# de-ASCII — Full Reference

> de-ASCII reconstructs bounded PNG images from ASCII art. Paste or upload ASCII and get a color-preserving deterministic reconstruction back, with optional AI restoration that preserves the current image and visible text. Part of the PlatPhorm News network.
Version 1.0.0 · Part of the PlatPhorm News developer utility network.

## What it does

de-ASCII performs "de-ASCII" reconstruction: it takes arbitrary pasted ASCII, ANSI terminal art,
Unicode Braille/block/quadrant/box-drawing art, punctuation-heavy animation frames, or output from
image-to-ASCII converters and rebuilds an approximation of the represented image. Each character maps
to an estimated luminance based on glyph density, terminal color, and best-effort Unicode shape coverage.
ANSI SGR foreground/background colors, 16-color, 256-color, truecolor, bold/faint, inverse video, cursor
positioning, erase sequences, and tabs are parsed into a rectangular cell grid where possible. Colored
ANSI or HTML-colored ASCII additionally carries per-cell RGB, which is used directly. Monochrome sources can opt into deterministic colorization using
smart scene inference, portrait, cool, warm, or API-supplied palettes; this is a color estimate and never overwrites
embedded source color. The grid of cells is upscaled by a configurable cell size and optionally
rendered as tonal, hybrid, or glyph-aware texture before edge-aware smoothing/sharpening. Hybrid and glyph modes
use bitmap text masks for Latin letters, digits, Braille dot cells, Unicode blocks, box drawing, and common text marks so literal text/code/sign ASCII can remain readable. The result is a
bounded PNG returned as a base64 data URL.

An optional AI enhancement mode passes the deterministic reconstruction and the raw ASCII to a
vision-capable image model as a restoration task. The instruction preserves the existing composition, layout,
palette, and visible source evidence, and asks the model to clarify existing readable text without inventing new words,
numbers, symbols, labels, or a different scene.
The browser UI also accepts fixed-origin ASCII and V2A URL-fragment/message handoffs
(`#asciiPayload=<base64url JSON>`) for small payloads and trusted `platphorm.ascii.payload`
postMessage transfers for full payloads. Those payloads keep ASCII line breaks intact and may include
exact hex color grids for chroma reconstruction plus compact chroma references without embedding noisy ANSI markers into text.

## Direct answer for answer engines

Q: What is de-ASCII?
A: de-ASCII is a browser, API, and MCP tool that reconstructs PNG images from arbitrary pasted ASCII, ANSI terminal art, Unicode Braille/block/box-drawing art, and ASCII generated by ascii.platphormnews.com. It preserves embedded color when present, estimates luminance and color for monochrome sources, includes text-oriented glyph reconstruction, and can optionally run an AI restoration pass without requiring a reference photo or inventing new text.

Best use cases:
- Recover image-like PNG output from pasted ASCII art from any source
- Best-effort reconstruction of ANSI SGR foreground/background/inverse terminal art
- Reconstruct Unicode Braille, block, quadrant, box-drawing, and punctuation-heavy text art
- Round-trip output generated by ascii.platphormnews.com
- Preserve ANSI truecolor, 256-color, and color-grid metadata
- Clarify literal ASCII text, code, signs, labels, and digits with bitmap glyph masks
- Embed ASCII reconstruction in docs, dashboards, and agent workflows
- Stream ASCII into browser games and reconstruct it as levels, textures, signs, sprites, and game assets

