Art

Writing code as a performance, with the sound coming out while you type. Most of these open and play — no install, no account.

• Hydra▶ runshydra.ojack.xyzLive visuals in the browser: video synthesis chains you rewrite while they run. It's painting the moment you open it.
• Strudel▶ runsstrudel.ccTidalCycles ported to JavaScript. Tidal's algorithmic patterns without installing Haskell or SuperCollider.
• cascade▶ runsraphaelbastide.comLive coding with CSS. The shortest bridge between your day job and everything else in this section.
• TOPLAPtoplap.orgThe organisation that named this and wrote the manifesto. “Obscurantism is dangerous. Show us your screens.”
• Sonic Pisonic-pi.netSam Aaron's instrument: you write Ruby and it plays. The friendliest door into all of this.
• Aldagithub.comMusic programming language aimed at musicians, not engineers. You write something close to a score.
• Awesome audio visualizationgithub.comCurated list on audio visualisation — the bridge between what plays and what you see.
• Awesome Live Coding Musicawesomeopensource.comA list focused purely on the music side: frameworks, libraries, and software.
• awesome-livecodinggithub.comThe canonical list, maintained by TOPLAP. When this page falls short, continue here.
• awesome-supercollidergithub.comCurated list of SuperCollider resources. Archived by its author, so expect nothing new.
• Dittytoy▶ runsdittytoy.netCode-driven music with a minimal JS API and a gallery to hear what others made.
• End of Life — Sonic Pi beatyoutube.comA lo-fi beat made entirely in Sonic Pi, with the code published. Hearing it work helps you start.
• Estuary▶ runsestuary.mcmaster.caCollaborative platform for networked performance across several languages at once, from the browser.
• Faust IDE▶ runsfaustide.grame.frIDE for the Faust DSP language. Write the signal processor, compile it to a plugin or to the web.
• Flockingflockingjs.orgDeclarative synthesis: you describe the sound graph as JSON instead of chaining calls.
• flok▶ runsflok.ccCollaborative P2P editor: several people writing sound and visuals into the same document.
• Gibber▶ runsgibber.ccA complete audiovisual environment in the browser: sound, visuals, and notation in one tab.
• Glicolglicol.orgGraph-based music language written in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly. Minimal syntax, low latency.
• Glicol Playground▶ runsglicol.web.appGlicol's REPL. Walk in, write two lines, it plays.
• Gwiongithub.comStrongly-timed music language in the ChucK lineage, smaller and faster.
• IDISproyectoidis.orgArgentine archive of research on image and sound design. Latin American history of art and technology.
• in_threadin-thread.sonic-pi.netThe Sonic Pi community forum. Where you ask when something won't play.
• Limutgithub.comMusic and visuals together in the browser, on WebAudio and WebGL.
• Live Coding Eventslivecode.demozoo.orgCalendar of algoraves and live coding gatherings. For when you want to see it in person.
• Mehackit — Cheatsheetsonic-pi.mehackit.orgThe Sonic Pi cheatsheet on one page. Keep it open your first week.
• Mehackit — Sonic Pisonic-pi.mehackit.orgCreative coding course built on Sonic Pi, exercise by exercise and well structured.
• MolinoLabmolinolab.orgSpace for artistic and cultural experimentation, with live coding activity in Spanish.
• Motifnmotifn.comWrite music in JavaScript and send it over MIDI to your DAW or a real instrument.
• Music Box Fun▶ runsmusicbox.funCompose for a music box by punching pins on a roll, then share it by URL. Charming and deliberately limited.
• Musical Design in SuperCollidergithub.comThe code accompanying a video series on musical design in SuperCollider.
• Olivia Jackojack.xyzThe artist behind Hydra. Her site is the best explanation of why it exists.
• Orcagithub.comEsoteric sequencer on a grid where every letter is an operator. Closer to a puzzle game than a DAW.
• Overtoneovertone.github.ioClojure talking to SuperCollider. If parentheses don't scare you, it's as expressive as this gets.
• Sandpacksandpack.codesandbox.ioCodeSandbox's toolkit for embedding editors that actually run. The piece you'd need to put live coding on your own site.
• sccode.orgsccode.orgCommunity-shared SuperCollider code repository. You learn by reading other people's pieces.
• Sonic Pi — Tutorialsonic-pi.netThe official tutorial, zero to sequencing. It's the material used to teach this in schools.
• Sonic Pi Demostorm-coder-dojo.github.ioA very short intro built for a coder dojo. Good for showing someone in ten minutes.
• SuperCollidersupercollider.github.ioThe synthesis and algorithmic composition platform half this section rests on. Steep curve, very high ceiling.
• SynteLanggithub.comSynthesis-based live coding language and environment, with its own grammar.
• Taller de Live Coding con Sonic Piyoutube.comIntroductory workshop in Spanish. Sonic Pi was developed by Sam Aaron at Cambridge.
• TidalCyclestidalcycles.orgThe pattern language most of the rest descends from. Powerful, and a real install — Haskell and SuperCollider underneath.
• Tweakabletweakable.orgParametric composition: define rules and ranges, then explore the space of pieces that fall out.
• wafxr▶ runsfenomas.github.ioGame sound effect generator in the browser. A direct descendant of sfxr.
• WASM-musicpetersalomonsen.comMusic generated by hand-written WebAssembly. An extreme exercise, and surprisingly musical.
• wavepot▶ runswavepot.comA DAW where every track is a JavaScript function returning samples. Raw, straight to the ear.
• WebChucK▶ runschuck.stanford.eduChucK, Stanford's strongly-timed language, compiled to WebAssembly and running in a tab.
• XSoundxsound.jpVery complete Japanese Web Audio library — synth, effects, visualisation — with a playground to poke at.

