mininja

The canonical design lockup and first-use record for the Mininja ASCII mascot — the stacked three-line Unicode block mark, owned by Thingscorp LLC. This repo is a timestamped public record of the mark, its 15 expression states, its brand rules, and machine-readable source-of-truth files for porting it anywhere.

Quickstart

git clone https://github.com/Thingscorp/mininja.git
cd mininja
bash examples/cli-banner.sh idle   # requires Node — prints the idle mark

Install

Nothing to install — this is a brand-asset repo, not software. There is no package, no build step, and no dependencies: clone the repo and use the files directly, or copy individual SVG/PNG assets from assets/ into your project.

Usage

The canonical lockup

The mark is this three-line Unicode lockup on a monospace grid — the glyphs are the mark:

▚████
██ ●●
▀▀▀▀▀

Line 1 (hood): ▚████ — U+259A + four U+2588. Line 2 (eyes row): ██ ●● — two U+2588, a space, and the two-character eye slot (idle: U+25CF U+25CF). Line 3 (chin): ▀▀▀▀▀ — five U+2580. Full breakdown: CONSTRUCTION.md.

Expression states

15 expression states live in assets/ — each has a monochrome .svg and a .png (512×512, transparent), fill #0f172a. The loadingLeft state mirrors the body (████▞ / ●● ██ / ▀▀▀▀▀).

State	File stem	Eyes
idle	mininja-idle	●●
blink	mininja-blink	──
evaluating	mininja-evaluating	◐◑
allowed	mininja-allowed	><
asking	mininja-asking	??
denied	mininja-denied	┃┃
sandboxing	mininja-sandboxing	◇◇
executing	mininja-executing	◣◢
completed	mininja-completed	▴▴
warning	mininja-warning	◆◆
error	mininja-error	××
cancelled	mininja-cancelled	◦◦
offline	mininja-offline	‒‒
loadingRight	mininja-loadingRight	●●
loadingLeft	mininja-loadingLeft	●● + mirrored body

For a README badge without any image, paste the idle lockup as a monospace code block (see examples/readme-badge.md), or link assets/mininja-idle.png with alt text Mininja mark.

Machine kit and adapters

• kit/mark.json — the machine source of truth: glyph grid, all 15 faces, clearspace, and minimum-size rules. Edit JSON here first; the markdown docs narrate the same numbers.
• kit/scene.json — stages, props, motion constants, emotions, and actions for the terminal-buddy layer.
• adapters/mark/lockup.mjs — pure functions listFaces(), linesFor(face, facing), lockup(face, facing), asPre(face, facing).
• adapters/ansi/render.mjs — ansiLockup(face, { color, facing }) for terminals (tone colors are UI chrome only; mark geometry always comes from kit/mark.json).
• adapters/react/Mininja.tsx — sketch <Mininja face facing lines /> component (copy into your app; it keeps aria-label="Mininja mark").

How to port the mark to a new surface without breaking brand rules: follow the presence ladder (mark-only → faces → scoot/facing → full scene strip) in PORTING.md.

Brand rules and attribution

• The Mininja mark is owned by Thingscorp LLC and is the official mascot of Thingscorp LLC. The mascot has no name — use alt text / aria-label "Mininja mark", never a character name.
• You may use the ™ symbol to indicate the common-law claim (e.g. Mininja™). Do not use ® — no trademark registration or pending application has been filed (TRADEMARK.md).
• Keep the mark monochrome (#0f172a / currentColor / black) in brand assets and static exports. The five mood hex values apply only in app UI where the mascot is a live state indicator.
• Minimum clearspace: one block-row height on all sides. Minimum size: 24px digital, 3 lines terminal. Solid dark or solid light backgrounds only — never over busy imagery.
• Don't stretch, skew, rotate, or rearrange the three lines; don't recolor the eyes outside the mood system; don't put text inside the lockup (BRAND-RULES.md).

Brand documentation

Doc	Covers
STYLEGUIDE.md	Expression states, moods, construction rules
CONSTRUCTION.md	Character-by-character stacked Unicode lockup
BRAND-RULES.md	Clearspace, sizes, monochrome, backgrounds, don'ts
TRADEMARK.md	Ownership, first use in commerce, ™ guidance (no registration filed)
SCENERY.md	Terminal stage strip, weather, props
TERMINAL-MOTION.md	How the mark may walk / patrol in console
CHANGELOG.md	Mark version history
PORTING.md	Presence ladder + how to port
kit/	Machine source of truth (mark + scene JSON)
adapters/	Thin mark / ANSI / React sketches
examples/	CLI banner + README badge
assets/	Monochrome SVG/PNG for all 15 states
assets/visuals/	Visual guides (construction, clearspace, sizes, sheet, don'ts)

Terminal scenery

When the mark appears as a living buddy in a terminal, follow SCENERY.md and TERMINAL-MOTION.md — they are part of the brand, not product-only details.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.