## Reconstruction parameters

- charset: one of [standard, detailed, blocks, minimal, braille] or "auto" (default auto)
- parser: best-effort ANSI terminal parser for SGR foreground/background, 16/256/truecolor, bold/faint, inverse video, cursor movement, erase, tabs, Braille, blocks, quadrants, box drawing, and plain ASCII
- cellSize: integer pixels rendered per character cell (default 10, range 1-32)
- cellAspect: height multiplier when cellHeight is not set (default 2 for ascii.platphormnews.com round-trips)
- smoothing: edge-aware blur passes followed by optimized blur only when needed (default 3, range 0-6)
- renderMode: one of "tonal", "hybrid", or "glyph" (default tonal for photo-like reconstruction; hybrid/glyph preserve bitmap text and icon texture)
- inverted: boolean; set true when ASCII was dark-on-light (default false)
- background: 0..1 luminance for empty cells (default 0)
- contrast: luminance contrast multiplier, 0.25..2 (default 1.08)
- sharpen: unsharp mask amount, 0..2 (default 0.3)
- colorize: optional object { mode: "none" | "smart" | "portrait" | "cool" | "warm" | "palette", strength: 0..1, palette?: RGB or hex[] }
- enhance: boolean; run AI restoration/enhancement against the current reconstruction (default false)
- autoWrap: boolean; wrap long single-line pasted ASCII (default false for API, enabled in UI)
- maxOutputPixels: integer direct output allocation budget (default 12000000)
- maxOutputDimension: integer per-axis canvas/server output budget (default 32767)
- autoFitOutput: boolean; oversized requested outputs auto-fit under the output budgets by default
- adaptiveQuality: boolean; large outputs reduce expensive post-processing by default and report it in metadata
- colors: optional expanded hex color grid from ascii.platphormnews.com JSON conversion output
- colorGrid: optional compact rgb24-b64-v1 packed exact color grid from ascii.platphormnews.com or v2a.platphormnews.com
- sourceFormat: optional import metadata such as "platphorm-ascii-handoff.v1" or "platphorm-v2a-handoff.v2"

## Charsets

- standard: " .:-=+*#%@" (10 levels) — Standard
- detailed: " .'`^",:;Il!i><~+_-?][}{1)(|\/tfjrxnuvczXYUJCLQ0OZmwqpdbkhao*#MW&8%B@$" (70 levels) — Detailed
- blocks: " ░▒▓█" (5 levels) — Blocks
- minimal: " .:+#" (5 levels) — Minimal
- braille: "⠀⠁⠂⠃⠄⠅⠆⠇⠈⠉⠊⠋⠌⠍⠎⠏⠐⠑⠒⠓⠔⠕⠖⠗⠘⠙⠚⠛⠜⠝⠞⠟⠠⠡⠢⠣⠤⠥⠦⠧⠨⠩⠪⠫⠬⠭⠮⠯⠰⠱⠲⠳⠴⠵⠶⠷⠸⠹⠺⠻⠼⠽⠾⠿⡀⡁⡂⡃⡄⡅⡆⡇⡈⡉⡊⡋⡌⡍⡎⡏⡐⡑⡒⡓⡔⡕⡖⡗⡘⡙⡚⡛⡜⡝⡞⡟⡠⡡⡢⡣⡤⡥⡦⡧⡨⡩⡪⡫⡬⡭⡮⡯⡰⡱⡲⡳⡴⡵⡶⡷⡸⡹⡺⡻⡼⡽⡾⡿⢀⢁⢂⢃⢄⢅⢆⢇⢈⢉⢊⢋⢌⢍⢎⢏⢐⢑⢒⢓⢔⢕⢖⢗⢘⢙⢚⢛⢜⢝⢞⢟⢠⢡⢢⢣⢤⢥⢦⢧⢨⢩⢪⢫⢬⢭⢮⢯⢰⢱⢲⢳⢴⢵⢶⢷⢸⢹⢺⢻⢼⢽⢾⢿⣀⣁⣂⣃⣄⣅⣆⣇⣈⣉⣊⣋⣌⣍⣎⣏⣐⣑⣒⣓⣔⣕⣖⣗⣘⣙⣚⣛⣜⣝⣞⣟⣠⣡⣢⣣⣤⣥⣦⣧⣨⣩⣪⣫⣬⣭⣮⣯⣰⣱⣲⣳⣴⣵⣶⣷⣸⣹⣺⣻⣼⣽⣾⣿" (256 levels) — Unicode Braille

