v1.6.0

1.6.0 (2026-04-06)

Features

• add example sketches and update documentation references (7f0c94d)

v1.5.1

What's Changed

• fix: added global exports to make UMD bundle usage work by @humanbydefinition in #95
• bump version by @humanbydefinition in #96

Full Changelog: v1.5.0...v1.5.1

v1.5.0

• New Procedural Patterns: Introduced new plasma and moire procedural patterns for generating complex visual textures.
• Expanded Coordinate Transforms: Added a suite of new coordinate manipulation transforms including polar, twirl, swirl, mirror, shear, barrel, pinch, and fisheye for advanced visual distortions.
• New Blend Modes: Integrated various new blend modes such as screen, overlay, softlight, hardlight, dodge, burn, lighten, and darken for richer compositional effects.
• Deterministic Randomness: Implemented a seed() function to allow for reproducible noise and voronoi patterns, enhancing consistency in generative art.
• TextmodeSource Sampling: The src() function now supports sampling directly from TextmodeSource objects (images and videos), enabling integration of external media into synth chains.
• Dynamic Synth Source Evaluation: The layer.synth() method now accepts a factory function, allowing for dynamic generation and recompilation of synth sources based on changing conditions.

v1.1.1

Highlights (via @gemini-code-assist)

• Enhanced API Flexibility with Overloads: The API for charColor, cellColor, paint, solid, and all combine/combineCoord transforms now supports direct SynthParameterValue (numbers, arrays, functions) in addition to SynthSource objects. This allows for more concise code, such as paint(1, 0, 0) for solid red, or osc().add(0.5) to add a grayscale value.
• Improved Shader Compilation and Lifecycle Management: Implemented robust handling for shader compilation, including isCompiling and isDisposed flags to prevent race conditions and memory leaks during asynchronous shader creation and layer disposal. Ping-pong buffers for feedback loops are now dynamically managed, including recreation upon grid dimension changes.
• Optimized Feedback Loop Rendering: Introduced a global, shared copy shader (ShaderManager) for efficient blitting of ping-pong buffers to the draw framebuffer. This avoids re-running the main synth shader for the final copy pass, improving performance for feedback effects.
• Comprehensive Development Tooling and Standards: Added new development tools including vitest for testing, eslint with jsdoc rules for code quality, commitlint for conventional commit messages, markdownlint-cli2 for documentation consistency, and husky for Git hooks. New AGENTS.md provides ground-truth reference for AI coding agents.
• Refactored GLSL Utilities and Constants: Moved GLSL channel-related constants (CHANNEL_SAMPLERS, CHANNEL_SUFFIXES) to a central src/core/constants.ts file. Introduced GLSL utility functions _packChar and _unpackChar for more efficient character index handling in shaders.

What's Changed

• docs: Fix phantom parameters in char() and osc() examples by @humanbydefinition in #25
• test: add tests for SafeEvaluator utility by @humanbydefinition in #28
• docs: add missing examples for modulate transforms in ISynthSource by @humanbydefinition in #27
• refactor: centralize texture channel constants by @humanbydefinition in #29
• test: add coverage for CharacterResolver by @humanbydefinition in #31
• refactor: centralize CompilationTarget and TextureChannel types by @humanbydefinition in #32
• docs: add missing modulate methods to ISynthSource by @humanbydefinition in #33
• types: enforce Textmodifier type in synthRender and extensions by @humanbydefinition in #34
• test: add coverage for ArrayUtils by @humanbydefinition in #38
• types: replace any cast with Partial in SynthPlugin by @humanbydefinition in #39
• refactor: simplify getTextureChannel logic to reduce size by @humanbydefinition in #40
• Centralize GLSL character packing logic by @humanbydefinition in #49
• test: add coverage for collectExternalLayerRefs by @humanbydefinition in #46
• Refactor: Deduplicate RGB channel transforms by @humanbydefinition in #52
• test: add unit tests for TransformRegistry by @humanbydefinition in #51
• api: add RGBA overloads to color methods by @humanbydefinition in #45
• test: Add coverage for compiler channel utilities by @humanbydefinition in #53
• types: remove unsafe casts in TransformFactory by @humanbydefinition in #56
• test: add coverage for TransformFactory by @humanbydefinition in #54
• Refactor UniformManager to centralize dynamic uniform creation by @humanbydefinition in #55
• api: Add primitive value overloads for combine transforms by @humanbydefinition in #57
• Fix WebGL framebuffer leak in synth feedback loop by @humanbydefinition in #47
• types: strengthen generatedFunctions types by @humanbydefinition in #48
• docs: improve example for src/index.ts by @humanbydefinition in #35
• test: Add tests for FeedbackTracker class by @humanbydefinition in #58
• perf: optimize array smoothing calculation by @humanbydefinition in #64
• fix: shader leak in synthRender race condition by @humanbydefinition in #61
• refactor: remove unreachable vector handling code by @humanbydefinition in #59
• api: standardize scalar arguments for solid and color transforms by @humanbydefinition in #62
• test: add unit tests for TransformDefinition by @humanbydefinition in #67
• refactor: centralize SynthSource creation logic by @humanbydefinition in #66
• perf: Optimize synthRender hot path by @humanbydefinition in #71
• docs: add missing examples for coordinate transforms in ISynthSource by @humanbydefinition in #70
• api: add missing overloads for color sources by @humanbydefinition in #69
• fix: webgl shader leak during async compilation by @humanbydefinition in #68
• docs: update AGENTS.md by @humanbydefinition in #79
• fix: plugin uninstall resource cleanup by @humanbydefinition in #78
• test: add coverage for SynthChain by @humanbydefinition in #72
• types: strengthen SynthSourcePrototype in TransformFactory by @humanbydefinition in #75
• types: remove unsafe casts in SynthSource injection by @humanbydefinition in #80
• perf: optimize feedback loops with copy shader by @humanbydefinition in #77
• types: add missing return types to public methods by @humanbydefinition in #83
• refactor: centralize axis-based transform generation by @humanbydefinition in #84
• test: add coverage for GLSLGenerator by @humanbydefinition in #81
• refactor: centralize source resolution logic in api/sources by @humanbydefinition in #88
• fix: copy shader leak in SynthPlugin uninstall by @humanbydefinition in #85
• dev by @humanbydefinition in #89

