ColorScripts-Enhanced PowerShell Module

Credits: This project owes its existence to the foundational work of two developers. The beautiful ANSI art scripts were originally created and/or sourced by Derek Taylor (DistroTube) in his project shell-color-scripts. The collection was then ported to PowerShell by Scott McKendry as ps-color-scripts. ColorScripts-Enhanced builds upon their efforts by introducing a high-performance caching system, PowerShell Cross-Platform support on Linux and Mac, an expanded command set, and a formal module structure.

A high-performance PowerShell module for displaying beautiful ANSI colorscripts in your terminal with intelligent caching for 6-19x faster load times.

ColorScripts mascot

Examples.

✨ Features

🎨 3156+ Colorscripts — Fractals, patterns, characters, nature scenes, and more
⚡ 6-19x Faster — Intelligent caching drops load times to 5-20ms
🌐 Cross-Platform — Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux
⚙️ Configurable — Persist cache location, startup behavior, and defaults
🖌️ 500+ Custom Made Colorscripts — Exclusive original designs
🐾 2500~ Pokémon ColorScripts — Opt-in Pokémon-themed colorscripts
- Note: Pokémon art is filtered by default to keep load times fast. Opt in with -IncludePokemon on relevant commands.
🌍 10 Languages — English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese
🧩 Easy to Use — Simple commands with tab completion
🗄️ Centralized Cache — OS-wide in AppData/ColorScripts-Enhanced/cache
🔄 Auto-Update — Cache invalidates automatically when scripts change
📚 Complete Help — Full comment-based help for all commands

🚀 Quick Start

# Install from PowerShell Gallery
Install-Module -Name ColorScripts-Enhanced -Scope CurrentUser

# Import and display a random colorscript
Import-Module ColorScripts-Enhanced
Show-ColorScript

# Add to your profile (optional - shows colorscript on every terminal open)
Add-ColorScriptProfile

Requires PowerShell 5.1+. PowerShell 7+ recommended for best performance.

📖 Basic Usage

# Show a random colorscript
Show-ColorScript
scs                          # shorthand alias

# Show a specific colorscript
Show-ColorScript -Name "mandelbrot-zoom"
scs pikachu

# List all available colorscripts
Show-ColorScript -List
Get-ColorScriptList

# Filter by category
Get-ColorScriptList -Category Patterns
Get-ColorScriptList -Tag Recommended

# Include Pokémon scripts (opt-in)
Show-ColorScript -IncludePokemon

⚡ Boost Performance with Caching

# Build cache for all scripts (recommended after install)
New-ColorScriptCache

# Rebuild cache if scripts seem stale
New-ColorScriptCache -Force

# Include Pokémon scripts when building the cache
New-ColorScriptCache -IncludePokemon

# Clear cache if needed
Clear-ColorScriptCache -All

🎨 Examples

Add a colorscript to your terminal startup:

# Option 1: Use the built-in helper
Add-ColorScriptProfile

# Option 2: Manually edit your profile
notepad $PROFILE
# Add these lines:
Import-Module ColorScripts-Enhanced
Show-ColorScript

# Option 3: Always include Pokémon art
Add-ColorScriptProfile -IncludePokemon -SkipPokemonPrompt

# Pokémon are opt-in by default
- The module filters Pokémon colorscripts by default to keep startup lean.
- Opt in with `-IncludePokemon` on `Show-ColorScript`, `New-ColorScriptCache`, or `Add-ColorScriptProfile`.
- Direct Pokémon names always work (e.g., `Show-ColorScript -Name Pikachu`) even without `-IncludePokemon`.

# Tip: If Pokémon are filtered by default, specifying a Pokémon script by name still works (e.g., `Show-ColorScript -Name Pikachu`).

