Build real terminal applications with React. Glyph provides a full component model with flexbox layout (powered by Yoga), focus management, keyboard input, and efficient diff-based rendering. Write TUIs the same way you write web apps.

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Features

| | | |---|---| | Flexbox Layout | Full CSS-like flexbox via Yoga — rows, columns, wrapping, alignment, gaps, padding | | Rich Components | Box, Text, Input, Button, Checkbox, Radio, Select, ScrollView, List, Menu, Progress, Spinner, Image, Toasts, Dialogs, Portal, JumpNav | | Focus System | Tab navigation, focus scopes, focus trapping for modals, JumpNav quick-jump hints | | Keyboard Input | useInput hook, declarative <Keybind> component, vim-style bindings | | Smart Rendering | Double-buffered framebuffer with character-level diffing — only changed cells are written | | True Colors | Named colors, hex, RGB, 256-palette. Auto-contrast text on colored backgrounds | | Borders | Single, double, rounded, and ASCII border styles | | TypeScript | Full type coverage. Every prop, style, and hook is typed |

Quick Start

The fastest way to get started — scaffold a new project:

# bun
bun create @semos-labs/glyph my-app

# npm
npm create @semos-labs/glyph my-app

# pnpm
pnpm create @semos-labs/glyph my-app

# yarn
yarn create @semos-labs/glyph my-app

Then:

cd my-app
bun install
bun dev

Manual Installation

# bun
bun add @semos-labs/glyph react

# npm
npm install @semos-labs/glyph react

# pnpm
pnpm add @semos-labs/glyph react

Hello World

import React from "react";
import { render, Box, Text, Keybind, useApp } from "@semos-labs/glyph";

function App() {
  const { exit } = useApp();

  return (
    <Box style={{ border: "round", borderColor: "cyan", padding: 1 }}>
      <Text style={{ bold: true, color: "green" }}>Hello, Glyph!</Text>
      <Keybind keypress="q" onPress={() => exit()} />
    </Box>
  );
}

render(<App />);

Run it:

npx tsx app.tsx

Components

<Box>

Flexbox container. The fundamental building block.

<Box style={{ flexDirection: "row", gap: 2, border: "single", padding: 1 }}>
  <Box style={{ flexGrow: 1, bg: "blue" }}>
    <Text>Left</Text>
  </Box>
  <Box style={{ flexGrow: 1, bg: "red" }}>
    <Text>Right</Text>
  </Box>
</Box>

<Text>

Styled text content. Supports wrapping, alignment, bold, dim, italic, underline.

<Text style={{ color: "yellowBright", bold: true, textAlign: "center" }}>
  Warning: something happened
</Text>

ANSI Escape Codes: Text automatically parses and renders embedded ANSI escape codes, making it easy to display colorized output from CLI tools, libraries like chalk/picocolors, or your own styled strings:

// Using ANSI codes directly
const coloredText = "\x1b[32mGreen\x1b[0m and \x1b[1;31mBold Red\x1b[0m";
<Text>{coloredText}</Text>

// Works with chalk, picocolors, etc.
import chalk from "chalk";
<Text>{chalk.blue("Blue") + " " + chalk.bold.red("Bold Red")}</Text>

// Display CLI output with preserved colors
const gitOutput = execSync("git status --short", { encoding: "utf8" });
<Text>{gitOutput}</Text>

Supports: basic colors (30-37, 40-47), bright colors (90-97, 100-107), 256-color palette (\x1b[38;5;Nm), true color RGB (\x1b[38;2;R;G;Bm), and attributes (bold, dim, italic, underline).

Utility functions for working with ANSI strings:

import { parseAnsi, stripAnsi } from "@semos-labs/glyph";

// Parse ANSI into styled segments
const segments = parseAnsi("\x1b[31mRed\x1b[0m Normal");
// [{ text: "Red", style: { fg: "red" } }, { text: " Normal", style: {} }]

// Strip all ANSI codes (useful for width calculations)
stripAnsi("\x1b[32mHello\x1b[0m"); // "Hello"

<Input>

Text input field with cursor and placeholder support.

