ASCII Boxes

Two tools: generate perfect boxes, validate existing ones.

Generate a diagram

Write a simple text file describing the box:

Docker Container
[lead] agent-lead | UID 1001 | nono Landlock
[coder] agent-coder | UID 1002 | nono Landlock

supervisor (PID 1)
- Creates users
- Drops privileges

Format rules:

• First line = outer box title
• [tag] col1 | col2 | col3 = inner box (each tag is a separate box, columns are rows)
• - text = bullet item (rendered as · text)
• Blank line = spacing row

Run:

python3 SKILL_DIR/scripts/draw-box.py input.txt

Pipe output into your file or copy-paste into markdown.

Validate an existing diagram

python3 SKILL_DIR/scripts/check-box-align.py <file>

Finds blocks with box-drawing corners (┌/╔), checks all lines have the same display width. Reports mismatches with line numbers.

Why this exists

LLMs cannot count display columns reliably. Box-drawing characters are 3 bytes UTF-8 but 1 display column. Always validate after writing or editing box art.

Workflow

1. Generate with draw-box.py OR hand-write the diagram
2. Validate with check-box-align.py
3. If misaligned, pad short lines with spaces before closing │
4. Re-validate until clean