Web Audio: the specs, the libraries, and the demos that show what the browser can already do with sound.

• Web Audio API — MDNdeveloper.mozilla.orgThe documentation you actually work from. Start here rather than with the spec.
• wavesurfer.jswavesurfer.xyzNavigable waveform player. If you're building anything over audio files, this saves you weeks.
• awesome-webaudiogithub.comCurated list of Web Audio packages and resources.
• demucsgithub.comMeta's source separation: splits a song into vocals, drums, bass, and the rest. The serious tool here.
• jsfxr▶ runssfxr.me8-bit sound effect generator. One “randomize” button and you have your game's jump.
• Lines — FLUUUID▶ runslabs.fluuu.idExperiment from a collective of creative technologists. Worth it for how it's built, not just what it does.
• Live input effects▶ runscwilso.github.ioEffects on live mic input in real time, by Chris Wilson. Plug a guitar in and try it.
• Media Capture and Streamsw3c.github.ioThe spec for getting mic and camera into the page. The basis of anything that reacts to what it hears.
• Musical Interactions — Codropstympanus.netMusical interaction ideas on the web, with demos. Exactly the frontend-meets-sound crossing.
• peaks.jsgithub.comThe BBC's waveform component, built for trimming and annotating long-form audio.
• SplitMySong▶ runssplitmysong.comSame job as the previous one, different implementation. Keep two, because these services go down.
• Vocal Remover▶ runsvocalremover.orgSplit vocals and instrumental with no install. Useful for pulling acapellas out of your own archive.
• Wadgithub.comDynamic synthesis with a comfortable API. Its authors call it “jQuery for Web Audio”, and you can see why.
• Web Audio API — specwebaudio.github.ioThe official spec, for when MDN falls short and you need the fine print.
• Web Audio API sampleswebaudioapi.comThe classic samples from Boris Smus's book. Old, short, and still the best way to understand a node.
• Web MIDI APIwebaudio.github.ioTalking to physical keyboards and controllers from the browser. Less known than it deserves.
• webcam-audio-visualizergithub.comVisualiser mixing audio with the webcam feed, on Three.js.

Breaking a file on purpose and keeping what comes out. Databending, dithering, slit-scan, and the people who made it a practice.

