Cli Tui Development

CLI Structure:
├── main command
│   ├── subcommand --option <arg>
│   ├── subcommand --flag
│   └── subcommand <arg>

TUI Structure:
├── App
│   ├── Layout
│   │   ├── Header
│   │   ├── Sidebar
│   │   └── Content
│   └── Widgets
│       ├── Button
│       ├── Input
│       ├── List
│       └── Table

Color & Styling

• ANSI escape codes for terminal colors
• 256-color palette support
• Truecolor (24-bit) for modern terminals
• Rich/Textual CSS-like styling

Language Ecosystem

Python

• Textual: Modern async TUI framework (built on Rich)
• Rich: Rich text output, tables, progress bars
• Click: CLI framework with decorators
• Typer: Type-hint based CLI (built on Click)
• Curses/ncurses: Low-level TUI (classic)

JavaScript/TypeScript

• Inquirer.js/@inquirer: Interactive prompts
• Commander.js: CLI argument parsing
• Yargs: CLI builder with chains
• Chalk: Terminal string styling
• oclif: Heroku's CLI framework

Rust

• Ratatui: Rust TUI library
• Cursive: Rust TUI framework
• Clap: CLI argument parsing
• Bubble Tea: Elm-inspired TUI (Golang)

Go

• Bubble Tea: TUI framework
• Cobra: CLI framework
• Lip Gloss: Styled terminal output

Best Practices

1. Structure commands logically - Use groups/subcommands
2. Provide helpful output - Rich formatting, tables, progress
3. Handle errors gracefully - Clear error messages
4. Support shell completion - Bash, Zsh, Fish, PowerShell
5. Test CLI behavior - Use testing utilities
6. Cross-platform support - Windows compatibility matters
7. Respect terminal capabilities - Detect color support

Example Stack Choices

Python TUI (Modern)

pip install textual rich

Python CLI (Modern)

pip install typer rich

JavaScript CLI

npm install @inquirer/prompts commander chalk