Interactive · splash

Splash

The opening moment of your CLI. A logo, a title, and a subtitle, with phased reveal.

Anatomy

   ___                _
  / __\__ _ _ __ ___| |_
 / /  / _` | '__/ _ \ __|
/ /__| (_| | | |  __/ |_
\____/\__,_|_|  \___|\__|

Caret
The design system for modern command-line tools

Options

type SplashOptions = {
  logo?: string | { text: string; font?: string }
  title: string
  subtitle?: string
  duration?: 'instant' | 'fast' | 'normal' | 'slow'  // default: 'normal'
  hold?: number  // override post-reveal hold ms
  theme?: PartialTheme
}

The logo field accepts:

▸A pre-rendered ASCII string

▸An object { text, font } — Caret converts via figlet at runtime

Behavior

▸Logo with embedded ANSI (e.g. from imageToArt) is preserved as-is

▸Logo without ANSI gets accent color applied

▸Reduced motion / non-TTY → instant render, no phased reveal

▸After all elements appear, splash holds for hold ms then unmounts

Duration profiles

Profile	Logo	Title	Subtitle	Hold	Total
`instant`	0	0	0	0	0
`fast`	150	100	100	400	750ms
`normal`	300	200	200	800	1500ms
`slow`	500	350	350	1500	2700ms

Do & don't

Do — use exactly once at the start of a session; use instant for --version and normal for interactive flows.

Don't — use multiple splashes in a single command; don't use for routine output (banner is for that).

Out of scope

▸Audio / sound — never (Caret principle 11)

▸Per-character animation of the title — use typewriter standalone

▸Non-rectangular logos — logo renders whatever string you give it