# kenney (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 1 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover kenney. Page: Feed: --- ## [Get the gist of jot](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2026-06-06-jot-gist/) _2026-06-05 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ tl;dr My mini note-taking CLI tool jot can now back-up jottings to a GitHub gist , thanks to GitHub’s gh CLI . Always Be Jotting Last time I told you I’ve been using jot for months . It’s my opinionated CLI tool to record stuff that I can reflect on later. I just type something like jot "promoted synergy" in the terminal and move on. And now there’s 1200 jottings. But there’s only one text file. A… ## [Eating dogfood 1000 times](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2026-05-31-dogfood/) _2026-05-30 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ tl;dr I’ve now used my CLI tool jot nearly 1200 times. It’s been a useful low-friction way to remember what I’ve been up to for later reflection. One-shot jot I’ve written about jot before : my very simple and opinionated Python command-line tool for jotting down little timestamped notes to myself. In an open terminal I can just: jot "put one of the new coversheets on the TPS reports" And it gets… ## [Shaka, when the walls fell](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2026-03-15-tyle-walls/) _2026-03-15 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ Temba, his arms wide. tl;dr I messed around again with tyle , my Python-CLI roguelike-like. Now it has godlike destruction and creation. The beast at Tanagra Before now, you could install tyle 1 and type tyle into your terminal to generate a tile-grid with a player, surrounded by floor ( . ) and wall ( # ) tiles, as well as ‘fog of war’ ( ? ) beyond a certain distance. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?… ## [Fog of war](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2026-03-08-tyle-fog/) _2026-03-08 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ Haven’t the foggiest about this terrain. tl;dr tyle , my Python-CLI roguelike-like, now has ‘fog of war’. Grid and bare it You may remember my tyle concept : the beginnings of an in-terminal tile-based roguelike to help me improve my Python CLI skills. You could install the development version like uv tool install git+https://github.com/matt-dray/tyle.git and initiate by typing tyle in a terminal.… ## [A tiny CLI weather {Rapp}ort](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2026-03-01-weva/) _2026-03-01 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ tl;dr The {weva} R package contains a titchy command-line interface (CLI) to present an opinionated micro-weather report. Building some {Rapp}ort I’m spending more time in the terminal. So I’ve been making little CLI concepts: jot for recording notes pet for a persistent cyberpet tyle for a roguelike-like These are all written in Python, which seems a more natural choice for this purpose than R 1… ## [Text hex logos with {hext}](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2026-02-15-hext/) _2026-02-15 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ / \\ / he \\ \\ xt / \\\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_/ tl;dr The {hext} R package helps you make text-based hex logos. A simple mind Call me a normie, but I am an R-hex-logo enjoyer. I took a step further last year to create my own (limited) hex-making package, {gex} , which I’ve written about before 1 . The goal of {gex} was to keep things simple: minimal dependencies, only grid graphics 2 . But I was too… ## [A roguelike-like with tyle](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2026-02-01-tyle/) _2026-02-01 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ tl;dr I’m writing tyle to help in my quest to slay Python. Very early access I’ve started ‘tyle’, a concept Python CLI that contains the foundations for a little in-terminal tile- and turn-based game. The rudimentary tool is available to install from GitHub (v0.1.0 at time of writing). I like uv for this job 1 : uv tool install git+https://github.com/matt-dray/tyle.git Then you can start a ‘game’… ## [Correcting a fib about jot](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2025-12-28-jot-fib/) _2025-12-28 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ tl;dr jot now has --where , --version , --from and --to options. Whoops Me, lying, the last time I posted about jot : It’s basically feature-complete from my perspective. Reminder: jot is my simple little Python CLI for recording timestamped notes to a text file. In fact, now you can: combine options search between specific dates quickly get tool meta-information And? Options --search and --list (… ## [How the tables turned](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2025-11-30-turn-tables/) _2025-11-30 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ tl;dr {a11ytables} is dead, long live {aftables} . Regret? A while back I presented ‘Panic! In The Toolshed’ about how public-sector data scientists should share code to prevent wheel reinvention 1 . I gave the example of my {a11ytables} R package, which has helped to publish spreadsheets of official statistics that follow best practices . It got harder to find time to maintain the package. I… ## [={ o x o}=](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2025-10-30-pet/) _2025-10-30 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ Yes, my true calling is ASCII art. tl;dr I’ve made pet : a (very simple) Python tool to look after a persistent cyberpet on your command line. Adopt I made this for learning purposes, but if you did want to try it: Install uv if you somehow haven’t already. From your terminal run uv tool install git+https://github.com/matt-dray/pet.git . Run pet . Take responsibility. Pet the kitty Running pet… ## [Anthony Ettinger on LinkedIn (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/rOZqI3R7gqIT) _2025-10-29 · **Sponsored**_ Public LinkedIn profile at linkedin.com/in/anthonyettinger. ## [Abandon P\*werpoint for the command line](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2025-09-18-rich-slides/) _2025-09-17 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ tl;dr You can use Python’s rich library to make super minimal presentations at the command line. Sliding scale Recently, conference organisers forced a colleague to convert their Quarto presentation to P\*werPoint. Unconscionable. Proprietary software shouldn’t get in the way of good ideas, maaan. Actually, if your message is good enough 1 then why waste time rendering anything? Why not just print… ## [Keeping jot’s options open](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2025-08-30-jot-options/) _2025-08-29 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ tl;dr I’ve added a small set of options to jot , my minimal opinionated Python command-line tool that helps me remember stuff. Forget me jot You may recall I made a Python CLI tool called jot to help me record work tasks. I go to my terminal and type jot "corrected a typo" and it gets added to a simple text file with a timestamp. To give it a go, I recommend installing uv and then install from… ## [Jotting down some indifferent vibes](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2025-08-25-jot/) _2025-08-24 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ tl;dr I’ve started a minimal opinionated Python command-line tool to help me remember stuff. It’s called jot . Jot or not This tool is for me 1 , but if you want to install it, I recommend you install uv first . Then run uv tool install git+https://github.com/matt-dray/jot from a terminal to install jot (currently v0.2.1) from GitHub . Open a terminal and write your first jotting like jot… ## [A bank holiday to honour uv?](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2025-08-11-uv-standalone/) _2025-08-10 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ tl;dr You can use uv to help turn a Python 1 script into a self-contained executable. Useful for really important stuff, like… discovering the next public holiday from your terminal? This is my own attempt at something I saw Rodrigo do 2 . Worth a bunt The UK government maintains an API catalogue . A very (very) simple API example is the bank-holidays API run by the Government Digital Service… ## [Dependency-light hex stickers with {gex}](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2025-02-25-gex/) _2025-02-25 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ Would you buy this as a tasteful wallpaper? tl;dr The package {hexbase} has been improved and renamed {gex} . It’s no longer ‘dependency free’, but has a goal of being ‘gridverse’ only. Sellout! Enter the gecko In my last post I wrote about {hexbase} : a dependency-free hex-logo builder, which was helping me learn the basics of R’s grid-graphics system. Now the package goal is to stay… ## [Dependency-free hex stickers with {hexbase}](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2025-01-31-hexbase/) _2025-01-31 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ Graphic design is my passion. tl;dr I’ve made {hexbase} , a simple package to create hex stickers in R. The twist: it relies only on base R. Note The package has been renamed to {gex} (loosely ‘grid’ + ‘hex’) and is now, ahem, ‘dependency-light’ to take advantage of other ‘gridverse’ packages (grid-graphics expansion packages made by Prof Murrell and others). The API for {gex} has also been… ## [A roguelike sprite randomiser with Shiny](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2024-12-15-sprite-builder/) _2024-12-15 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ tl;dr I made a quick Shiny app that generates randomised characters for your next roguelike game, made with parts designed by Kenney . Standing on the shoulders of Kenney Kenney makes free ( CC0 ) assets for videogames, like the 16×16-pixel sprites I used in a previous post , where you could move a little character move around a procedural forest glade while being chased by a mouse. Kenney also… ## [Deploy a Shiny app to itch.io](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2024-11-16-itch/) _2024-11-16 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ Graphic design is my passion. tl;dr As a test, I uploaded an R Shiny app to itch.io , which is a platform for sharing indie games. It worked . Scratching an itch.io Where can you host your Shiny app for free? Typical options are services like shinyapps.io or Connect Cloud by Posit. I have another idea: itch.io is a web-based platform known for hosting indie videogames, assets and other… ## [{sortable} card games in {shiny}](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2024-10-25-not-balatro/) _2024-10-24 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ You sunk my battleship! tl;dr Use {sortable} in a {shiny} app to build card games, maybe? I mocked up a demo and made it available on the web with {shinylive} . Balatro LocalThunk 1 —the anonymous creator of Balatro , the hit poker-inspired roguelike videogame 2 —revealed recently that 11,000 years of gameplay have been sunk into the game. The average productivity of the universe has continued to… ## [Finnish Seedboxes — Up to 20Gbps (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/oV4qkg8wrjEM) _2024-10-24 · **Sponsored**_ Private Finnish seedboxes with 1–20Gbps speeds, RAID storage and 14‑day refund ## [Little pixel fun zone](https://www.rostrum.blog/posts/2024-09-15-shiny-pixel/) _2024-09-14 · Matt Dray · rostrum.blog_ Fast blue hedgehog man in Little Pixel Fun Zone, Act 1 (original art by the author). tl;dr I made a simple toy pixel-editor for the browser , which helped me learn about reacting to user clicks and implementing undo/redo in {shiny}. Just browsing My {pixeltrix} package is a local pixel editor you can run from the R console 1 . It’s intentionally simple. You start a graphics device and click the…