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ASCII Art

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:

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.

Field Type Description
roasts String Messages separated by │ character

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:

Session Name Config Filename
GNOME Desktop gnome_desktop.conf
KDE Plasma kde.conf
Hyprland hyprland.conf
Sway sway.conf
i3 i3wm.conf
BSPWM bspwm_manager.conf
Xmonad xmonad.conf
Openbox openbox.conf
Xfce xfce.conf
Cinnamon cinnamon.conf
IceWM icewm.conf
Qtile qtile.conf
Weston weston.conf

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