tui-design

Universal design patterns for building exceptional terminal user interfaces. Framework-agnostic — works with Ratatui, Ink, Textual, Bubbletea, or any TUI toolkit. Core philosophy: TUIs earn their power through spatial consistency, keyboard fluency, and information density that respects human attention. Design for the expert's speed without abandoning the beginner's discoverability. Choose your primary layout based on what you're building: All panels visible simultaneously. Focus shifts between them. Users build spatial memory — "branches are always top-left." When to use: Multi-faceted tools where users need simultaneous context (git clients, container managers, monitoring). Key rule: Panels maintain fixed positions across sessions.