terminui

A fast, functional TypeScript library for building terminal user interfaces.

Features

• Pure functional — no classes, no this, no mutation. Plain objects in, plain objects out.
• Double-buffered rendering — only changed cells are flushed to the terminal between frames.
• Rich layout system — split any rect with constraints: Length, Percentage, Ratio, Min, Max, Fill.
• Full style system — 16 ANSI colors, 256-color indexed, 24-bit RGB, modifiers (bold, italic, underline, etc.).
• Wide character support — CJK and fullwidth characters are measured and rendered correctly.
• 10+ built-in widgets — Block, Paragraph, List, Table, Gauge, Tabs, Sparkline, BarChart, Scrollbar, Clear.
• Stateful widgets — List and Table selection, Scrollbar position with offset management.
• Pluggable backends — test backend included; bring your own Node.js terminal backend.
• TypeScript strict mode — strict: true, noUncheckedIndexedAccess: true, zero any.

Install

pnpm add terminui

Quick Start

import {
  createTestBackendState,
  createTestBackend,
  testBackendToString,
  createTerminal,
  terminalDraw,
  frameRenderWidget,
  createRect,
  createLayout,
  lengthConstraint,
  fillConstraint,
  splitLayout,
  blockBordered,
  createTitle,
  createParagraph,
  renderParagraph,
} from 'terminui';

// Set up a test backend (swap for a real terminal backend in production)
const state = createTestBackendState(60, 10);
const backend = createTestBackend(state);
const terminal = createTerminal(backend);

terminalDraw(terminal, (frame) => {
  const paragraph = createParagraph('Hello, terminui!', {
    block: blockBordered({ titles: [createTitle('Greeting')] }),
  });
  frameRenderWidget(frame, renderParagraph(paragraph), frame.area);
});

console.log(testBackendToString(state));

Output:

┌Greeting──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Hello, terminui!                                      │
│                                                      │
│                                                      │
│                                                      │
│                                                      │
│                                                      │
│                                                      │
│                                                      │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

JSX API (React-like)

You can keep the same terminal performance model and write UIs in a JSX style.

terminui does not use a virtual DOM reconciler here; JSX is translated into the same widget render calls (frameRenderWidget, frameRenderStatefulWidget) and still uses the existing double-buffered diff renderer.

/** @jsxImportSource terminui */
import { createTestBackendState, createTestBackend, createTerminal } from 'terminui';
import { terminalDrawJsx, Column, Row, Panel, Label, List, Gauge } from 'terminui/jsx';
import { lengthConstraint, fillConstraint } from 'terminui';

const state = createTestBackendState(60, 12);
const terminal = createTerminal(createTestBackend(state));

terminalDrawJsx(
  terminal,
  <Column constraints={[lengthConstraint(3), fillConstraint(1)]}>
    <Panel title="Header" p={1}>
      <Label text="JSX-powered terminal UI" align="center" bold />
    </Panel>
    <Row constraints={[fillConstraint(1), fillConstraint(1)]} gap={1}>
      <Panel title="Menu">
        <List items={['Overview', 'Metrics', 'Logs']} />
      </Panel>
      <Panel title="Load">
        <Gauge percent={42} />
      </Panel>
    </Row>
  </Column>,
);

Available JSX components include VStack, HStack, Box, Text, List, Table, Gauge, LineGauge, Tabs, Sparkline, BarChart, Scrollbar, Clear, and Cursor.

React-like aliases are also available:

• Row = HStack
• Column = VStack
• Panel = Box with border enabled by default
• Label = Text

Common shorthand props:

• gap on Row / Column for spacing
• p, px, py for panel/widget padding
• border and title for block setup
• fg, bg, bold for style
• align for text alignment

Helper APIs:

• terminalDrawJsx(terminal, <UI />)
• terminalLoopJsx(terminal, (frame, tick) => <UI />, { maxFrames: 120 })

JSX Starter (Copy/Paste)

Minimal tsconfig.json:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "jsxImportSource": "terminui"
  }
}

Minimal hello.tsx:

/** @jsxRuntime automatic */
/** @jsxImportSource terminui */
import { createTestBackendState, createTestBackend, createTerminal, testBackendToString } from 'terminui';
import { terminalDrawJsx, Panel, Label } from 'terminui/jsx';
import { Color } from 'terminui';

const state = createTestBackendState(40, 6);
const terminal = createTerminal(createTestBackend(state));

terminalDrawJsx(
  terminal,
  <Panel title="Hello JSX" p={1}>
    <Label text="terminal UI, React-like syntax" fg={Color.Cyan} bold align="center" />
  </Panel>,
);

console.log(testBackendToString(state));

JSX Troubleshooting

If you see a TypeScript error like:

'X' cannot be used as a JSX component

check the following:

1. Use .tsx files for JSX code.
2. Use automatic JSX runtime with terminui as the import source.
3. Import UI components from terminui/jsx (not from react).
4. Make sure you are on a recent terminui version with JSX typing fixes.

tsconfig.json example:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "jsx": "react-jsx",
    "jsxImportSource": "terminui"
  }
}

Per-file override (optional):

/** @jsxRuntime automatic */
/** @jsxImportSource terminui */

Architecture

terminui follows a functional architecture with zero classes:

Backend → Terminal → Frame → Buffer → Cells
                       ↑
                    Widgets (pure render functions)
                       ↑
                    Layout (constraint solver)

Everything is a function. Widgets are functions that take config and return a WidgetRenderer — a function (area: Rect, buf: Buffer) => void. Compose them however you want.

