Animated ASCII Dashboard with Durdraw

[micrio]

Animated ASCII Dashboard with Durdraw

LazyVim dashboard terminal ASCII animations using Durdraw and snacks.nvim.

Screen.Recording.2026-05-11.at.9.46.44.PM.mov

Screen.Recording.2026-05-14.at.9.32.55.PM.mov

Screen.Recording.2026-05-11.at.9.46.16.PM.mov

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Prerequisites

• snacks.nvim (included in LazyVim by default)
• Durdraw — install library:
  • macOS: brew install durdraw
  • Other platforms: see durdraw.org/#Download

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Step 1 — Get a .dur animation file

Download a sample animation from the Durdraw examples gallery, then save it to your Neovim config directory. For example:

~/.config/nvim/lua/scripts/cm-doge.dur

You can use any .dur file that you like

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Step 2 — Create the launcher script

Create a shell script that Snacks will call to play the animation:

# ~/.config/nvim/lua/scripts/doge
#!/usr/bin/env bash
durdraw -p ~/.config/nvim/lua/scripts/cm-doge.dur

Then make it executable:

chmod +x ~/.config/nvim/lua/scripts/doge

Test it first — run the script directly in your terminal before wiring it into LazyVim:

~/.config/nvim/lua/scripts/doge

If the animation plays cleanly, you're ready for the next step.

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Step 3 — Configure Snacks Dashboard

Create or edit ~/.config/nvim/lua/plugins/snacks.lua:

return {
  "folke/snacks.nvim",
  priority = 1000,
  lazy = false,
  opts = {
    bigfile = { enabled = true },
    dashboard = {
      sections = {
        -- Pane 2: animated ASCII art
        {
          section = "terminal",
          cmd = vim.fn.expand("~/.config/nvim/lua/scripts/doge"),
          pane = 2,      -- display in the right pane
          indent = 4,
          height = 30,   -- adjust to match your animation's height
        },
        -- Pane 1: standard dashboard items
        { section = "keys", gap = 1, padding = 1 },
        { section = "startup" },
      },
    },
    explorer     = { enabled = true },
    indent       = { enabled = true },
    input        = { enabled = true },
    picker       = { enabled = true },
    notifier     = { enabled = true },
    quickfile    = { enabled = true },
    scope        = { enabled = true },
    scroll       = { enabled = true },
    statuscolumn = { enabled = true },
    words        = { enabled = true },
  },
}

Key config notes:

• cmd — calls your launcher script via vim.fn.expand() to safely resolve ~
• pane = 2 — places the animation in the right-hand dashboard pane
• height — set this to match the height of your animation (in terminal rows)

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Step 4 — Reload

Close and reopen your terminal, then launch Neovim:

nvim

Your dashboard should now display the ASCII animation in the right pane alongside your normal keybinds and startup info.