Introduction

What is TUI.zig?

TUI.zig is a modern, feature-rich Terminal User Interface (TUI) library for the Zig programming language. It provides everything you need to build beautiful, interactive terminal applications with a simple, intuitive API.

Philosophy

TUI.zig is designed with these principles:

1. Simple API - As easy to use as Python, but with Zig's performance
2. Zero Dependencies - Pure Zig, no external C libraries
3. Cross-Platform - Works on Linux, Windows, macOS, and BSD
4. High Performance - Diff-based rendering, double buffering
5. Feature Complete - All the widgets and features you need built-in

Features at a Glance

🎨 Rendering

• True Color (24-bit RGB) - Full color spectrum
• 256 Color Mode - For older terminals
• 16 ANSI Colors - Universal fallback
• Double Buffering - No flicker
• Diff-Based Updates - Only render what changed
• Unicode Support - Emoji, CJK, grapheme clusters

🧩 Widgets

TUI.zig includes 14+ built-in widgets:

Widget	Description
Text	Styled text with alignment
Button	Clickable with hover states
Input Field	Single-line text input
Text Area	Multi-line editor
Checkbox	Toggle checkboxes
Radio Button	Single selection
Progress Bar	Visual progress
Spinner	Loading animation
List View	Scrollable lists
Table	Data tables
Tabs	Tabbed navigation
Modal	Dialog overlays
Scroll View	Scrollable containers
Split View	Resizable panes

🖱️ Input

• Full keyboard event handling
• Mouse clicks, drags, and scroll
• Focus management
• Bracketed paste mode

📐 Layout

• Flex containers (row/column)
• Box model with padding/margins
• Constraint-based sizing
• Alignment options

🎭 Styling

• Text attributes (bold, italic, underline, etc.)
• Built-in themes (Dark, Light, Nord, Dracula, Gruvbox)
• Custom theme support
• Various border styles

🎬 Animation

• Easing functions (linear, ease-in/out, bounce, elastic, etc.)
• Value interpolation
• Timer system

Getting Started

Ready to build your first TUI app? Head to the Getting Started guide!