Layout System

Split any rectangle using constraints:

import { createLayout, lengthConstraint, fillConstraint, percentageConstraint, splitLayout, createRect } from 'terminui';

const layout = createLayout([
  lengthConstraint(3),       // exactly 3 rows
  percentageConstraint(50),  // 50% of remaining
  fillConstraint(1),         // fill the rest
]);

const area = createRect(0, 0, 80, 24);
const [header, body, footer] = splitLayout(layout, area);

Constraint Types

Constraint	Description
lengthConstraint(n)	Exactly n cells
percentageConstraint(n)	n% of available space
ratioConstraint(num, den)	num/den of available space
minConstraint(n)	At least n cells
maxConstraint(n)	At most n cells
fillConstraint(weight)	Fill remaining space (weighted)

Directions

// Vertical (default) — splits into rows
const vLayout = createLayout([...constraints]);

// Horizontal — splits into columns
const hLayout = createLayout([...constraints], { direction: 'horizontal' });

Style System

import { createStyle, styleFg, styleBg, styleAddModifier, Color, Modifier, patchStyle } from 'terminui';

const bold = styleAddModifier(createStyle(), Modifier.BOLD);
const warning = styleFg(styleBg(createStyle(), Color.Yellow), Color.Black);
const merged = patchStyle(bold, warning); // combines both

Colors

Color.Reset, Color.Black, Color.Red, Color.Green, Color.Yellow,
Color.Blue, Color.Magenta, Color.Cyan, Color.Gray, Color.White,
Color.DarkGray, Color.LightRed, Color.LightGreen, ...

indexedColor(42)           // 256-color palette
rgbColor(255, 128, 0)     // 24-bit true color

Modifiers

Modifier.BOLD, Modifier.DIM, Modifier.ITALIC, Modifier.UNDERLINED,
Modifier.SLOW_BLINK, Modifier.RAPID_BLINK, Modifier.REVERSED,
Modifier.HIDDEN, Modifier.CROSSED_OUT, Modifier.DOUBLE_UNDERLINED,
Modifier.OVERLINED

Widgets

Block

Container with borders, titles, and padding:

┌Header────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                      │
│  Content goes here with padding and borders         │
│                                                      │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

import { blockBordered, createTitle, renderBlock, Borders } from 'terminui';

const block = blockBordered({
  titles: [
    createTitle('Header'),
    createTitle('Footer', { position: 'bottom', alignment: 'center' }),
  ],
  borderType: 'rounded',  // 'plain' | 'rounded' | 'double' | 'thick'
  padding: uniformPadding(1),
});

frameRenderWidget(frame, renderBlock(block), area);

Paragraph

Text display with wrapping, alignment, and scrolling:

┌Paragraph─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Long text that wraps automatically to fit the      │
│  available width. Supports alignment and scrolling  │
│  for content larger than the viewport.              │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

import { createParagraph, renderParagraph } from 'terminui';

const p = createParagraph('Long text that wraps...', {
  block: blockBordered({ titles: [createTitle('Paragraph')] }),
  wrap: { trim: true },
  alignment: 'center',
  scroll: [2, 0],  // skip first 2 lines
});

frameRenderWidget(frame, renderParagraph(p), area);

List

Vertical scrollable list with selection:

┌Menu──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ▶ Item 1                                             │
│   Item 2                                             │
│   Item 3                                             │
│   Item 4                                             │
│   Item 5                                             │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

import { createList, createListState, renderStatefulList } from 'terminui';

const list = createList(['Item 1', 'Item 2', 'Item 3'], {
  block: blockBordered({ titles: [createTitle('Menu')] }),
  highlightStyle: styleFg(createStyle(), Color.Yellow),
  highlightSymbol: '▶ ',
});

const state = createListState(0); // selected index
frameRenderStatefulWidget(frame, renderStatefulList(list), area, state);

// Navigate: state.selected = 1;

Table

Grid data with column constraints:

┌Users─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Name       Age  Role                                 │
│ Alice      42   admin                                │
│ Bob        37   user                                 │
│ Charlie    29   user                                 │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

import { createTable, createRow, renderTable, lengthConstraint, fillConstraint } from 'terminui';

const table = createTable(
  [
    createRow(['Alice', '42', 'admin']),
    createRow(['Bob', '37', 'user']),
  ],
  [lengthConstraint(10), lengthConstraint(5), fillConstraint(1)],
  {
    header: createRow(['Name', 'Age', 'Role']),
    block: blockBordered({ titles: [createTitle('Users')] }),
  },
);

frameRenderWidget(frame, renderTable(table), area);

Gauge

Progress bars — unicode block characters or ASCII:

