@opentui/core

OpenTUI is a library to build terminal user interfaces.

• It is written in Zig.
• You write TypeScript directly or through React and Solid.
• You arrange boxes and text with flexbox.
• You add selects, inputs, and scroll boxes with keyboard and mouse controls.
• You can play sounds, show images, and render 3D graphics.

OpenCode uses OpenTUI in production for millions of users.

Website | Documentation | Packages

OpenTUI Core

@opentui/core supplies the renderer and TypeScript API. You use imperative renderables and events directly. The TypeScript packages call native Zig through an internal foreign function interface (FFI) boundary.

import { TextRenderable, createCliRenderer } from "@opentui/core"

const renderer = await createCliRenderer({ exitOnCtrlC: true })

renderer.root.add(new TextRenderable(renderer, { content: "Hello, OpenTUI!" }))

exitOnCtrlC: true calls renderer.destroy() when the user presses Ctrl+C. The code that creates the renderer must call renderer.destroy() on every other shutdown path.

Install the package:

bun add @opentui/core

Then build your first app with the quickstart.

Runtime and platform support

@opentui/core runs on Bun 1.3.14 or later, or on Node.js 26.4.0 or later with ECMAScript modules (ESM) and --experimental-ffi.

Use Bun 1.4.0 or later on native Windows arm64.

The native ABI and the generated platform packages, such as @opentui/core-linux-x64, are internal distribution surfaces, not application APIs.

AI agent skill

Install the OpenTUI documentation as a skill for your AI coding assistant with npx skills:

npx skills add https://opentui.com --skill opentui

Add -g to install the skill globally. The skill matches the latest release, and npx skills update moves it to each new release. Install from https://opentui.com/docs/next to follow the main branch. A skill installed with npx skills add anomalyco/opentui follows the main branch; run the command above to switch it to releases.

License

OpenTUI is licensed under the MIT License.

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