A Software Engineer's Guide to rothgar/awesome-tuis
From a software engineer's perspective, TUIs are a huge productivity booster. They allow you to stay in the terminal, which is often your primary workspace, without constantly switching to a different application. Here's how they're useful
Improved Efficiency
Instead of typing long commands and flags, a TUI can provide a real-time, interactive dashboard. For example, instead of running docker ps repeatedly to check container status, a TUI like Lazydocker gives you a live overview. You can navigate through services, view logs, and manage containers with a few keystrokes.
Enhanced Visualization
TUIs can present complex information in a structured, readable way. Tools like btop visualize system resource usage (CPU, memory, disk I/O) with graphs and charts, making it much easier to spot performance bottlenecks than parsing text output from top or htop.
Seamless Workflow
By using TUI tools, you can manage tasks like version control, code editing, and process management all from a single terminal window. This minimizes context-switching, keeping you focused on your work.
Using the rothgar/awesome-tuis list is pretty straightforward. Here's a typical workflow
Explore the List
Start by browsing the repository. It's organized by category, such as Editors, Git, Monitoring, and DevOps. Look for tools that solve a problem you're currently facing. For example, if you want a better way to interact with Git, check out the Git section.
Pick a Tool
Let's say you discover LazyGit. The description will tell you what it does—it's a simple terminal UI for Git commands.
Check the Prerequisites
The repository entry usually links to the official project page. Go there to find the installation instructions. Most TUI tools are written in languages like Go, Rust, or Python, and can be installed via package managers like homebrew, apt, or pip.
Install It
Follow the instructions. For LazyGit, it might be as simple as brew install lazygit on macOS or Linux.
Try it Out
Once installed, just run the command (lazygit in this case) in your terminal. You'll be greeted with the TUI, ready to use!
Since awesome-tuis is a list of tools rather than a library you'd import into your code, "sample code" refers to the commands you run in your terminal. Here are a few examples to get you started with some popular TUIs from the list
This is a fantastic tool for managing Git repositories.
Install
# On macOS or Linux
brew install lazygit
Usage
Navigate to a Git repository and simply run
lazygit
This command opens a TUI where you can stage files, commit, switch branches, and push/pull with simple keyboard shortcuts. It's incredibly intuitive!
A TUI for managing Docker and Docker Compose.
Install
# On macOS or Linux
brew install jesseduffield/lazydocker/lazydocker
Usage
Navigate to a project with a docker-compose.yml file and run
lazydocker
You'll see a real-time list of your containers, their status, and logs. You can select a container to inspect its details or view its logs as they come in.
A modern, visually appealing process monitor.
Install
# On macOS or Linux
brew install btop
Usage
Just run
btop
You'll get a beautiful, interactive dashboard showing your CPU usage, memory, disk activity, and a list of running processes that you can sort and filter.