Full Changelog: v1.1.0...v1.1.1

v1.1.0 - quality of life updates

What's Changed

• ⚡ Optimize synthRender by removing redundant layer collection by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #6
• ⚡ Optimize render loop by compiling safe updaters by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #5
• ⚡ Optimize CharacterResolver with O(1) index lookup by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #7
• ⚡ Optimize GLSL number formatting by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #8
• 🧭 Scout: Fix Array.prototype pollution by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #11
• 🧭 Scout: Refactor bootstrap types to use SynthSourcePrototype by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #12
• 🧭 Scout: Fix NaN in Array.prototype.fit for flat arrays by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #13
• perf(render): Reduce GC pressure by reusing dynamicValues Map by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #15
• 🧭 Scout: Fix source configuration correctness (cellColor & charCount) by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #14
• 🧭 Scout: Fix encapsulation bypass in source factories by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #16
• 🧩 Weaver: Deduplicate texture channel mapping logic by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #17
• 🧭 Scout: Optimize synthRender allocations by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #18
• 🧩 Weaver: Deduplicate argument resolution logic in TransformFactory by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #20
• 🧩 Weaver: Deduplicate GLSL thresholding and luminance logic by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #21
• 🧭 Scout: Fix time synchronization drift between JS and GLSL by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #23
• 🧩 Weaver: Deduplicate channel usage tracking logic by @google-labs-jules[bot] in #22
• 1.1.0 by @humanbydefinition in #24

New Contributors

• @google-labs-jules[bot] made their first contribution in #6

Full Changelog: v1.0.0...v1.1.0

v1.0.0

textmode.synth.js

This marks the first public release of textmode.synth.js - a Hydra-inspired visual synthesis library adapted for the textmode.js ecosystem.

textmode.synth.js brings method-chained procedural texture generation to textmode rendering, allowing characters, foreground colors, and background colors to be driven independently through a compositional API. The result is a flexible system for building animated ASCII / textmode visuals using familiar Hydra-style patterns, compiled to GLSL and executed on the GPU.

Highlights

• Hydra-style chainable synthesis API
• Native integration with textmode.js’s three-texture pipeline
• Oscillators, noise, voronoi, gradients, shapes, and more
• Feedback loops, modulation, blending, and geometry transforms
• Extensible architecture for custom sources and transforms

Live coding environment

Alongside this release, a dedicated browser-based live coding environment is available at

• https://synth.textmode.art/

It includes auto-completion, inline documentation, curated examples, and access to the full textmode.js ecosystem without local setup.

Requirements

• textmode.js v0.8.5+
  This release depends on new plugin and rendering hooks introduced in textmode.js v0.8.5.

Credits

textmode.synth.js is a derivative work of hydra-synth by Olivia Jack, reimagined for textmode rendering.
Core synthesis concepts, GLSL generation, and functional design are inspired by Hydra, with adaptations for character-based output and layered text rendering.

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Feedback, experiments, and bug reports are very welcome.
Have fun breaking textmode!