• PhotoMosh▶ runsphotomosh.comThe most complete one: sixty-odd real-time effects over image, video, and GIF, exportable.
• stAllio!'s way — databending primerblog.animalswithinanimals.comThe founding databending text: opening a file with the wrong program on purpose. Start here.
• Glitch Art Resourcesphillipstearns.wordpress.comPhillip Stearns's collection, made by an artist in the medium. Chosen from practice, not from outside.
• ajxs / jpk(v2)▶ runsajxs.github.ioControlled JPEG corruption: it manipulates the file, not the pixel.
• Bit Vision▶ runslandonbrand.github.ioReduces the image to bits and lets the error do the rest.
• Bitmap sorter▶ runslarixk.nlPixel sorting: sort an image's pixels and watch it melt.
• Charramba▶ runscharramba.tajnyprojekt.comGlitched, animated type in seconds. Out comes a GIF ready to use.
• Chromata▶ runsmichaelbromley.co.ukTurns a photo into an animated drawing by particles following colour. Let it finish.
• FREE GLITCH ART TOOLSfreestockfootagearchive.comCollection of tools for image, video, text, and sound on a single page.
• Glitch Image Generator▶ runsglitchyimage.comGenerate and save glitched images with no account and no friction.
• Glitch Text Generator▶ runslingojam.comZalgo text with stacked diacritics. Copy and paste where it shouldn't work.
• glitch text generator — stAllio!▶ runsanimalswithinanimals.comstAllio!'s own version, with more control over the damage.
• glitch.coolsamples.glitch.coolGlitch and IDM samples under Creative Commons licences. Material, not a tool.
• Glitch.jssjhewitt.github.ioLibrary for glitching images from code instead of by hand.
• glitch2▶ runsakx.github.ioLayered glitcher with adjustable parameters and a downloadable result.
• GLITCHATRON▶ runserrozero.co.ukJavaScript glitch generator with a very distinct look.
• Glitchy GSAP checkboxescodepen.ioGlitch applied to a form control. The odd case: error aesthetics in real UI.
• Glitchy3bitDither▶ runsjkirchartz.com3-bit dithering and glitch in one place. The forced palette does half the work.
• HTML5 image filter▶ runsanimalswithinanimals.comIn-browser image filters, from the author of the original databending primer.
• HTML5 youtube filter▶ runsanimalswithinanimals.comFilters YouTube or Vimeo video as you watch. Live glitch over someone else's footage.
• image distortion experiment▶ runssnorpey.github.ioWarp an image by dragging a grid. Simple and addictive.
• Image Glitch Tool▶ runssnorpey.github.ioSnorpey's classic: parameter-driven glitch with a reproducible result.
• ImageGlitcher▶ runsairtightinteractive.comQuick glitch with minimal controls. For when you want the effect, not the study.
• James Connollyjameshconnolly.comArchived 2013 talk on glitch art. Good for understanding where all this comes from.
• js Glitch Libalexadam.github.ioAnother JS glitch library, with demos of each effect on its own.
• Moving dots▶ runsdominik.wsDot animation generator. Hypnotic and exportable.
• NO CARRIERno-carrier.comWork by an artist decades deep in this. Context, not a tool.
• Rutt-Etra-Izer▶ runsairtightinteractive.comEmulation of the 1970s Rutt-Etra video synthesiser: the image as a relief of scanlines.
• SLITSCANNER▶ runsslitscanner.appSlit-scan in the browser and on the phone: warping time into a single image.
• snorpey's experimentssnorpey.github.ioThe index of all his experiments. Half the section below comes from here.
• stAllio! — primer parte 3: el GIFblog.animalswithinanimals.comThe GIF instalment, where databending gets more visual and more controllable.
• VHS Glitch Shader (WebGL)codepen.ioVHS shader: noise, colour bleed, and desync. The code is the recipe.
• Video Ditheringcodepen.ioReal-time dithering over video, in a pen short enough to read end to end.

Text as a drawing surface — from figlet banners to diagram editors you'll actually use in a README.

