Zigdex

A high-performance terminal application for displaying Pokemon sprites, written entirely in Zig. Built as a modern, lightning-fast reimplementation of tools like pokeget and krabby, zigdex showcases low-level systems programming and performance optimization.

What It Does

Zigdex brings Pokemon to your terminal with style. Display any Pokemon by name, Pokedex number, or randomly—with a 1/128 chance of encountering shiny variants. The tool is designed to be fast enough for shell startup scripts without any noticeable delay.

Key Features

• Random Pokemon Display: Randomly select from all available Pokemon with authentic shiny encounter rates
• Shiny Variant Support: Force shiny display or let probability decide
• Embedded Sprites: All sprites compiled directly into the binary—no external files needed
• Zero Dependencies: Self-contained executable that works offline
• Blazingly Fast: Optimized for minimal startup time and resource usage

Performance

Benchmarking shows zigdex significantly outperforms alternatives:

• zigdex random: ~630 microseconds average
• 1.9x faster than pokeget
• 5.8x faster than krabby

This speed is achieved by embedding sprites as byte arrays during compilation, eliminating filesystem I/O overhead entirely.

Technical Stack

• Language: Zig
• Architecture: Compile-time sprite embedding
• Memory Management: Zig's GeneralPurposeAllocator with proper cleanup
• Lookup System: Supports case-insensitive names, slugs, and Pokedex numbers
• Distribution: Homebrew support and standalone binaries
• License: MIT (fully open-source)

Why Zig?

This project demonstrates Zig's strengths for systems programming: compile-time execution for embedding assets, explicit memory management without garbage collection overhead, and the ability to produce fast, portable binaries with no runtime dependencies.

Built for developers who want their terminal tools to be both fun and performant.