SvelTUI

A true Svelte 5 renderer for terminal user interfaces, inspired by Ink for React.

Overview

SvelTUI allows you to build beautiful terminal user interfaces using Svelte 5 components. Unlike wrapper libraries, SvelTUI implements a custom Svelte compiler plugin that renders Svelte components directly to the terminal, bringing the full power of Svelte to terminal applications.

Why SvelTUI?

• Direct Svelte 5 Integration - Uses Svelte 5's mount/unmount APIs for true integration
• Write Regular Svelte - Use standard Svelte 5 components with familiar syntax and runes
• Reactive Terminal UIs - Svelte 5's reactivity system makes terminal UIs dynamic
• Efficient Updates - Batched operations and reconciliation for minimal terminal redraws
• Complete Feature Support - Full Svelte 5 feature set including state, effects, and lifecycle
• TypeScript Support - Fully typed for better development experience

Installation

# Install dependencies
bun install

# Run the example application
bun run example

Features

• Write Once, Render Anywhere - Same components work in browser and terminal
• Full Svelte 5 Support - Complete Svelte 5 feature set in the terminal
• Custom Components - Create your own terminal UI components with Svelte
• Reactive Updates - Efficient reactivity in the terminal
• Layout Engine - Flexbox-like layout in the terminal with Yoga integration
• Keyboard & Mouse Navigation - Built-in event handling support
• Theming System - Comprehensive theming capabilities
• Focus Management - Intelligent focus handling for interactive components
• Bidirectional DOM Binding - Clean DOM-to-terminal element binding

Basic Usage

<!-- App.svelte -->
<script>
  // Svelte 5 runes for reactivity
  let count = $state(0);
  let items = $state(["Item 1", "Item 2", "Item 3"]);
  let selected = $state(0);

  // Reactivity with $derived
  $derived selectedItem = items[selected];
  $derived hasItems = items.length > 0;

  function increment() {
    count++;
  }

  function handleSelect(event) {
    selected = event.detail.index;
  }
  
  // Effects for side effects
  $effect(() => {
    console.log(`Selection changed: ${selectedItem}`);
  });
</script>

<box border label="SvelTUI Demo">
  <text>Count: {count}</text>
  <button on:press={increment}>Increment</button>
  
  <list 
    items={items}
    selected={selected}
    on:select={handleSelect}
  />
  
  <text>Selected: {selectedItem}</text>
</box>

// main.ts
import { render } from 'sveltui';
import App from './App.svelte';

render(App, {
  // Optional configuration
  title: 'My Terminal App',
  fullscreen: true,
  debug: false,
  theme: 'dark'
});

Architecture

SvelTUI implements a custom Svelte 5 renderer for the terminal, with direct integration via Svelte 5's mount/unmount APIs.

The architecture consists of:

1. Custom Compiler Plugin - Transforms Svelte components for terminal rendering
2. Terminal Renderer - Renders components to the terminal using Svelte 5's mount/unmount APIs
3. Virtual Terminal DOM - Maintains a virtual representation of the terminal UI with bidirectional binding
4. Reconciler - Efficiently batch-processes updates to the terminal
5. Layout Engine - Calculates component positions and dimensions with Yoga support
6. Runtime DOM Connector - Bridges Svelte 5's runtime to our terminal DOM

For more details, see the Architecture Documentation.

Component Implementation

SvelTUI components are built using Svelte 5's component model and runes system:

<script>
  // Import theme
  import { getTheme } from '../theme/currentTheme.svelte';
  
  // Props with defaults
  let {
    value = '',
    width = 20,
    height = 1,
    border = true,
  } = $props();
  
  // Local state
  let focused = $state(false);
  
  // Get theme
  const theme = getTheme();
  
  // Event handlers
  function handleFocus() {
    focused = true;
  }
  
  function handleBlur() {
    focused = false;
  }
</script>

<input
  value={value}
  width={width}
  height={height}
  border={border}
  style={{
    bg: focused ? theme.colors.focusBg : theme.colors.bg,
    fg: theme.colors.fg,
    border: {
      fg: focused ? theme.colors.focusBorder : theme.colors.border
    }
  }}
  on:focus={handleFocus}
  on:blur={handleBlur}
/>

For more details, see the Component Implementation Strategy.

Built-in Components

SvelTUI includes a set of built-in components for common terminal UI elements:

Theming

SvelTUI supports a flexible theming system:

// Apply a theme
import { setTheme } from 'sveltui';
setTheme('dark');

// Use theme in components
import { getTheme } from 'sveltui';
const theme = getTheme();

<text style={{ fg: theme.colors.primary }}>Themed Text</text>

Development

SvelTUI is under active development. Contributions are welcome!

# Run development server
bun run dev

# Build the library
bun run build

# Run tests
bun run test

Roadmap

• Complete Yoga layout engine integration
• Enhanced animation and transition system
• More built-in UI components
• State persistence
• Improved testing infrastructure
• Interactive component inspector
• Performance optimizations
• Accessibility enhancements

License

MIT © RLabs Inc.