| name | tui-best-practices |
| description | Designing terminal user interfaces |
TUI Best Practices
Use this skill when:
- Designing terminal user interfaces
- Creating accessible TUIs
- Optimizing TUI performance
- Implementing keyboard navigation
- Building cross-platform TUIs
Keyboard Shortcuts
Use consistent, discoverable shortcuts:
Standard Conventions:
- q / Ctrl+C: Quit
- h/j/k/l or arrows: Navigate
- Enter: Select/Confirm
- Esc: Cancel/Back
- /: Search
- ?: Help
- Tab: Next field
- Shift+Tab: Previous field
Layout Design
Principles:
- Clear visual hierarchy
- Consistent spacing
- Meaningful borders
- Status information visible
- Help text always available
Performance
Optimization:
- Limit redraws (only when state changes)
- Use double buffering
- Batch terminal updates
- Cache rendered content
- Throttle high-frequency events
Accessibility
Guidelines:
- Support screen readers
- High contrast colors
- Keyboard-only navigation
- Clear focus indicators
- Avoid color-only information
Error Handling
Best Practices:
- Show errors inline
- Provide actionable messages
- Don't crash on terminal resize
- Handle missing terminal features
- Graceful degradation
Related Skills
- bubbletea-architecture.md - Go TUI patterns
- ratatui-architecture.md - Rust TUI patterns