<Input
  value={text}
  onChange={setText}
  placeholder="Type here..."
  style={{ bg: "blackBright", paddingX: 1 }}
  focusedStyle={{ bg: "white", color: "black" }}
/>

Supports multiline for multi-line editing, autoFocus for automatic focus on mount. The cursor is always visible when focused.

Input types for validation:

// Text input (default) - accepts any character
<Input type="text" value={name} onChange={setName} />

// Number input - only accepts digits, decimal point, minus sign
<Input type="number" value={age} onChange={setAge} placeholder="0" />

Input masking with onBeforeChange for validation/formatting:

import { createMask, masks } from "@semos-labs/glyph";

// Pre-built masks
<Input onBeforeChange={masks.usPhone} placeholder="(___) ___-____" />
<Input onBeforeChange={masks.creditCard} placeholder="____ ____ ____ ____" />

// Custom masks: 9=digit, a=letter, *=alphanumeric
const licensePlate = createMask("aaa-9999");
<Input onBeforeChange={licensePlate} placeholder="___-____" />

Available masks: usPhone, intlPhone, creditCard, dateUS, dateEU, dateISO, time, timeFull, ssn, zip, zipPlus4, ipv4, mac.

<Button>

Focusable button with press handling and visual feedback.

<Button
  onPress={() => console.log("clicked")}
  style={{ border: "single", borderColor: "cyan", paddingX: 2 }}
  focusedStyle={{ borderColor: "yellowBright", bold: true }}
>
  <Text>Submit</Text>
</Button>

Buttons participate in the focus system automatically. Press Enter or Space to activate.

<Checkbox>

Toggle checkbox with label support.

const [agreed, setAgreed] = useState(false);

<Checkbox
  checked={agreed}
  onChange={setAgreed}
  label="I agree to the terms"
  focusedStyle={{ color: "cyan" }}
/>

Focusable. Press Enter or Space to toggle. Supports custom checkedChar and uncheckedChar props.

<Radio>

Radio button group for single selection from multiple options.

const [theme, setTheme] = useState<string>("dark");

<Radio
  items={[
    { label: "Light", value: "light" },
    { label: "Dark", value: "dark" },
    { label: "System", value: "system" },
  ]}
  value={theme}
  onChange={setTheme}
  focusedItemStyle={{ color: "cyan" }}
  selectedItemStyle={{ bold: true }}
/>

Focusable. Navigate with Up/Down/Left/Right/Tab/Shift+Tab, select with Enter/Space. Supports direction prop ("column" or "row"), custom selectedChar and unselectedChar.

<ScrollView>

Scrollable container with keyboard navigation and clipping.

<ScrollView style={{ flexGrow: 1, border: "single" }}>
  {items.map((item, i) => (
    <Box key={i}>
      <Text>{item}</Text>
    </Box>
  ))}
</ScrollView>

Keyboard: PageUp/PageDown, Ctrl+d/Ctrl+u (half-page), Ctrl+f/Ctrl+b (full page).

Shows a scrollbar when content exceeds viewport (disable with showScrollbar={false}). Supports controlled mode with scrollOffset and onScroll props.

Focus-aware scrolling: ScrollView is focusable by default and responds to scroll keys when focused (or when it contains the focused element). This prevents multiple ScrollViews from scrolling simultaneously — only the one with focus responds.

Set focusable={false} if you want the ScrollView to only scroll when a child element has focus:

<ScrollView focusable={false} style={{ flexGrow: 1 }}>
  <Input ... />  {/* ScrollView scrolls only when Input is focused */}
</ScrollView>

Virtualization: For large lists (1000+ items), add the virtualize prop to only render visible children. Heights are auto-measured — no configuration needed:

<ScrollView virtualize style={{ height: 20, border: "single" }}>
  {items.map((item) => (
    <Text key={item.id}>{item.name}</Text>
  ))}
</ScrollView>

This renders only visible items + a small overscan buffer, making it fast even with 10,000+ items. Use estimatedItemHeight prop if your items are taller than 1 line (default).

<List>

Keyboard-navigable selection list with a render callback.

