ascdraw: Editor for ASCII/UTF-8 diagrams (in 144FPS)

Summary

I value ascdraw at $9.99 or €9.99 for a personal license. It is GPLv3 software, so payment is entirely optional. If it is useful to you, please fund its development. Native, keyboard-first diagramming for people who think in text. ascdraw is an effectively infinite Unicode canvas for connected lines, symbols, shapes, text, rectangular editing, layers, and TXT/JSON/PNG export. It is usable today, but its interfaces and document format are still evolving. The canvas renders at 120+ FPS, which matters more than you might think in a keyboard-first editor. Download a current nightly from GitHub Releases, or build it yourself with the Rust toolchain managed by mise: cargo build --release --locked ./target/release/ascdraw Install from a checkout instead: cargo install --path . --locked ascdraw opens in Stamp mode. Numbered menus show their own keys; this table covers the less obvious shortcuts. Directions are arrow keys or h, j, k, l. Action Key Move direction Draw/apply tool Ctrl + direction Place stamp / preview line or shape Space Select rectangle Shift + direction Erase / move selection Alt + direction (moves when selection is expanded) Text mode i Continuous replace mode Return or Shift + R Replace once r, then a character Jump across canvas m, then direction Clear selection Backspace Undo / redo u / U or Ctrl/Cmd + Z / R Copy / cut / paste Cmd + C / Ctrl/Cmd + X / Ctrl/Cmd + V Cancel Escape, Ctrl + C, or Ctrl + G Stamp: place symbols, arrows, fills, and blocks. Line: draw connected Unicode lines; Space starts a routed preview. Shape: draw outlined or filled rectangles. Utils: push/pull rows and columns, or pan the viewport. Files/Togls (0): load, save, export, change theme, and enable colors or layers. Optional features: Color: choose from 16 ANSI-style colors for new text and drawing. PNG and JSON preserve colors; TXT does not. Layers: add, hide, reorder, and merge layers. Editing affects the active layer; PNG preserves the visible stack. Dark Mode: available, but l...