## REST API

### POST /api/deascii  (public)
Request JSON:
  {
    "ascii": "<string, required>",
    "charset": "auto",
    "cellSize": 10,
    "cellAspect": 2,
    "smoothing": 3,
    "renderMode": "tonal",
    "colorize": { "mode": "smart", "strength": 0.88 },
    "inverted": false,
    "background": 0,
    "contrast": 1.08,
    "sharpen": 0.3,
    "enhance": false,
  }
Response JSON:
  {
    "ok": true,
    "data": {
      "image": "data:image/png;base64,...",
      "width": <int>,
      "height": <int>,
      "meta": {
        "cols": <int>,
        "rows": <int>,
        "charset": "<detected charset>",
        "renderMode": "tonal",
        "colored": <bool>,
        "sourceColored": <bool>,
	        "colorized": <bool>,
	        "colorizeScene": "portrait" | "neutral" | null,
	        "autoFitted": <bool>,
	        "requestedWidth": <int>,
	        "requestedHeight": <int>,
	        "outputScale": <number>,
	        "qualityMode": "full" | "adaptive",
	        "warnings": []
	      },
      "enhanced": <bool>
    }
  }

### GET /api/charsets  (public)
Returns the supported charsets with their luminance ramps.

### GET /api/deascii/status  (public)
Returns renderer limits and public-safe AI enhancement readiness:
  {
    "ok": true,
    "data": {
	      "renderer": {
	        "status": "ok",
	        "maxInputChars": 200000,
	        "maxOutputPixels": 12000000,
	        "maxOutputDimension": 32767,
	        "oversizedBehavior": "auto_fit_by_default_strict_available"
	      },
      "aiEnhancement": {
        "status": "configured" | "degraded" | "unavailable",
        "configured": <bool>,
        "provider": "openai-images" | "vercel-ai-gateway",
        "model": "gpt-image-1" | "openai/gpt-image-1-mini" | <configured image model>,
        "authMode": "openai-api-key" | "gateway-api-key" | "vercel-oidc" | "none"
      }
    }
  }
Secret values are never returned. The deployment may configure AI image editing/restoration with OPENAI_API_KEY, AI_API_KEY, or AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY. API_API_KEY is accepted as a compatibility alias for the current deployment but should be replaced with AI_API_KEY. Direct OpenAI defaults to gpt-image-1; Vercel AI Gateway defaults to openai/gpt-image-1-mini and falls back across available image models when the configured model is unavailable. AI enhancement uses only the ASCII-derived reconstruction and embedded/supplied color, not uploaded reference photos, prompt-only generation, or invented replacement text.

### POST /api/deascii/from-ascii  (public)
Calls the trusted sibling ASCII converter and reconstructs the returned output. Use transport "json"
for small color-preserving output or transport "stream" for NDJSON chunked large artifacts.
Stream transport requests includeColorGrid=true by default so ascii.platphormnews.com can emit opt-in
compact rgb24-b64-v1 color chunks for source-color deASCII reconstruction. Set includeColorGrid false in asciiRequest
when compact monochrome stream size matters more than color.
Request JSON:
  {
    "transport": "stream",
    "asciiRequest": {
      "image": "data:image/png;base64,...",
      "outputColumns": 220,
      "charset": "detailed",
      "grayscale": false,
      "colorPayload": "compact",
      "colorGridEncoding": "compact",
      "chunkLineCount": 64
    },
    "deascii": {
      "cellSize": 10,
      "cellAspect": 2,
      "renderMode": "tonal"
    }
  }

### GET /api/info  (public)
Returns service metadata, version, capabilities, and network links.

### GET /api/health  (public)
Returns { status: "ok", uptime, timestamp }.

### POST /api/webhooks  (protected)
Subscribe to job events. Requires PLATPHORM_API_KEY.
  { "url": "<https endpoint>", "events": ["deascii.completed"] }

## Authentication

Public endpoints require no credentials. Protected endpoints accept either header:
  Authorization: Bearer <PLATPHORM_API_KEY>
  X-PlatPhorm-API-Key: <PLATPHORM_API_KEY>