<List
  count={items.length}
  onSelect={(index) => handleSelect(items[index])}
  disabledIndices={new Set([2, 5])}
  renderItem={({ index, selected, focused }) => (
    <Box style={selected && focused ? { bg: "cyan" } : {}}>
      <Text style={selected ? { bold: true } : {}}>
        {selected ? "> " : "  "}{items[index]}
      </Text>
    </Box>
  )}
/>

Focusable. Up/Down/j/k to navigate, G to jump to bottom, gg to jump to top, Enter to select. Disabled indices are skipped.

<Menu>

Styled menu built on <List>. Accepts structured items with labels, values, and disabled state.

<Menu
  items={[
    { label: "New File", value: "new" },
    { label: "Open File", value: "open" },
    { label: "Export", value: "export", disabled: true },
    { label: "Quit", value: "quit" },
  ]}
  onSelect={(value) => handleAction(value)}
  highlightColor="yellow"
/>

<Select>

Dropdown select with keyboard navigation and type-to-filter search.

const [lang, setLang] = useState<string | undefined>();

<Select
  items={[
    { label: "TypeScript", value: "ts" },
    { label: "JavaScript", value: "js" },
    { label: "Rust", value: "rust" },
    { label: "Go", value: "go" },
    { label: "COBOL", value: "cobol", disabled: true },
  ]}
  value={lang}
  onChange={setLang}
  placeholder="Pick a language..."
  maxVisible={6}
  highlightColor="yellow"
/>

Focusable. Enter/Space/Down to open, Up/Down to navigate, Enter to confirm, Escape to close. Type characters to filter items when open. Disabled items are skipped.

Props: items, value, onChange, placeholder, maxVisible, highlightColor, searchable, style, focusedStyle, dropdownStyle, disabled.

<FocusScope>

Focus trapping for modals and overlays.

<FocusScope trap>
  <Input value={v} onChange={setV} />
  <Button onPress={submit}>
    <Text>OK</Text>
  </Button>
</FocusScope>

<Portal>

Renders children in a fullscreen absolute overlay. Useful for modals and dialogs.

<Portal>
  <Box style={{ width: "100%", height: "100%", justifyContent: "center", alignItems: "center" }}>
    <Box style={{ width: 40, border: "double", bg: "black", padding: 1 }}>
      <Text>Modal content</Text>
    </Box>
  </Box>
</Portal>

<JumpNav>

Quick keyboard navigation to any focusable element. Press an activation key to show hint labels on all focusable elements, then type the hint to jump directly to that element. Similar to Vim's EasyMotion or browser extensions like Vimium.

function App() {
  return (
    <JumpNav activationKey="ctrl+o">
      <Box style={{ flexDirection: "column", gap: 1 }}>
        <Input placeholder="Name" />
        <Input placeholder="Email" />
        <Select items={countries} />
        <Button onPress={submit}>Submit</Button>
      </Box>
    </JumpNav>
  );
}

How it works:

1. Press Ctrl+O (or custom activationKey) to activate
2. Hint labels (a, s, d, f...) appear next to each focusable element
3. Type a hint to instantly focus that element
4. Press Escape to cancel

Props:

| Prop | Type | Default | Description | |------|------|---------|-------------| | activationKey | string | "ctrl+o" | Key to activate jump mode | | hintChars | string | "asdfghjkl..." | Characters used for hints | | hintBg | Color | "yellow" | Hint label background | | hintFg | Color | "black" | Hint label text color | | hintStyle | Style | {} | Additional hint label styling | | enabled | boolean | true | Enable/disable JumpNav |

Focus scope aware: JumpNav automatically respects <FocusScope trap>. When a modal with a focus trap is open, only elements inside that trap will show hints.

<Keybind>

Declarative keyboard shortcut. Renders nothing.

<Keybind keypress="ctrl+s" onPress={save} />
<Keybind keypress="escape" onPress={close} />
<Keybind keypress="q" onPress={() => exit()} />

Modifiers: ctrl, alt, shift, meta (Cmd/Super). Combine with +: "ctrl+shift+p", "alt+return".