• ASCIIFlow▶ runsasciiflow.comInfinite ASCII diagrams you export as plain text. The one you'll end up pasting into a README.
• ASCII Art Archiveasciiart.euThe big archive: thousands of classic pieces sorted by topic, plus borders and animations.
• Text to ASCII (TAAG)▶ runspatorjk.comThe classic figlet generator. Hundreds of fonts for your CLI banner.
• aem1kaem1k.comJavaScript that draws itself. Code that is both program and image, by Martin Kleppe.
• ASCII Art Generator▶ runsasciiart.clubImage-to-ASCII converter in colour and high density. One of the best-looking results.
• Ascii Art Generator (convertcase)▶ runsconvertcase.netFiglet banner or converted image, on the same page with no friction.
• ASCII Drawing Board▶ runsdelopsu.comA brush made of any character on a sizeable canvas, exportable to .txt.
• ASCII Shader with OGL▶ runstympanus.netCodrops tutorial for an ASCII shader in WebGL. Where ASCII becomes frontend.
• ASCII Theaterascii.theaterText-based movies streamed to your terminal. Absurd and perfect.
• ASCII Today▶ runsascii.todayVery fast title generator, aimed at code comments and readmes.
• ASCII-Generator▶ runsascii-generator.siteAnother image and text converter, with width and character-set controls.
• ascii-image-convertergithub.comCross-platform command-line image-to-ASCII converter. For putting inside a script.
• ASCIImojiasciimoji.comDictionary of ASCII emoticons, searchable by word.
• asciinemaasciinema.orgRecord and share terminal sessions as text, not video. You can copy-paste out of the player.
• Asciivillegithub.comLarge collection of ASCII utilities and animations for the terminal.
• Askyasky.lolASCII art as a service: request it over HTTP and it comes back.
• CASCII▶ runscascii.appASCII diagram builder in vanilla JavaScript, open source and account-free.
• CSS Only ASCII Table Flipcodepen.io(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ animated in pure CSS. A joke with good technique inside.
• deck.gl ASCII▶ runspessimistress.github.iodeck.gl maps rendered in characters. Geographic data in terminal mode.
• Emoji Combosemojicombos.comDatabase of emoji combinations and text art.
• Emoji Wall▶ runskitasenjudesign.comA camera that renders you in emoji in real time. The cheerful Japanese take on the converter.
• fsymbolsfsymbols.comEditor for painting with symbols as if it were Photoshop, plus Unicode type generators.
• Joan Jumpadelfaure.itch.ioA whole game drawn in ASCII by Adel Faure. Proof the medium holds serious work.
• Le Lenny Face Generatorlenny-face-generator.textsmilies.comThe other one. This one also lets you assemble the face part by part.
• Lenny Facelennyfac.es( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) and every variant. Yes, you have two sites for this bookmarked.
• Mitos ASCII Tool▶ runsmitos-pied.vercel.appSmall ASCII conversion tool. No frills.
• MonoSketch▶ runsmonosketch.ioASCII diagram editor with shapes, connectors, and layers. The most comfortable of the modern ones.
• Online Ascii Art Creator▶ runsascii-art-generator.orgConverter with colour or monochrome output and several character densities.
• REXPaintgridsagegames.comThe serious editor, made by the author of Cogmind. If you're drawing ASCII maps, it's this one.
• rot.jsondras.github.ioThe roguelike toolkit for JavaScript: grid, field of view, dungeon generation.
• Text Art Generatortextartgenerator.netDecorated text generator for copy-paste.
• Text Editortexteditor.comSame idea as the previous one, with block fonts and text faces. Same author, another door.
• Text facestextfac.esThe catalogue of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and friends, one-click copy.
• Text Fancytextfancy.comText converters to Unicode variants: bold, italic, bubbles, strikethrough.
• TEXT-IMAGE▶ runstext-image.comClassic image-to-ASCII converter, output as text or HTML.
• textart.shtextart.shSearchable text art by topic. Type “cat” and get forty.
• TextPaint▶ runstextpaint.netA text canvas for drawing in ASCII and Unicode, with real painting tools.
• video-to-asciigithub.comPlays video in the terminal using characters as pixels. A Python package.
• Wiretext▶ runswiretext.appWireframes where everything renders as box-drawing characters. Layout in terminal mode.