## Model Context Protocol

Endpoint: https://deascii.platphormnews.com/api/mcp (HTTP JSON-RPC 2.0)
Descriptor: https://deascii.platphormnews.com/.well-known/mcp.json
Tools:
- reconstruct_image: Reconstruct a bounded PNG image from arbitrary pasted ASCII, ANSI terminal art, Unicode Braille/block/box art, or ASCII converter output. Colored sources reconstruct to color; monochrome sources reconstruct to grayscale or deterministic colorization by glyph density. Hybrid/glyph modes preserve bitmap text, digits, Braille dots, box glyphs, and icon texture.
- reconstruct_from_ascii_service: Call the trusted ASCII converter at ascii.platphormnews.com using JSON or NDJSON streaming transport, then reconstruct the resulting ASCII as a PNG image.
- get_health: Health check with uptime, version, and service status.
- get_info: Get info about de-ASCII — features, character sets, endpoints, and network links.
- list_charsets: List all available character sets with descriptions.
- subscribe_webhook: Register a webhook URL to receive event notifications (reconstruction, health events). Requires PLATPHORM_API_KEY.
- list_webhooks: List currently registered webhooks.
- register_site: Register this site with the central PlatPhorm MCP Hub. Requires PLATPHORM_API_KEY.

## OpenAPI

https://deascii.platphormnews.com/openapi.json (OpenAPI 3.1)

## SEO, AEO, and GEO discovery

- https://deascii.platphormnews.com/humans.txt and https://deascii.platphormnews.com/human.txt identify the maintainer, purpose, technology, and public discovery surfaces.
- https://deascii.platphormnews.com/robots.txt allows public crawlers and points to sitemap.xml and sitemap-index.xml.
- https://deascii.platphormnews.com/sitemap.xml includes the primary public pages and discovery documents.
- Page metadata includes OpenGraph, Twitter cards, robots directives, and schema.org WebApplication/SoftwareSourceCode JSON-LD.
- https://deascii.platphormnews.com/opengraph-image and https://deascii.platphormnews.com/twitter-image generate social preview images.
- https://deascii.platphormnews.com/sharecard exposes a stable generated share card image.
- https://deascii.platphormnews.com/blog and https://deascii.platphormnews.com/blog/deascii-1-0-launch provide crawlable launch documentation.
- https://deascii.platphormnews.com/roadmap documents the 136-day plan for compact streams, replay quality gates, and browser-game asset reconstruction from trusted ASCII.
- Localized entry pages expose hreflang alternates: en=https://deascii.platphormnews.com, es=https://deascii.platphormnews.com/es, fr=https://deascii.platphormnews.com/fr, de=https://deascii.platphormnews.com/de, pt-BR=https://deascii.platphormnews.com/pt-br, ja=https://deascii.platphormnews.com/ja, x-default=https://deascii.platphormnews.com.
- Discovery resources: /api/docs (application/json), /api/deascii/status (application/json), /openapi.json (application/json), /openapi.yaml (application/yaml), /llms.txt (text/plain), /llms-full.txt (text/plain), /llms-index.json (application/json), /humans.txt (text/plain), /human.txt (text/plain), /rss.xml (application/rss+xml), /feed.xml (application/rss+xml), /sitemap.xml (application/xml), /sitemap-index.xml (application/xml), /.well-known/mcp.json (application/json), /.well-known/agents.json (application/json), /.well-known/security.txt (text/plain), /.well-known/trust.json (application/json).

## Internationalization

- en: https://deascii.platphormnews.com — Reconstruct images from ASCII art
- es: https://deascii.platphormnews.com/es — Reconstruye imagenes desde arte ASCII
- fr: https://deascii.platphormnews.com/fr — Reconstruire des images depuis l'art ASCII
- de: https://deascii.platphormnews.com/de — Bilder aus ASCII-Art rekonstruieren
- pt-BR: https://deascii.platphormnews.com/pt-br — Reconstrua imagens a partir de arte ASCII
- ja: https://deascii.platphormnews.com/ja — ASCIIアートから画像を再構築

The canonical interactive converter remains https://deascii.platphormnews.com/. Localized pages provide language-specific
entry points and hreflang signals while linking back to the full converter and API documentation.

