.
3. If roasts= is omitted or left empty, the greeter falls back to built-in defaults per WM.
4. Use straight ASCII text; emojis may not render in all terminals.
5. Leave screensaver.conf without roasts= (screensaver uses clock/ASCII only).

The typewriter and scrolling ticker effects will cycle through these messages.

Session Name Mapping

sysc-greet maps session names from XDG session files to config filenames:

For sessions not listed, the lowercase first word of the session name is used as the config filename.