spec-ai-tui

Terminal User Interface framework for spec-ai built from scratch on crossterm.

Overview

This crate provides a complete TUI framework with:

• Geometry Primitives: Rect, Point, Size for layout calculations
• Cell-Based Buffer: Efficient diff rendering system
• Terminal Abstraction: Backend over crossterm for cross-platform support
• Layout Engine: Constraint-based layout with flex support
• Widget System: Stateful and interactive widget traits
• Event Loop: Async event handling integrated with tokio
• Application Framework: Elm-inspired architecture for building apps

Architecture

spec-ai-tui
├── app         # Application framework and runner
├── buffer      # Cell-based screen buffer with diff rendering
├── event       # Input events and async event loop
├── geometry    # Point, Rect, Size primitives
├── layout      # Constraint-based layout engine
├── style       # Colors, modifiers, and text styling
├── terminal    # Terminal backend abstraction
└── widget      # Widget traits and built-in widgets

Built-in Widgets

• Block: Container with borders and titles
• Paragraph: Text display with wrapping
• Input: Single-line text input
• Editor: Multi-line text editor
• StatusBar: Status line display
• SlashMenu: Command menu overlay
• Overlay: Modal overlay container

Usage

use spec_ai_tui::{
    App, AppRunner, Buffer, Event, Rect,
    Constraint, Direction, Layout,
    Color, Style, Widget,
};

struct MyApp;

impl App for MyApp {
    type State = MyState;

    fn init(&self) -> Self::State {
        MyState::default()
    }

    fn handle_event(&mut self, event: Event, state: &mut Self::State) -> bool {
        // Return true to quit
        false
    }

    fn render(&self, state: &Self::State, area: Rect, buf: &mut Buffer) {
        // Render your UI
    }
}

Dependencies

• crossterm - Cross-platform terminal manipulation
• tokio - Async runtime for event loop
• unicode-width - Proper Unicode character width handling

Usage

This is an internal crate primarily used by:

• spec-ai-tui-app - The interactive terminal application

For end-user documentation, see the main spec-ai README.