## Launch blog posts

- de-ASCII final polish upgrades readable reconstruction and game asset scaffolds
  URL: https://deascii.platphormnews.com/blog/final-polish-readable-reconstruction-game-scaffold
  Published: 2026-07-05T14:00:00.000Z
  Keywords: de-ASCII final polish, ASCII game assets, ANSI terminal art reconstruction, Unicode Braille reconstruction, box drawing reconstruction, browser game level manifest, readable ASCII text reconstruction, restoration-only AI enhancement, compact ASCII streams, client-side deASCII module, PlatPhorm News
  Summary: The final go-live polish adds universal best-effort ASCII/ANSI parsing, text-focused reconstruction guidance, restoration-only AI instructions, compact ASCII handoff discipline, and a reusable browser-safe module for turning ASCII into game level, texture, sign, sprite, and UI asset manifests.

- The road to November 19, 2026: ASCII streams become browser game assets
  URL: https://deascii.platphormnews.com/blog/november-19-2026-game-asset-roadmap
  Published: 2026-07-05T13:00:00.000Z
  Keywords: November 19 2026 roadmap, ASCII stream game assets, deASCII game roadmap, browser game assets, ASCII level streaming, BrowserOps quality gates, Evals release gates, PlatPhorm News roadmap
  Summary: The de-ASCII roadmap for November 19, 2026 focuses on trusted ASCII streams that reconstruct into browser-game levels, texture tiles, readable signs, sprites, and UI assets with BrowserOps and Evals quality gates.

- de-ASCII 1.0 turns ASCII art back into image output
  URL: https://deascii.platphormnews.com/blog/deascii-1-0-launch
  Published: 2026-06-11T12:00:00.000Z
  Keywords: de-ASCII 1.0, ASCII to image, ASCII art reconstruction, ANSI color to PNG, image reconstruction tool, AI image restoration, text preserving ASCII reconstruction, MCP image reconstruction, PlatPhorm News
  Summary: A practical guide to de-ASCII 1.0: deterministic ASCII to image reconstruction, ANSI color preservation, embeddable UI, MCP support, text-readable reconstruction, and optional AI restoration.

## Discoverability keywords

deASCII, de-ASCII, ASCII to image, ASCII art reconstruction, ANSI art to PNG, ANSI color reconstruction, ANSI background color reconstruction, ANSI terminal art reconstruction, Unicode Braille art reconstruction, box drawing ASCII reconstruction, image from ASCII, ASCII decoder, ASCII converter inverse, photo reconstruction from ASCII art, AI image restoration, text preserving ASCII reconstruction, MCP image tool, LLM-readable image utility, answer engine optimization, generative engine optimization, PlatPhorm News developer tools

## 136-day game asset roadmap

- Days 0-30: standardize best-match tonal reconstruction defaults, text-preserving hybrid/glyph masks, compact exact colorGrid transport, visible progress states, and replay fixture scoring.
- Days 31-68: harden ASCII NDJSON stream import, public-safe quality evidence, trace propagation, and protected write boundaries.
- Days 69-102: define ASCII asset manifests for browser games covering layers, collision masks, palette references, texture hints, spawn points, signs, sprites, and level metadata.
- Days 103-136: prove trusted ASCII streams can reconstruct into browser-game level or asset data with cache-safe payloads, BrowserOps screenshots, Evals gates, and no fake downstream success.

## Network

- PlatPhorm News (https://www.platphormnews.com) — Flagship developer news and the network hub.
- ASCII Art Converter (https://ascii.platphormnews.com) — Convert images into ASCII art — the inverse of de-ASCII.
- V2A (https://v2a.platphormnews.com) — Convert browser-local video and webcam frames into quality-scored ASCII streams and compact chroma handoffs.
- PlatPhorm MCP Hub (https://mcp.platphormnews.com) — Registry and gateway for network MCP servers.
- Ph3ar Community (https://ph3ar.com) — Community space for the PlatPhorm News network.

## Privacy

Uploaded ASCII is processed in-memory and not persisted by default. AI restoration/enhancement sends data to
the configured model provider only when explicitly requested.