ASCII Chart Generator

Problem

When data needs to be shown in terminals, Markdown files, or offline notes, images, Canvas, or frontend chart libraries can be inconvenient: copying may lose the rendering context, and screenshots are hard to maintain. This skill converts common visualizations into ASCII text so bar charts, trends, shares, processes, schedules, tables, trees, and box plots can be read directly in plain text.

How It Works

It selects a chart type from trigger terms such as bar chart, line chart, pie chart, flowchart, gantt, table, tree, box plot, and sparkline. Generation then applies a style preset:
- minimal: single-line borders for compact output.
- classic: double lines and box-drawing characters for conventional terminal tables.
- modern: rounded corners and Unicode symbols for polished documentation.
- retro: ASCII-only output for legacy CLI environments.
- elegant: decorative elements and light/shadow effects for presentational notes.

Color is expressed with block characters such as ░, ▒, ▓, and █ rather than relying on true RGB rendering, while terminal color mappings are included. The final result is typically placed in a code block to preserve alignment; metadata can be added as a comment when needed.

Limitations

This is useful for lightweight visualization, CLI examples, and Markdown attachments, but it is not a replacement for interactive dashboards. Outputs should be checked for width, spacing, labels, legends, and color restraint; empty data, single values, very large values, long labels, and negative values must be handled according to the chart type instead of forcing one template.