cbonsai is a bonsai tree generator, written in C using ncurses. It intelligently creates, colors, and positions a bonsai tree, and is entirely configurable via CLI options-- see usage. There are 2 modes of operation: static (see finished bonsai tree), and live (see growth step-by-step).

cbonsai is always looking for ideas for improvement- feel free to open an issue if you've got an idea or a bug!

cbonsai is available in multiple repositories. Check the repology chart to the right to see if cbonsai is packaged for your system. A big thank you to all the people who packaged cbonsai!

If no package exists for your system/distribution, you'll have to use the manual install instructions. Below are some more specific instructions for some distributions.

cbonsai is available in Debian Testing and Unstable via apt. Robin Gustafsson has also kindly packaged cbonsai as a .deb file over in this repository.

Mohammad Kefah has kindly packaged cbonsai in the Fedora copr, which is "similar to what the AUR is to Arch". On Fedora, it can be installed like so:

sudo dnf copr enable keefle/cbonsai
sudo dnf install cbonsai

You may install cbonsai using Homebrew:

brew install cbonsai

You may also install cbonsai using MacPorts. Simply install MacPorts, then issue the following commands:

sudo port selfupdate
sudo port install cbonsai

You'll need to have a working ncursesw/ncurses library.

sudo apt install libncursesw5-dev

sudo dnf install ncursesw5-devel

Follow the Manual installation, but if you install ncurses via homebrew, you may see this:

For pkg-config to find ncurses you may need to set:
  set -gx PKG_CONFIG_PATH "/usr/local/opt/ncurses/lib/pkgconfig"

You may need to follow these instructions before running make install.

If you are having trouble installing on MacOS, try reading this issue.

Once dependencies are met, then install:

git clone https://gitlab.com/jallbrit/cbonsai
cd cbonsai

# install for this user
make install PREFIX=~/.local

# install for all users
sudo make install

Usage: cbonsai [OPTION]...

cbonsai is a beautifully random bonsai tree generator.

Options:
  -l, --live             live mode: show each step of growth
  -t, --time=TIME        in live mode, wait TIME secs between
                           steps of growth (must be larger than 0) [default: 0.03]
  -i, --infinite         infinite mode: keep growing trees
  -w, --wait=TIME        in infinite mode, wait TIME between each tree
                           generation [default: 4.00]
  -S, --screensaver      screensaver mode; equivalent to -liWC and
                           quit on any keypress
  -m, --message=STR      attach message next to the tree
  -b, --base=INT         ascii-art plant base to use, 0 is none
  -c, --leaf=LIST        list of comma-delimited strings randomly chosen
                           for leaves
  -k, --color=LIST       list of 4 comma-delimited color indices (0-255) for
                           each of dark leaves, dark wood, light leaves, and
                           light wood, in that order [default: 2,3,10,11]
  -M, --multiplier=INT   branch multiplier; higher -> more
                           branching (0-20) [default: 5]
  -L, --life=INT         life; higher -> more growth (0-200) [default: 32]
  -p, --print            print tree to terminal when finished
  -s, --seed=INT         seed random number generator
  -W, --save=FILE        save progress to file [default: ~/.cache/cbonsai]
  -C, --load=FILE        load progress from file [default: ~/.cache/cbonsai]
  -v, --verbose          increase output verbosity
  -h, --help             show help

Try out -S/--screensaver mode! As the help message states, it activates the --live and --infinite modes, quits upon any keypress, also saves/loads using the default cache file (~/.cache/cbonsai). This means:

• When you start cbonsai with --screensaver, a tree (including its seed and progress) is loaded from the default cache file.
• When you quit cbonsai and --screensaver was on, the current tree being generated (including its seed and progress) is written to the default cache file.

This is helpful for a situations like the following: let's say you're growing a really big tree, really slowly:

$ cbonsai --life 40 --multiplier 5 --time 20 --screensaver

Normally, when you quite cbonsai (e.g. by you hitting q or ctrl-c), you would lose all progress on that tree. However, by specifying --screensaver, the tree is automatically saved to a cache file upon quitting. The next time you run that exact same screensaver command:

$ cbonsai --life 40 --multiplier 5 --time 20 --screensaver

The tree is automatically loaded from the cache file! And, since infinite mode is automatically turned on, it will finish the cached tree and just keep generating more. When you quit cbonsai again, the tree is once again written to the cache file for next time.

Keep in mind that only the seed and number of branches are written to the cache file, so if you want to continue a previously generated tree, make sure you re-specify any other options you may have changed.

For a new bonsai tree every time you open a terminal, just add the following to the end of your ~/.bashrc:

cbonsai -p

Notice it uses the print mode, so that you can immediately start typing commands below the bonsai tree.

If you want to run cbonsai --infinite --message $(fortune), you'll quickly notice that fortune only runs once, and the same message is on each tree. What if you could run fortune each time, for a fresh message? Or some other program that gives you text?

cbonsai does not include an "--exec" feature, but you can emulate this functionality by wrapping cbonsai in a bash script, like the one below:

#!/bin/bash
WAITTIME=15

clear

while true; do
	echo -ne "\e[?25l"
	timeout -f "$WAITTIME" ./cbonsai -m "$(fortune)"    # --live also works
	echo -ne "\e[?25l"
	sleep 2
done

This script uses an ANSI escape sequence to hide the cursor, then runs cbonsai, using timeout to kill the process after $WAITTIME seconds. Then, it sleeps for 2 seconds, and starts another tree.

cbonsai starts by drawing the base onto the screen, which is basically just a static string of characters. To generate the actual tree, cbonsai uses a bunch of if statements homemade algorithm to decide how the tree should grow every step. Shoots to the left and right are generated as the main trunk grows. As any branch dies, it branches out into a bunch of leaves.

cbonsai has rules for which character and color it should use for each tiny branch piece, depending on things like what type of branch it is and what direction it's facing.

The algorithm is tweaked to look best at the default size, so larger sized trees may not be as bonsai-like.

This project wouldn't be here if it weren't for its roots! cbonsai is a newer version of bonsai.sh, which was written in bash and was itself a port of this bonsai tree generator written in javascript.