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