Remote / Sideband 2 / Terminal
Your git clone has a screen.
A Git server can send more than objects and progress bars. It can send frames. Clone the endpoint below and watch an ASCII film arrive through the protocol itself.
$git clone https://git.swerdlow.dev/bad-apple
The animation is not an exploit. It is a weird, beautiful consequence of server-defined progress meeting a programmable terminal.
Now
playing
Each URL is both a page and a Git remote. Open it to read about the piece; clone it to run the piece.
Under the hood
No repository required.
The server speaks enough smart HTTP for Git to begin a fetch, then turns the progress channel into a tiny streaming display.
Git discovers a fake ref
The endpoint advertises one synthetic commit and the sideband capability.
The client asks for a pack
That creates a normal upload-pack response where progress messages are allowed.
Frames ride sideband channel 2
Cursor movement, screen clearing, and text become a timed terminal animation.
The theater closes
No packfile is sent. Git reports an expected failure after the final frame.
How far can progress go?
I made git clone play Bad Apple.
What began as terminal injection research became a film projector—and a useful line between playful rendering and security impact.