┌Progress──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ████████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ │
│ 67%                                                  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

import { gaugePercent, renderGauge } from 'terminui';

const gauge = gaugePercent(67, {
  block: blockBordered({ titles: [createTitle('Progress')] }),
  useUnicode: true,
  gaugeStyle: styleFg(createStyle(), Color.Green),
});

frameRenderWidget(frame, renderGauge(gauge), area);

Tabs

Horizontal tab selection:

 Dashboard  Logs  Settings
 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 Dashboard content displayed here

import { createTabs, renderTabs } from 'terminui';

const tabs = createTabs(['Dashboard', 'Logs', 'Settings'], {
  selected: 0,
  highlightStyle: styleFg(createStyle(), Color.Yellow),
});

frameRenderWidget(frame, renderTabs(tabs), area);

Sparkline

Tiny inline data visualization:

┌CPU───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ▁▄▂█▅▃▇▆                                             │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

import { createSparkline, renderSparkline } from 'terminui';

const spark = createSparkline([1, 4, 2, 8, 5, 3, 7, 6], {
  block: blockBordered({ titles: [createTitle('CPU')] }),
  style: styleFg(createStyle(), Color.Cyan),
});

frameRenderWidget(frame, renderSparkline(spark), area);

BarChart

Grouped bar charts (vertical or horizontal):

┌Chart─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                      │
│   ███   ███   ███                                    │
│   ███   ███   ███                                    │
│   ███   ███   ███                                    │
│   ███   ███   ███                                    │
│  Group A Group B Group C                            │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

import { createBar, createBarGroup, createBarChart, renderBarChart } from 'terminui';

const chart = createBarChart(
  [createBarGroup([createBar(5), createBar(8), createBar(3)], 'Group A')],
  { barWidth: 3, direction: 'vertical' },
);

frameRenderWidget(frame, renderBarChart(chart), area);

Scrollbar

Scrollbar overlay for any area:

┌Content────────────────────────────────────────────┐ █
│ Line 1                                            │ █
│ Line 2                                            │ ░
│ Line 3                                            │ ░
│ Line 4                                            │ ░
│ Line 5                                            │ ░
│ ...                                               │ ░
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ █

import { createScrollbar, createScrollbarState, renderStatefulScrollbar } from 'terminui';

const sb = createScrollbar('verticalRight');
const sbState = createScrollbarState(100, 25);
sbState.viewportContentLength = 20;

frameRenderStatefulWidget(frame, renderStatefulScrollbar(sb), area, sbState);

Rendering Modes

Primary Screen

Renders directly to the terminal's primary screen. Good for one-shot output or piped commands:

const state = createTestBackendState(80, 24);
const backend = createTestBackend(state);
const terminal = createTerminal(backend);

terminalDraw(terminal, (frame) => {
  // render widgets to frame
});

console.log(testBackendToString(state));

Alternate Screen

For full-screen TUI apps (like vim, htop). In production you'd use a backend that:

1. Enters the alternate screen (\x1b[?1049h)
2. Renders frames in a loop with diff-based updates
3. Exits the alternate screen on cleanup (\x1b[?1049l)

// Pseudo-code for a real alternate screen app:
const backend = createNodeBackend(); // your Node.js backend
const terminal = createTerminal(backend);

// Enter alternate screen
process.stdout.write('\x1b[?1049h');

// Main loop
while (running) {
  terminalDraw(terminal, (frame) => {
    // render your UI
  });
  await waitForInput();
}

// Exit alternate screen
process.stdout.write('\x1b[?1049l');

The double-buffered architecture ensures only changed cells are written between frames — minimal I/O for maximum performance.

Examples

Run the included examples:

# Minimal JSX starter
npx tsx examples/jsx-hello.tsx

# Interactive fake-AI terminal chat demo
npx tsx examples/jsx-chatbot.tsx

# React-like JSX API demo
npx tsx examples/jsx-dashboard.tsx

# Dashboard rendered to primary screen
npx tsx examples/primary-screen.ts

# Multi-frame alternate screen simulation
npx tsx examples/alternate-screen.ts

# Full kitchen-sink dashboard (all widgets + layout + styles + state)
npx tsx examples/kitchen-sink.ts

# Live weather dashboard (Open-Meteo)
npx tsx examples/weather-dashboard.ts --city "New York"

# One-shot weather snapshot (non-animated)
npx tsx examples/weather-dashboard.ts --city "New York" --once

examples/jsx-chatbot.tsx is the production-style reference for interactive terminal UX:

• uses alternate screen and clears scrollback
• uses readline keypress input in raw mode (no prompt spam)
• uses diff-based cell updates with batched ANSI writes
• uses a minimal, modern CLI layout (vim/blessed-like)
• includes interactive controls:
  • Enter send message
  • ↑ / ↓ scroll conversation
  • /clear reset chat history
  • Esc or Ctrl+C quit cleanly

Dev

pnpm install
pnpm test        # vitest
pnpm typecheck   # tsc --noEmit
pnpm lint        # biome check
pnpm build       # tsup

Stack

• TypeScript (strict mode)
• Biome (lint + format)
• Vitest (tests)
• tsup (bundling)
• pnpm (package manager)

License

Apache-2.0 - Ahmad Awais