Ink - React for CLIs

React for CLIs. Build and test your CLI output using components.

Ink provides the same component-based UI building experience that React offers in the browser, but for command-line apps. It uses Yoga for Flexbox layouts in the terminal.

Important: All text must be wrapped in a <Text> component.

Quick Example

import {render, Text, Box} from 'ink';

render(
	<Box borderStyle="round" padding={1}>
		<Text color="green">Hello World</Text>
	</Box>
);

Components

• •<Text> - Display text with styling (color, bold, italic, underline, etc.)
• •<Box> - Flexbox container for layouts
  • •Layout Properties - dimensions, flex, spacing, alignment
  • •Visual Properties - borders, colors, backgrounds
• •<Newline> - Insert newline characters
• •<Spacer> - Flexible space that expands to fill available space
• •<Static> - Permanently render output above everything else (for logs, completed tasks)
• •<Transform> - Transform string representation before output

Hooks

Interaction

• •useInput() - Handle keyboard input (arrow keys, enter, escape, etc.)
• •useFocus() - Make components focusable with Tab key
• •useFocusManager() - Programmatically manage focus

Lifecycle & Streams

• •useApp() - Exit the app programmatically
• •useStdin() - Access stdin stream and setRawMode
• •useStdout() - Access stdout stream and write output
• •useStderr() - Access stderr stream

Accessibility

• •useIsScreenReaderEnabled() - Detect if screen reader is active

API

• •render(tree, options?) - Mount and render your app
• •Instance Methods - rerender(), unmount(), waitUntilExit(), clear()
• •measureElement(ref) - Get width and height of a component

Guides

• •Accessibility & Screen Readers - ARIA support, screen reader integration
• •Testing - Test Ink components with ink-testing-library
• •React DevTools - Debug with React DevTools

Third-Party Components

See references/third-party.md for a comprehensive list of community components including:

• •Text inputs, spinners, select menus
• •Progress bars, tables, charts
• •Markdown rendering, syntax highlighting
• •And many more