pycheese 0.2.2

Generate beautiful images of code with syntax highlighting in a stylish terminal window.

PyCheese

PyCheese is a Python-based tool for generating beautiful, high-quality images of code with syntax highlighting, rendered in a macOS-style terminal window. Built for automation and easy customization, it can be easily integrated into scripts or pipelines.

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Features

• Syntax Highlighting – Utilizes Pygments with support for dozens of languages.
• macOS-style Terminal UI – Recreates the terminal header and shadow.
• Fonts – Use any TTF font, comes with JetBrains Mono for elegant, readable code.
• Fully Scriptable – Designed to run headlessly from scripts, CI pipelines, or other Python apps.
• Easily Customizable – Modify themes, fonts, window styles, and more in plain Python.
• Self-contained – No need for browsers or servers. Everything runs locally.

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Installation

pip install pycheese

Command Line Usage

Render the code in test.py in a default 80x24 window. By default, the window scrolls with the code and only the last 24 rows will be shown if the code does not fit into the window.

pycheese tests/sample_code.py

Use the --columns and --rows options to extend the window.

pycheese --columns 45 tests/sample_code.py

Programmatic Usage

from pycheese import PyCheese, PyCheeseConfig

tool = PyCheese()
tool.render_code_to_file(
    code='print("Hello, world!")',
    output_path='hello_world.png'
)

A slightly more custom way to call the tool is to create a RenderConfig to overwrite specific parameters.

config = PyCheeseConfig(
    shadow_offset = 20,
    shadow_blur = 3,
    shadow_color = "purple",
    shadow_alpha = 220,
)
renderer = PyCheese(
    code='print("Hello, world!")',
    config=config,
)
renderer.render()  # render all layers
renderer.final_image.show()  # access PIL image object

PyCheese renders four distinct layers: background, shadow, text, and title bar. They are composited into the final image. This approach allows the modification of individual layers for an animation without having to re-render any other layers.

renderer.bg_layer
renderer.shadow_layer
renderer.text_layer
renderer.titlebar_layer
renderer.final_image

It's possible to efficiently generate an animation by only modifying the layer that is changing.

code='print("Hello, world!")',
for style in ["monokai", ""]:
    renderer.render_text_layer(code=code, style=style)
    renderer.render()
    renderer.final_image.show()
    print(color)

Fonts

The tool comes with the JetBrainsMono font. Direct the tool to your fonts folder for more font choices.

Styles

PyCheese uses the Pygments library which comes with a range of styles that can be selected with the --style options. The complete list can be found here.

Some dark styles:

• monokai
• zenburn
• nord
• dracula
• gruvbox-dark

Some light styles:

• solarized-light
• gruvbox-light
• friendly
• friendly_grayscale
• murphy

Line Wrapping

The line wrapping can be independently applied using the linewrap.py script.

hatch run python src/pycheese/utils/linewrap.py --columns 20 tests/sample_code.py

Alternatives

• Raycast
• codepng
• Code Beautify
• Carbon

Font License

JetBrains Mono typeface is available under the OFL-1.1 License and can be used free of charge, for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. You do not need to give credit to JetBrains, although we will appreciate it very much if you do. See JetBrainsMono License

License

With the exception of the font files, the code and assets contained in this repository are licensed under GNU General Public License v3.0 as detailed in the LICENSE file.