astra-apod 0.2.1

A NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day CLI tool.

Astra

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, rendered directly in your terminal.

Features

• Auto-detected graphics: Kitty protocol, SIXEL, or block-character fallback
• Cross-platform: Windows, Linux, macOS
• Works with Windows Terminal, Ghostty, Kitty, WezTerm, Alacritty, and more
• Terminal greeter — show today's APOD when you open your shell
• Browse by date, view random APODs, read full explanations
• Search all APOD titles from APOD Archive
• Save HD images of APODs
• Works out of the box with DEMO_KEY

Install

pip install astra-apod

Usage

astra                              # Today's APOD
astra today                        # Same as above
astra date 2021-08-14              # APOD for a specific date
astra random                       # Random APOD 
astra search <title>               # Search APOD archive by title 
astra info                         # Full explanation of last viewed APOD
astra save                         # Save last viewed APOD

Configuration

astra config --show                # Show current configuration
astra config --api-key <key>       # Set NASA API key
astra config --size full           # Full terminal width image
astra config --size default        # 60% terminal width image 
astra config --bg "#0c0c0c"        # Set background color manually
astra config --save-dir <path>     # Set default save directory
astra config --clear-cache         # Clear cached images
astra config --reset               # Reset all settings to defaults

Terminal Greeter

Auto-display today's APOD when you open your terminal:

astra config --greeter on --shell cmd          # CMD (Windows)
astra config --greeter on --shell powershell   # PowerShell (Windows)
astra config --greeter on --shell bash         # Bash (Linux/macOS)
astra config --greeter on --shell zsh          # Zsh (Linux/macOS)
astra config --greeter on --shell fish         # Fish (Linux/macOS)

Control how often it runs:

astra config --greeter-freq daily    # Once per day (default)
astra config --greeter-freq always   # Every terminal open

Disable it:

astra config --greeter off --shell <shell>

Built with

Python · Typer · Rich · Pillow · NumPy

License

MIT © 2026 Asutosh Shrestha