# sinclairzx81/zero

A 3D renderer written in JavaScript and rendered to the terminal.

Repository: https://github.com/sinclairzx81/zero
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/sinclairzx81-zero
Language: TypeScript
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: graphics, ascii-art, javascript, rasterizer, nodejs, terminal
Last push: 2026-07-20T21:20:58+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 74/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 93, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3614, "days_push": 44, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2455, forks 145 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:53.124095+00:00)

## What it is
Zero is a 3D software renderer written in JavaScript/TypeScript that renders output to the terminal via Node.js stdout, requiring no GPU. It implements vertex and fragment shaders, z-correct texture mapping, depth buffering, and includes matrix/vector math libraries and a scene graph.

## Use cases
- render 3D graphics in the terminal without a GPU
- demo a software rasterizer written in JavaScript
- experiment with programmable vertex and fragment shaders in JS
- display ASCII 3D animations in a terminal
- test terminal 24-bit true color rendering
- benchmark JavaScript rendering performance

## When to choose
- you want a dependency-free terminal-based 3D demo
- you need a lightweight example of a software rasterizer in JavaScript
- your environment has no GPU but has a terminal

## When to avoid
- you need production-quality 3D rendering or high frame rates
- you want GPU-accelerated graphics or WebGL
- you need a general-purpose 3D engine for building applications

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: maintenance
- function: graphics, simulation
- domain: graphics, developer-tools
- platform: cli, cross-platform
- tags: 3d-renderer, terminal-graphics, ascii-art, software-rasterizer, shaders, demo, command-line, nodejs

## Member repositories
- sinclairzx81/zero (main) score 74

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:53.124095+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:30:06.160577+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/sinclairzx81/zero (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:53.124095+00:00, sha 9f2f51335ef1)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.