Priority keybinds: Use priority prop to run BEFORE focused input handlers. Useful for keybinds that should work even when an Input is focused:

<Keybind keypress="ctrl+return" onPress={submit} priority />
<Keybind keypress="alt+return" onPress={submit} priority />

Terminal configuration: Some keybinds like ctrl+return require terminal support:

| Terminal | Configuration | |----------|---------------| | Ghostty | Add to ~/.config/ghostty/config: keybind = ctrl+enter=text:\x1b[13;5~ | | iTerm2 | Profiles → Keys → General → Enable "CSI u" mode | | Kitty/WezTerm | Works out of the box |

alt+return works universally without configuration.

<Progress>

Determinate or indeterminate progress bar. Uses useLayout to measure actual width and renders block characters.

<Progress value={0.65} showPercent />
<Progress indeterminate label="Loading" />

Props: value (0..1), indeterminate, width, label, showPercent, filled/empty (characters).

<Spinner>

Animated spinner with configurable frames. Cleans up timers on unmount.

<Spinner label="Loading..." style={{ color: "green" }} />
<Spinner frames={["|", "/", "-", "\\"]} intervalMs={100} />

<Image>

Display images in the terminal with inline rendering or OS preview. Supports local files and remote URLs.

<Image
  src="./photo.jpg"
  style={{ width: 40, height: 15 }}
  autoLoad
/>

<Image
  src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-123"
  style={{ flexGrow: 1 }}
/>

How it works:

1. By default, shows a placeholder with the image name
2. Focus the component and press Space to load
3. Image renders inline (Kitty/iTerm2 protocol) or opens OS preview (Quick Look on macOS)
4. Press Escape to return to placeholder, R to reload

Props:

| Prop | Type | Default | Description | |------|------|---------|-------------| | src | string | required | Local path or remote URL | | width | number | auto | Fixed width in cells | | height | number | auto | Fixed height in cells | | style | Style | {} | Container style (flexbox) | | focusedStyle | Style | {} | Style when focused | | inline | boolean | true | Allow inline terminal rendering | | autoLoad | boolean | false | Load automatically on mount | | focusable | boolean | true | Whether the component is focusable | | placeholder | string | filename | Custom placeholder text | | onStateChange | (state) => void | - | Called when state changes | | onError | (error) => void | - | Called on error | | autoSize | boolean | false | Auto-size box to fit image dimensions | | maxWidth | number | 80 | Max width in cells when autoSize is true | | maxHeight | number | 24 | Max height in cells when autoSize is true |

Terminal support:

• Inline rendering: Kitty, Ghostty, WezTerm, iTerm2 (via Kitty Graphics or iTerm2 protocol)
• OS preview fallback: Quick Look (macOS), xdg-open (Linux), start (Windows)

Remote images are automatically downloaded and cached. Supported formats: PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP.

// Inline disabled - always use OS preview
<Image src="./large-photo.jpg" inline={false} />

// Auto-size: box resizes to fit the image (instead of image fitting in box)
<Image 
  src="./photo.jpg" 
  autoSize 
  maxWidth={60} 
  maxHeight={20} 
/>

// With state callback
<Image
  src={imageUrl}
  onStateChange={(state) => {
    // "placeholder" | "loading" | "loaded" | "error" | "preview"
    console.log("Image state:", state);
  }}
/>

<ToastHost> + useToast()

Lightweight toast notifications rendered via Portal. Wrap your app in <ToastHost>, then push toasts from anywhere with useToast().

function App() {
  const toast = useToast();
  return <Keybind keypress="t" onPress={() =>
    toast({ message: "Saved!", variant: "success" })
  } />;
}

render(<ToastHost position="top-right"><App /></ToastHost>);

Variants: "info", "success", "warning", "error". Auto-dismiss after durationMs (default 3000).

