Terminal Text Animator — typing animations you can share_
1 · MESSAGE
[back n] which also works inside a line. Click a chip to insert it at the cursor.2 · START FROM A TEMPLATE
3 · TERMINAL
4 · EFFECTS
Guide — your first terminal message in a minute
Type in the box, or start from a template such as the hacker prank, birthday or typo joke. The preview restarts as you type.
Click a chip to insert [pause 1], [back 3] for a corrected typo, [glitch], [clear] or [beep] at the cursor.
Nine terminals, from green CRT and amber to PowerShell, Ubuntu and paper. Set the speed, text size, cursor and format (16:9, 9:16 or 1:1).
Space plays and pauses, drag the timeline to any moment, F shows only the terminal, fullscreen.
SHARE AS LINK puts the whole animation in the link. Or download a video with sound, a GIF or a PNG.
What is in here
Lines are typed exactly as written. Markup on its own line changes the timing.
- [pause 2]
- wait 2 seconds (also inside a line)
- [back 4]
- backspace 4 characters, for a fake typo
- [clear]
- wipe the screen
- [slow] [fast]
- 7 or 55 characters per second
- [speed 30]
- exactly 30 characters per second
- [glitch] [beep]
- glitch burst, terminal beep
Each sets the colours and the window frame.
- Retro
- Green CRT, amber, DOS blue, Matrix
- Modern
- macOS, Ubuntu, Windows PowerShell
- Special
- Hacker red, and paper for slides and documents
- Effects
- glow, scanlines, CRT flicker, Matrix intro, $ prompt
The person who opens your link sees only the terminal and a play button, then can replay, pass it on or make their own.
- Link
- WhatsApp, X, LinkedIn or the phone share sheet
- Privacy
- The message sits after the # and is never sent to a server
- Expiry
- None: there is nothing stored anywhere
Exports follow the format you chose: 1280×720, 720×1280 or 900×900.
- Video
- MP4 or WebM, with the typing sounds
- GIF
- 12 frames per second at half size, up to 60 seconds
- PNG
- the current frame, or the finished message
- Draft
- your last message is kept in this browser
A terminal typing animation maker
The Terminal Text Animator turns any message, code or shell session into a typewriter animation in a terminal window: characters appear one by one with a blinking cursor, small random differences in rhythm like a real person typing, optional key clicks and the occasional glitch. Use it for a birthday message, an announcement, a hacker prank, a YouTube or course intro, a slide in a presentation, or a README GIF that shows a command running. Everything happens in your browser: no upload, no account and no watermark.
How to make a typing animation
Type your text in the message box. Every line is typed out as written; a markup tag on a line of its own controls the timing. A short example:
$ ./deploy.sh[pause 1]Deploying to producton[back 2]ion…[glitch 0.5]✔ done[beep]
This types the command, waits a second, makes a typo and corrects it with two backspaces, glitches the screen for half a second and finishes with a beep. Press Space to play it, drag the timeline to check a moment, and change terminal, speed or effects: the preview restarts on every change.
Typing speed: characters per second and words per minute
Speed is set in characters per second (cps). Typing speed is usually quoted in words per minute, where one "word" is counted as 5 characters, so wpm = cps × 60 ÷ 5. The default 22 cps is 264 words per minute: faster than anyone types, which keeps an animation short and lively. A typical office typist is often quoted at about 40 words per minute, which is 3.3 cps; use [speed 4] to [speed 7] for a slow, human, dramatic line, and [fast] (55 cps) for walls of log output. Each character gets a small random delay so the rhythm feels human, but the randomness is fixed: the same message always plays exactly the same, so a shared link looks the same for everyone.
| Setting | Characters / second | Words / minute | Feels like |
|---|---|---|---|
[slow] | 7 | 84 | someone choosing their words |
| default | 22 | 264 | a movie hacker |
[fast] | 55 | 660 | output scrolling past |
The nine terminals
- Green CRT and Amber recall monochrome monitors of the 1970s and 80s, whose screens used green (P1) or amber (P3) phosphor.
- DOS Blue is white on the blue background of classic DOS programs; PowerShell uses the dark blue (
#012456) of the Windows PowerShell console. - macOS and Ubuntu copy the window frames of today's terminals, with the coloured window buttons.
- Hacker Red and Matrix are for drama; pair Matrix with the falling-characters intro.
- Paper is dark text on off-white, for slides, documents and light websites.
Share it as a link that plays in cinema mode
SHARE AS LINK compresses the message and every setting into the address itself, after the #. Browsers never send that part of an address to a web server, so the message is not stored or seen by anyone but the people you send the link to, and the link never expires. Whoever opens it gets cinema mode: only the terminal and a ▶ button (which also switches on sound and fullscreen). At the end they can replay it, share it on or press Make your own to open the editor with your message loaded. Longer messages make longer links; the length is shown when you share.
Export a video, GIF or PNG
RECORD VIDEO plays the animation from the start and records it as it plays: MP4 when your browser can record that format, otherwise WebM. With typing sounds on, the key clicks and beeps are recorded too. GIF renders the animation frame by frame at 12 frames per second and half size, which keeps files small enough for Slack, Teams, GitHub READMEs and e-mail; a GIF can only show 256 colours per frame, so glow and gradients come out slightly simpler. GIFs are limited to 60 seconds. PNG saves the current frame, or the finished message when nothing is playing.
Sound
The key clicks and the [beep] are synthesised on the spot with the Web Audio API, a short square-wave click per character and an 880 Hz beep, so no audio files are downloaded. Browsers only allow sound after you click something, so the first preview after opening the page is silent; press play and the clicks come in. Turn typing sounds off for a silent video.
Animate code and shell sessions
Paste any code, log or command output; it is typed character by character with your timing. Switch on $ prompt to put a shell prompt in front of every line that does not already start with one. Long lines wrap at the edge of the window and the text scrolls up when the screen is full, like a real terminal. For big banner letters, make them in the ASCII art generator and paste them in.
Fullscreen, keyboard and privacy
Space play and pause · R restart · F fullscreen, showing only the terminal with the screen kept awake · Esc exit. Your latest message and settings are saved in this browser so they are still there next time. Nothing is uploaded: the animation is drawn on a canvas on your own device, and exports are made there as well.
More text and retro tools
See yourself as live text art with the ASCII webcam, turn a photo into characters with image to ASCII, prank a colleague with the you have been hacked screen, or let the Matrix screensaver rain. All free tools are on the apps page.