ascii-table-renderer

When to use this skill

CRITICAL TRIGGER RULE

• Use this skill ONLY when the user explicitly mentions the exact skill name: ascii-table-renderer.

Trigger phrases include:

• "ascii-table-renderer"
• "use ascii-table-renderer"
• "Print a list as a table with ascii-table-renderer"
• "Generate an ASCII table with ascii-table-renderer (alignment/column width)"

Boundary

• Do not fetch data (DB/API). Only render and format output.
• Default borders are ASCII-only: + - |.
• Out of scope: merged cells, multi-row headers, complex spanning layouts.

How to use this skill

Inputs

• headers (required)
• rows (required)
• maxWidth (default 80)
• maxColWidth (default 20)
• borderStyle (light | minimal, default light)
• overflow (ellipsis | wrap, default ellipsis)
• align (left | right | center, default left)

Outputs (required)

• tableCompact (log-friendly)
• tableReadable (interactive-friendly)
• rules (width/truncation/null/alignment rules)

Steps

1. Compute per-column widths: min(maxColWidth, max(contentWidth))
2. Handle overflow:
   • ellipsis: use ... consistently
   • wrap: wrap within column width while keeping row alignment
3. Output two variants:
   • compact: minimal or fewer separators
   • readable: clearer borders

Script

• scripts/render_table.py: render tables from JSON stdin (compact/readable)

Inline Example

Input: headers=["Name", "Role", "Status"], rows=[["Alice", "Engineer", "Active"], ["Bob", "Designer", "Away"]]

tableCompact:

Name   Role      Status
Alice  Engineer  Active
Bob    Designer  Away

tableReadable:

+-------+----------+--------+
| Name  | Role     | Status |
+-------+----------+--------+
| Alice | Engineer | Active |
| Bob   | Designer | Away   |
+-------+----------+--------+

Examples

• examples/basic.md

Quality checklist

1. Columns align consistently; each line does not exceed maxWidth
2. Null values are rendered as -
3. Copy/paste safe (no trailing spaces)

Keywords

English: ascii-table-renderer, ascii table, align, columns, rows, truncate, wrap, terminal, log Chinese: ascii-table-renderer, ASCII table, alignment, column width, truncation, line wrapping, terminal, logs, tickets