<DialogHost> + useDialog()

Imperative alert() and confirm() dialogs, similar to browser APIs. Wrap your app in <DialogHost>, then show dialogs from anywhere.

function App() {
  const { alert, confirm } = useDialog();

  const handleDelete = async () => {
    const ok = await confirm("Delete this item?", {
      okText: "Delete",
      cancelText: "Keep"
    });
    if (ok) {
      // delete the item
    }
  };

  const handleSave = async () => {
    await saveData();
    await alert("Saved successfully!");
  };

  return <Button onPress={handleDelete}><Text>Delete</Text></Button>;
}

render(<DialogHost><App /></DialogHost>);

Rich content — pass React elements instead of strings:

await alert(
  <Box style={{ flexDirection: "column" }}>
    <Text style={{ bold: true, color: "green" }}>✓ Success!</Text>
    <Text>Your changes have been saved.</Text>
  </Box>,
  { okText: "Got it!" }
);

Keyboard: Tab/Shift+Tab or arrows to switch buttons, Enter/Space to select, Escape to cancel.

Chained dialogs work naturally with async/await — each dialog waits for the previous to close.

<Spacer>

Flexible space filler. Pushes siblings apart.

<Box style={{ flexDirection: "row" }}>
  <Text>Left</Text>
  <Spacer />
  <Text>Right</Text>
</Box>

Hooks

useInput(handler)

Listen for all keyboard events.

useInput((key) => {
  if (key.name === "escape") close();
  if (key.ctrl && key.name === "s") save();
});

useFocus(nodeRef)

Get focus state for a node.

const ref = useRef(null);
const { focused, focus } = useFocus(ref);

<Box ref={ref} focusable>
  <Text style={focused ? { color: "cyan" } : {}}>
    {focused ? "* focused *" : "not focused"}
  </Text>
</Box>

useFocusable(options)

Make any element focusable with full keyboard support. Perfect for building custom interactive components.

import { useFocusable, Box, Text } from "@semos-labs/glyph";

function CustomPicker({ items, onSelect }) {
  const [selected, setSelected] = useState(0);
  
  const { ref, isFocused } = useFocusable({
    onKeyPress: (key) => {
      if (key.name === "up") {
        setSelected(s => Math.max(0, s - 1));
        return true; // Consume the key
      }
      if (key.name === "down") {
        setSelected(s => Math.min(items.length - 1, s + 1));
        return true;
      }
      if (key.name === "return") {
        onSelect(items[selected]);
        return true;
      }
      return false; // Let other handlers process
    },
    onFocus: () => console.log("Picker focused"),
    onBlur: () => console.log("Picker blurred"),
    disabled: false, // Set to true to skip in tab order
  });

  return (
    <Box
      ref={ref}
      focusable
      style={{ 
        border: "round",
        borderColor: isFocused ? "cyan" : "gray",
        padding: 1,
      }}
    >
      {items.map((item, i) => (
        <Text key={i} style={{ inverse: i === selected }}>
          {i === selected ? "> " : "  "}{item}
        </Text>
      ))}
    </Box>
  );
}

Returns { ref, isFocused, focus, focusId }. The ref must be attached to an element with focusable prop.

useLayout(nodeRef)

Subscribe to a node's computed layout.

const ref = useRef(null);
const layout = useLayout(ref);

// layout: { x, y, width, height, innerX, innerY, innerWidth, innerHeight }

useApp()

Access app-level utilities.

const { exit, columns, rows } = useApp();

Styling

All components accept a style prop. Glyph uses Yoga for flexbox layout, so the model is familiar if you've used CSS flexbox or React Native.

Layout

| Property | Type | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | width, height | number \| "${n}%" | Dimensions | | minWidth, minHeight | number | Minimum dimensions | | maxWidth, maxHeight | number | Maximum dimensions | | padding | number | Padding on all sides | | paddingX, paddingY | number | Horizontal / vertical padding | | paddingTop, paddingRight, paddingBottom, paddingLeft | number | Individual sides | | gap | number | Gap between flex children |

Flexbox

| Property | Type | Default | |----------|------|---------| | flexDirection | "row" \| "column" | "column" | | flexWrap | "nowrap" \| "wrap" | "nowrap" | | justifyContent | "flex-start" \| "center" \| "flex-end" \| "space-between" \| "space-around" | "flex-start" | | alignItems | "flex-start" \| "center" \| "flex-end" \| "stretch" | "stretch" | | flexGrow | number | 0 | | flexShrink | number | 0 |