Editors, converters, palettes, and archives. Working at a size where every pixel is a decision.

• Asepriteaseprite.orgThe house standard: sprite and animation editor. Paid, and worth it.
• Lospeclospec.comThe palettes. Hundreds of them, with real historical console constraints, ready to import.
• Piskel▶ runspiskelapp.comSprite editor in the browser. Opens straight onto a blank canvas, no signup.
• 2D Will Never Die2dwillneverdie.comBlog and tutorials by an obsessive hobbyist. The knowledge that isn't in the docs.
• Avatars In Pixels▶ runsavatarsinpixels.comChibi avatar maker, layer by layer of clothing and features.
• craftpixcraftpix.netQuality 2D assets, with a free section and the rest paid.
• Cross My Heart▶ runskilledbyapixel.github.ioA whole game in very few bytes, from the TinyCode crowd. Constraint taken to its limit.
• Dither▶ runsdither.neato.funDithering to scalable vector: Bayer, halftone, dots. Clean output for print.
• Dither Image Online▶ runsditherimage.onlineDithering effects with several algorithms and instant preview.
• Game Boy Camera — imagenerator▶ runsimagenerator.netAnother take on the Game Boy Camera filter, faster and with no settings.
• Game Boy Camera Filter▶ runssantein.github.ioEmulates the real Game Boy Camera: four tones, 128×112, and that grain.
• GameBoy Yourself▶ runsruben.cougil.comYour image inside a classic Game Boy, green screen included.
• LibreSpritelibresprite.github.ioThe free fork of Aseprite from when it changed licence. Same spirit, free.
• MagicaVoxelephtracy.github.ioPixels in three dimensions: voxel editor and renderer, free and beautiful.
• morphin▶ runsjavier.xyzAnimated CSS transitions between two images. By an author half of Twitter has bookmarked.
• OpenGameArtopengameart.orgGame assets under free licences. Check each piece's licence — they vary.
• Outsprite▶ runsoutsprite.comEditor focused on workflow: create, modify, and export sprite sheets fast.
• Photo2Pixel▶ runsphoto2pixel.coConverter that processes in your own browser with ONNX and WASM. The photo never leaves your machine.
• Pixel Art Academy — contenido libremedium.comIndex of all the free Pixel Art Academy material, gathered into one article.
• Pixel Art Converter▶ runs3w36zj6.github.ioJapanese dot-art converter, with fine colour-reduction controls.
• Pixel Art to CSS▶ runspixelartcss.comDraw and animate, out comes pure CSS using box-shadow. The frontend's favourite trick.
• Pixel Art Toolsgithub.comGitHub's collection on pixel art tools. A good starting point on the code side.
• Pixel It▶ runsgiventofly.github.ioTurns an image into pixel art with block size and palette control.
• Pixel Jointpixeljoint.comThe veteran community: gallery, challenges, and honest critique. Still alive.
• Pixel Paint▶ runskully.github.ioTiny browser editor. For one quick sprite and nothing more.
• PixelCraft▶ runspixelcraft.web.appEditor and animation on HTML5 canvas, installable as a PWA.
• pixeldudesmaker▶ runs0x72.itch.ioPart-by-part pixel character generator. To populate a prototype in five minutes.
• Pixelicious▶ runspixelicious.xyzConverter with adjustable grid and custom palettes.
• PixelMe▶ runspixel-me.tokyoTurns a portrait into pixel art with a model's help. Comes out surprisingly decent.
• Pixilart▶ runspixilart.comBrowser editor with a community and gallery around it.
• pxls.space▶ runspxls.spaceReal-time collaborative canvas with a per-pixel cooldown. The r/place that never closed.
• Retronatorretronator.comPixel art café, store, and gallery. This scene's social hub.
• rxrx.cloudhead.ioMinimalist modal pixel editor, with Vim-style keys.
• Sprite Databasespritedatabase.netAnother archive of ripped sprites, with different coverage. The two complement each other.
• Sprite Fusion▶ runsspritefusion.comGenerator and editor at exact sizes: 16×16, 32×32, whatever the engine wants.
• The Spriters Resourcespriters-resource.comArchiving video game sprites since 2003. Preservation in its purest form.