Create a custom alias:

Set-Alias -Name cs -Value Show-ColorScript

🔧 Commands Reference

Command	Alias	Description
`Show-ColorScript`	`scs`	Display a colorscript (random or by name)
`Get-ColorScriptList`	—	List available colorscripts
`New-ColorScriptCache`	—	Build cache for faster performance
`Clear-ColorScriptCache`	—	Remove cached files
`Add-ColorScriptProfile`	—	Add module to your PowerShell profile

Get help for any command:

Get-Help Show-ColorScript -Examples

🔤 Nerd Font Support

Some colorscripts use special glyphs that require a Nerd Font. If you see boxes instead of icons:

Download a Nerd Font (e.g., CascadiaCode, FiraCode, JetBrainsMono)
Install the font and set it as your terminal font
Test with: Show-ColorScript -Name nerd-font-test

🐛 Troubleshooting

Colorscript not displaying correctly?

Show-ColorScript -Name "scriptname" -NoCache

Cache seems stale?

New-ColorScriptCache -Force

Module not found?

Get-Module ColorScripts-Enhanced -ListAvailable

📋 Requirements

PowerShell: 5.1+ (7+ recommended)
OS: Windows 10/11, macOS 10.13+, or Linux
Terminal: Any ANSI-capable terminal (Windows Terminal, VS Code, iTerm2, etc.)

📚 More Information

📖 User Documentation

- [Quick Reference Guide](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/docs/QUICK_REFERENCE.html) - [ANSI Color Guide](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/docs/ANSI-COLOR-GUIDE.html) - [Module Summary](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/docs/MODULE_SUMMARY.html) - [Changelog](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/CHANGELOG.html)

🛠️ Developer Documentation

- [Development Guide](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/docs/DEVELOPMENT.html) - [Testing Guide](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/docs/TESTING.html) - [Linting Guide](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/docs/LINTING.html) - [npm Scripts Reference](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/docs/NPM_SCRIPTS.html) - [Publishing Guide](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/docs/PUBLISHING.html) - [Release Checklist](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/docs/RELEASE_CHECKLIST.html) - [ANSI Conversion Guide](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/docs/ANSI-CONVERSION-GUIDE.html)

🤝 Contributing & Community

- [Contributing Guidelines](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/CONTRIBUTING.md) - [Code of Conduct](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) - [Security Policy](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/SECURITY.html) - [Support Policy](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/docs/SUPPORT.html) - [Project Roadmap](/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/docs/ROADMAP.html)

🔄 CI/CD & Quality

[![Tests.](https://github.com/Nick2bad4u/ps-color-scripts-enhanced/actions/workflows/test.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/Nick2bad4u/ps-color-scripts-enhanced/actions/workflows/test.yml) [![Codecov.](https://codecov.io/gh/Nick2bad4u/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/branch/main/graph/badge.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/Nick2bad4u/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced) [![OpenSSF Scorecard.](https://api.scorecard.dev/projects/github.com/Nick2bad4u/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced/badge)](https://scorecard.dev/viewer/?uri=github.com/Nick2bad4u/PS-Color-Scripts-Enhanced) - [Test Workflow](.github/workflows/test.yml) - [Publish Workflow](.github/workflows/publish.yml)

🙏 Credits

Built upon the work of:

Derek Taylor (DistroTube) — Original shell-color-scripts
Scott McKendry — PowerShell port

ANSI art sourced from 16colo.rs, ArtScene, r/ANSIart, Pokemon-Colorscripts, and more artists.

📄 License

Unlicense — Public domain. Do whatever you want with it.

Enjoy the colors! 🌈✨

Contributors ✨

Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):

_Nick2bad4u 🐛 💻 📖 🤔 🚇 🚧 👀 ⚠️ 🔧	_{Scott McKendry} 🐛 💻 🎨 📖 💡 🚇 🚧 📦 🔌 👀 ✅	_{Snyk bot} 🛡️ 🚇 🚧 👀	_{StepSecurity Bot} 🛡️ 🚇 🚧
_{dependabot[bot]} 🚇 🛡️