Positioning

| Property | Type | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | position | "relative" \| "absolute" | Positioning mode | | top, right, bottom, left | number \| "${n}%" | Offsets | | inset | number \| "${n}%" | Shorthand for all four edges | | zIndex | number | Stacking order |

Visual

| Property | Type | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | bg | Color | Background color | | border | "none" \| "single" \| "double" \| "round" \| "ascii" | Border style | | borderColor | Color | Border color | | clip | boolean | Clip overflowing children |

Text

| Property | Type | Description | |----------|------|-------------| | color | Color | Text color | | bold | boolean | Bold text | | dim | boolean | Dimmed text | | italic | boolean | Italic text | | underline | boolean | Underlined text | | wrap | "wrap" \| "truncate" \| "ellipsis" \| "none" | Text wrapping mode | | textAlign | "left" \| "center" \| "right" | Text alignment |

Colors

Colors can be specified as:

• Named: "red", "green", "blueBright", "whiteBright", etc.
• Hex: "#ff0000", "#1a1a2e"
• RGB: { r: 255, g: 0, b: 0 }
• 256-palette: 0–255

Text on colored backgrounds automatically picks black or white for contrast when no explicit color is set.

render(element, options?)

Mount a React element to the terminal.

const app = render(<App />, {
  stdout: process.stdout,
  stdin: process.stdin,
  debug: false,
  useNativeCursor: true, // Use terminal's native cursor (default: true)
});

app.unmount(); // Tear down
app.exit();    // Unmount and exit process

Options

| Option | Type | Default | Description | |--------|------|---------|-------------| | stdout | NodeJS.WriteStream | process.stdout | Output stream | | stdin | NodeJS.ReadStream | process.stdin | Input stream | | debug | boolean | false | Enable debug logging | | useNativeCursor | boolean | true | Use terminal's native cursor instead of simulated one |

Native Cursor

By default, Glyph uses the terminal's native cursor, which enables:

• Cursor shaders in terminals that support them (e.g., Ghostty)
• Custom cursor shapes (block, beam, underline) from terminal settings
• Cursor animations and blinking behavior

The native cursor is automatically shown when an input is focused and hidden otherwise.

To use the simulated cursor instead (inverted colors, no shader support):

render(<App />, { useNativeCursor: false });

Examples

Interactive examples are included in the repo. Each demonstrates different components and patterns:

| Example | Description | Source | |---------|-------------|--------| | basic-layout | Flexbox layout fundamentals | View → | | modal-input | Modal dialogs, input focus trapping | View → | | scrollview-demo | Scrollable content with keyboard navigation | View → | | list-demo | Keyboard-navigable lists | View → | | menu-demo | Styled menus with icons | View → | | select-demo | Dropdown select with search | View → | | forms-demo | Checkbox and Radio inputs | View → | | masked-input | Input masks (phone, credit card, SSN) | View → | | dialog-demo | Alert and Confirm dialogs | View → | | jump-nav | Quick navigation with keyboard hints | View → | | ansi-text | ANSI escape codes and colored output | View → | | image | Inline images and OS preview | View → | | virtualized-list | Virtualized ScrollView with 10k+ items | View → | | showcase | Progress bars, Spinners, Toasts | View → | | dashboard | Full task manager (all components) | View → |

Running Examples Locally

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/semos-labs/glyph.git && cd glyph
bun install && bun run build

# Run any example
bun run --filter <example-name> dev

# e.g.
bun run --filter dashboard dev
bun run --filter jump-nav dev

Who Uses Glyph

Using Glyph in your project? Let us know!

Architecture

src/
├── reconciler/    React reconciler (host config + GlyphNode tree)
├── layout/        Yoga-based flexbox + text measurement
├── paint/         Framebuffer, character diffing, borders, colors
├── runtime/       Terminal raw mode, key parsing, OSC handling
├── components/    Box, Text, Input, Button, ScrollView, List, Menu, ...
├── hooks/         useInput, useFocus, useLayout, useApp
└── render.ts      Entry point tying it all together

Render pipeline: React reconciler builds a GlyphNode tree → Yoga computes flexbox layout → painter rasterizes to a framebuffer → diff engine writes only changed cells to stdout.

License

MIT