A dead broadcast format kept alive by people who refuse to let it go. Mosaic blocks, seven colours, 40 columns.

• edit.tf▶ runsedit.tfBrowser teletext page editor that encodes the whole page in the URL. Brilliant.
• Teletext Viewer▶ runszxnet.co.ukEmulator with real services on each channel, Teefax included. Live teletext, today.
• @techandsoftware/teletextnpmjs.comnpm package for rendering teletext on a page. In case you decide to do this properly.
• Bedsteadbjh21.me.ukThe teletext typeface rebuilt as a modern font, downloadable and free.
• Teletext Page Editor▶ runszxnet.co.ukzxnet's editor, with the mosaic blocks and the same seven colours as ever.

Generators and model hubs. The most replaceable section here — kept because the tools are useful, not because they're interesting.

• Hugging Facehuggingface.coThe open model repository. The only thing here that's infrastructure rather than product.
• Lexicalexica.artSearch engine of generated images with their prompts visible. Use it to learn how to ask, not to generate.
• AI Draw▶ runsai-draw.tokyoTurns a photo into a continuous line drawing. One trick, done well.
• Beatoven.aibeatoven.aiRoyalty-free generated music for video. Useful as filler, not as a work.
• DALL·E 3openai.comOpenAI's generator. Good with long instructions and text inside the image.
• drawanyonedrawanyone.comPortraits generated from photos, in several styles.
• Futurepediafuturepedia.ioDirectory of AI tools. Ages fast, as every directory of this kind does.
• Hotpot.aihotpot.aiToolbox: generate, upscale, remove background, restore. Practical and unpretentious.
• InsightFaceinsightface.aiOpen source face recognition. Powerful, with implications worth thinking through before use.
• Lovartlovart.aiGenerates a whole brand campaign from one conversation. Very much of its moment.
• Midjourneymidjourney.comThe generator with the strongest aesthetic of its own. Paid, and very recognisable.
• Mubertmubert.comMusic generation from a description, aimed at commercial use without licensing.
• NightCafecreator.nightcafe.studioGenerator with a community and daily challenges. More social than technical.
• Phindphind.comSearch engine aimed at programming. It's here because of where you filed it, not because it's art.
• Stable Diffusion Onlinestablediffusionweb.comStable Diffusion with no install. The open model, served by a third party.

The drawer: painting programs, texture libraries, and a couple of references worth reading before making anything.

• Kritakrita.orgProfessional painting program, free and made by artists. The serious Photoshop alternative for drawing.
• Texturelabstexturelabs.orgFree original textures and tutorials. Raw material for almost any composition.
• noclip▶ runsnoclip.websiteMuseum of video game levels where you fly through the original geometry. A marvel of preservation.
• FliiipBook▶ runsfliiipbook.comFrame-by-frame animation in the browser, with GIF output.
• JS Paint▶ runsjspaint.appWindows Paint recreated in the browser, with extras. Nostalgia executed perfectly.
• Make WordArt▶ runsmakewordart.comNineties WordArt, exactly. Use it with judgement or not at all.
• mini2 photo editor▶ runsmini2-photo-editor.netlify.appTiny photo editor in the browser. No account, no upload, nothing.
• Momentum Distortion Gallerycodepen.ioGallery with momentum-driven distortion in Three.js. The code is right there.
• Net.artes.wikipedia.orgWhat nineties net.art was. Context for understanding that none of this is new.
• sketch of three.js▶ runsykob.github.ioCollection of sketches by Yoichi Kobayashi. Required reference for what WebGL can do.
• SPACE TYPE GENERATOR▶ runsspacetypegenerator.comType warped through space with live controls. Out comes poster-ready imagery.
• Videoartees.wikipedia.orgThe other half of the genealogy: video as artistic material before the browser.