unicode-animations

Unicode spinner animations as raw frame data — no dependencies, works everywhere.

Demo

See all 18 spinners animating live:

npx unicode-animations --web     # open browser demo
npx unicode-animations           # cycle through all in terminal
npx unicode-animations helix     # preview a specific spinner
npx unicode-animations --list    # list all spinners

Install

npm install unicode-animations

Quick start

// ESM
import spinners from 'unicode-animations';

// CJS
const spinners = require('unicode-animations');

Each spinner is a { frames: string[], interval: number } object.

Examples

CLI tool — spinner during async work

import spinners from 'unicode-animations';

const { frames, interval } = spinners.braille;
let i = 0;

const spinner = setInterval(() => {
  process.stdout.write(`\r\x1B[2K  ${frames[i++ % frames.length]} Deploying to production...`);
}, interval);

await deploy();

clearInterval(spinner);
process.stdout.write('\r\x1B[2K  ✔ Deployed.\n');

Reusable spinner helper

import spinners from 'unicode-animations';

function createSpinner(msg, name = 'braille') {
  const { frames, interval } = spinners[name];
  let i = 0, text = msg;
  const timer = setInterval(() => {
    process.stdout.write(`\r\x1B[2K  ${frames[i++ % frames.length]} ${text}`);
  }, interval);

  return {
    update(msg) { text = msg; },
    stop(msg) { clearInterval(timer); process.stdout.write(`\r\x1B[2K  ✔ ${msg}\n`); },
  };
}

const s = createSpinner('Connecting to database...');
const db = await connect();
s.update(`Running ${migrations.length} migrations...`);
await db.migrate(migrations);
s.stop('Database ready.');

Multi-step pipeline

import spinners from 'unicode-animations';

async function runWithSpinner(label, fn, name = 'braille') {
  const { frames, interval } = spinners[name];
  let i = 0;
  const timer = setInterval(() => {
    process.stdout.write(`\r\x1B[2K  ${frames[i++ % frames.length]} ${label}`);
  }, interval);
  const result = await fn();
  clearInterval(timer);
  process.stdout.write(`\r\x1B[2K  ✔ ${label}\n`);
  return result;
}

await runWithSpinner('Linting...', lint, 'scan');
await runWithSpinner('Running tests...', test, 'helix');
await runWithSpinner('Building...', build, 'cascade');
await runWithSpinner('Publishing...', publish, 'braille');

React component

import { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import spinners from 'unicode-animations';

function Spinner({ name = 'braille', children }) {
  const [frame, setFrame] = useState(0);
  const s = spinners[name];

  useEffect(() => {
    const timer = setInterval(
      () => setFrame(f => (f + 1) % s.frames.length),
      s.interval
    );
    return () => clearInterval(timer);
  }, [name]);

  return <span style={{ fontFamily: 'monospace' }}>{s.frames[frame]} {children}</span>;
}

// Usage: <Spinner name="helix">Generating response...</Spinner>

Browser — status indicator

import spinners from 'unicode-animations';

const el = document.getElementById('status');
const { frames, interval } = spinners.orbit;
let i = 0;

const spinner = setInterval(() => {
  el.textContent = `${frames[i++ % frames.length]} Syncing...`;
}, interval);

await sync();
clearInterval(spinner);
el.textContent = '✔ Synced';

All spinners

Classic braille

Name	Preview	Interval
braille	⠋ ⠙ ⠹ ⠸ ⠼ ⠴ ⠦ ⠧ ⠇ ⠏	80ms
braillewave	⠁⠂⠄⡀ → ⠂⠄⡀⢀	100ms
dna	⠋⠉⠙⠚ → ⠉⠙⠚⠒	80ms

Grid animations (braille)

Name	Frames	Interval
scan	10	70ms
rain	12	100ms
scanline	6	120ms
pulse	5	180ms
snake	16	80ms
sparkle	6	150ms
cascade	12	60ms
columns	26	60ms
orbit	8	100ms
breathe	17	100ms
waverows	16	90ms
checkerboard	4	250ms
helix	16	80ms
fillsweep	11	100ms
diagswipe	16	60ms

Custom spinners

Create your own braille spinners using the grid utilities:

import { gridToBraille, makeGrid } from 'unicode-animations';

// Create a 4-row × 4-col grid
const grid = makeGrid(4, 4);
grid[0][0] = true;
grid[1][1] = true;
grid[2][2] = true;
grid[3][3] = true;

console.log(gridToBraille(grid)); // diagonal braille pattern

makeGrid(rows, cols) returns a boolean[][]. Set cells to true to raise dots. gridToBraille(grid) converts it to a braille string (2 dot-columns per character).

API

Spinner

interface Spinner {
  readonly frames: readonly string[];
  readonly interval: number;
}

Exports from 'unicode-animations'

Export	Type
default / spinners	Record<BrailleSpinnerName, Spinner>
gridToBraille(grid)	(boolean[][]) => string
makeGrid(rows, cols)	(number, number) => boolean[][]
Spinner	TypeScript interface
BrailleSpinnerName	Union type of all 18 spinner names

Exports from 'unicode-animations/braille'

Same as above — the main entrypoint re-exports everything from the braille module.

License

MIT