Textual

Textual is a powerful and highly-regarded Terminal User Interface (TUI) framework for Python.

It is designed to help Python developers build rich, sophisticated, and interactive applications that run entirely in the terminal or command prompt, offering a modern, visually engaging experience that goes beyond simple command-line scripts.

Key Features of Textual

• Modern TUI Widgets: Textual provides a comprehensive set of pre-built, high-level widgets (UI components) that are common in graphical applications, but rendered beautifully in the terminal. These include:

  • Buttons

  • Labels

  • Input fields

  • Data tables

  • Lists and Trees

  • Scrollable views

• Built on Rich: Textual is built on top of the popular Rich library, which allows it to leverage Rich's capabilities for rendering color, formatting, tables, and complex layouts in the terminal.

• CSS for Styling: You can style Textual applications using a subset of CSS, making it easy to define the appearance and layout of your widgets and screens without complex, hardcoded rendering logic.

• Asynchronous Support: Textual is designed to be asynchronous, allowing applications to remain responsive while handling long-running tasks, networking, or user input simultaneously.

• Layout and Design: It supports robust layout management, including docks, horizontal/vertical splits, and adaptable sizing, enabling the creation of complex application screens (e.g., dashboard layouts, IDE-like interfaces).

• Focus Management: It handles widget focusing and keyboard navigation automatically, ensuring a smooth, accessible user experience.

What is Textual Used For?

Developers use Textual to create terminal applications such as:

• Dashboards and Monitoring Tools: Showing real-time data, logs, and system metrics.

• Configuration Editors: Building interactive interfaces for editing config files or settings.

• Development Tools: Creating interfaces for development tasks like debugging, testing, or project management.

• Games: Building interactive terminal-based games.

• Any Interactive CLI Tool: Replacing plain, text-heavy command-line interfaces with dynamic, structured user interfaces.

If you are a Python developer looking to build a professional, interactive application that runs without a web browser or traditional GUI, Textual is one of the leading choices.