cbonsai: Terminal Bonsai Generator

Quick start

Start generating a bonsai in live mode (renders continuously until you stop it):

cbonsai -l

Or explicitly use the long form:

cbonsai --live

To run in infinite mode (non-stop pruning/branching):

cbonsai --infinite

Tip: live and infinite together are the default for a cinematic display, but any keypress exits if you use the screensaver option (see below).

Core knobs (defaults)

  • Growth factor (how tall the tree tends to grow): default 32
  • Branching factor (how many child branches per node): default 5

You can set them like this:

cbonsai --life 64 --multiplier 5

Or using short flags:

cbonsai -L 64 -M 5

Notes:

  • Life value range is 0..200.
  • Multiplier range is 0..20.

Screensaver mode

Screensaver mode is a nice idle display that exits on any keypress. It’s equivalent to combining live + infinite, but with a convenient exit trigger:

cbonsai -S

Long form:

cbonsai --screensaver

Common pitfall: if you expect automatic exit after a period, remember this mode requires a keypress to quit.

Messages and verbosity

If you want to append a message to the bonsai, or display extra information, use these:

cbonsai -m "Hello garden"  # add a message to the bonsai
cbonsai -v  # verbose/extra information

Help and discovery

Need help? Show the built-in help text:

cbonsai -h

Or:

cbonsai --help

The help output describes all options and their defaults.

Practical tips

  • Start simple: try cbonsai -l to see immediate live rendering.
  • Tweak growth and branches one at a time to observe effects:
    • cbonsai -L 40 -M 6
  • If you want a very long-lived display, use —life with a modest —multiplier to avoid overwhelming the terminal.
  • In screensaver mode, you can still pass a message with -m to personalize the display, then press any key to exit.

Quick reference (summary)

  • cbonsai -l or —live: live mode
  • cbonsai -i or —infinite: infinite mode
  • cbonsai -L <0..200> or —life <0..200>: growth factor
  • cbonsai -M <0..20> or —multiplier <0..20>: branching factor
  • cbonsai -S or —screensaver: screensaver mode
  • cbonsai -m or —message : append message
  • cbonsai -v or —verbose: extra information
  • cbonsai -h or —help: show help

Quick-start example bundle

  • Live bonsai with a custom life and multiplier:
cbonsai -l -L 48 -M 4
  • Infinite bonsai with a message, in screensaver style:
cbonsai -i -S -m "Autumn Bonsai" -v

See Also