meow-fixtures 🐾

Forget boring test data. Your fixtures now come with cats.

Installation

npm install

Scripts

# Development (no build required)
npm run dev generate

# Production
npm run build
npm run start generate

---

Usage

Generate all formats (default)

npm run dev generate

Generates 1 cat in all formats into ./output.

Options

Option	Alias	Default	Description
--count	-n	1*	Number of cats to generate
--formats	-f	all	Comma-separated list of formats (or all)
--output	-o	./output	Output directory
--seed	-s	—	Random seed for reproducible output
--prefix	-p	—	Filename prefix (e.g. auth → auth_cat_001_Luna)
--scale		3	PNG pixel art scale (1 = 10px/pixel, 3 = 30px/pixel)
--size		300	JPEG photo size in pixels — square (e.g. 500×500)
--dry-run		false	Preview what would be generated without writing files
--concurrency		5	Number of cataas.com requests to have in flight at once
--no-base64		false	Omit base64 image data from json/csv/types output
--watch	-w	false	Re-generate on Enter keypress (Ctrl+C to exit)

* --count defaults to 2 when --formats includes pdf (so the PDF has more than a single page by default).

---

Examples

Count

npm run dev generate -- -n 5
npm run dev generate -- -n 100

Formats

# Single format
npm run dev generate -- -f png
npm run dev generate -- -f jpeg
npm run dev generate -- -f json
npm run dev generate -- -f csv
npm run dev generate -- -f txt
npm run dev generate -- -f pdf
npm run dev generate -- -f sql
npm run dev generate -- -f md
npm run dev generate -- -f types

# Multiple formats
npm run dev generate -- -f png,jpeg
npm run dev generate -- -f json,csv,sql
npm run dev generate -- -f txt,pdf,md
npm run dev generate -- -f png,json,pdf

Output directory

npm run dev generate -- -o ./my-fixtures
npm run dev generate -- -o ./tests/fixtures

Seed — reproducible output

Same seed always produces the same cat IDs, names, ipsum text and pixel art (PNG).

npm run dev generate -- --seed 42
npm run dev generate -- --seed 1337

Note: the real cat photo (jpeg) is fetched from cataas.com, which returns a random photo on every request — it is never reproducible, even with --seed.

Prefix — namespaced filenames

npm run dev generate -- --prefix auth
# → auth_cat_001_Luna.png, auth_cat_002_Oreo.jpeg …

npm run dev generate -- --prefix product
npm run dev generate -- --prefix avatar

Scale — PNG pixel art size

npm run dev generate -- -f png --scale 1   # 10px per pixel (tiny)
npm run dev generate -- -f png --scale 3   # 30px per pixel (default)
npm run dev generate -- -f png --scale 6   # 60px per pixel (large)

Size — JPEG photo dimensions

npm run dev generate -- -f jpeg --size 100
npm run dev generate -- -f jpeg --size 300   # default
npm run dev generate -- -f jpeg --size 800

Dry run — preview without writing

npm run dev generate -- --dry-run
npm run dev generate -- -n 20 -f json,csv --dry-run

Watch mode — regenerate on Enter

npm run dev generate -- --watch
npm run dev generate -- -n 5 -f png,json --watch
# Press Enter to regenerate, Ctrl+C to exit

Combine options

npm run dev generate -- -n 20 -f json,csv -o ./fixtures
npm run dev generate -- -n 5 -f png,jpeg --scale 4 --size 500
npm run dev generate -- -n 10 -f pdf,md -o ./docs --seed 99
npm run dev generate -- -n 3 --prefix user -f json,types -o ./tests/fixtures

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Jpg — download real cat photos

Download standalone real cat photos (JPEG) from cataas.com, no fixtures generated.

npm run dev jpg

Downloads 1 photo into ./output.

Options

Option	Alias	Default	Description
--count	-n	1	Number of photos to download
--output	-o	./output	Output directory
--seed	-s	—	Random seed for reproducible filenames (cat names)
--prefix	-p	—	Filename prefix (e.g. auth → auth_cat_001_Luna.jpg)
--size		300	Photo size in pixels — square (e.g. 500×500)
--dry-run		false	Preview what would be downloaded without writing files
--concurrency		5	Number of cataas.com requests to have in flight at once

Examples

npm run dev jpg -- -n 5
npm run dev jpg -- -n 20 -o ./my-photos
npm run dev jpg -- --size 800
npm run dev jpg -- --seed 42 --prefix avatar
npm run dev jpg -- --dry-run

---

.meowrc.json — default config

Create a .meowrc.json at the root of your project to set your own defaults. CLI flags always override it.

{
  "count": 5,
  "formats": "png,json",
  "output": "./tests/fixtures",
  "seed": 42,
  "prefix": "cat",
  "scale": 3,
  "size": 300,
  "concurrency": 5,
  "includeBase64": true
}

---

Programmatic API

import { generate } from 'meow-fixtures';

await generate({
  count: 5,
  formats: ['json', 'png'],
  output: './fixtures',
  seed: 42,
  prefix: 'user',
  scale: 3,
  size: 300,
  dryRun: false,
});

You can also use individual utilities:

import {
  randomName,
  randomText,
  randomSentence,
  fetchCatPhoto,
  renderPng,
  createRng,
} from 'meow-fixtures';

const rng = createRng(42);
console.log(randomName(rng)); // 'Espresso'
console.log(randomSentence(rng)); // 'Knock glass off table. Watch it fall.'

const { pngBuffer, jpegBuffer } = await fetchCatPhoto(300);
const pixelArt = await renderPng('00d658d50b', 3);

---

Output structure

output/
  cats.json
  cats.csv
  cats.txt
  cats.pdf
  cats.sql
  cats.md
  cats.types.ts
  images/
    cat_001_Luna.png       ← pixel art
    cat_001_Luna.jpeg      ← real photo
    cat_002_Oreo.png
    cat_002_Oreo.jpeg
    ...

Format details

Format	Content
png	Pixel art cat generated from a pool of 25 343 IDs
jpeg	Real cat photo fetched from cataas.com (not seedable)
json	Array of cats with name, text, image path and base64*
csv	One cat per row with name, text, image path and base64*
txt	Plain text with cat name and cat ipsum paragraphs
pdf	Laid out pages with cat image and cat ipsum text
sql	CREATE TABLE + INSERT statements
md	Markdown table + detail sections for each cat
types	TypeScript Cat[] const with full type definitions

* Use --no-base64 to omit the base64 image data (json, csv, types) — useful for large batches where you only need the file paths.