A3S TUI

TEA (The Elm Architecture) framework for terminal user interfaces

A3S TUI is a Rust library for building terminal applications using The Elm Architecture pattern. It combines declarative UI with Flexbox layout, incremental rendering, and a rich component library.

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Why

Most terminal UI libraries force you to manage state, layout, and rendering manually. A3S TUI brings modern UI patterns to the terminal:

• TEA Architecture — predictable state management with Model-Update-View
• Declarative UI — describe what you want, not how to draw it
• Flexbox Layout — CSS-like layout powered by Taffy
• Incremental Rendering — only redraw what changed
• Rich Components — 16 ready-to-use components (tables, modals, text editors, etc.)

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Quick Start

Add to Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
a3s-tui = "0.1"
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }

Create a counter app:

use a3s_tui::{cmd, col, text, Element, ElementModel, ElementProgramBuilder};
use a3s_tui::{Event, KeyCode, TextElement};
use a3s_tui::style::Color;

struct Counter { count: i64 }

enum Msg {
    Increment,
    Decrement,
    Quit,
}

impl From<Event> for Msg {
    fn from(event: Event) -> Self {
        match event {
            Event::Key(key) if key.code == KeyCode::Up => Msg::Increment,
            Event::Key(key) if key.code == KeyCode::Down => Msg::Decrement,
            Event::Key(key) if key.code == KeyCode::Char('q') => Msg::Quit,
            _ => Msg::Increment, // fallback
        }
    }
}

impl ElementModel for Counter {
    type Msg = Msg;

    fn update(&mut self, msg: Msg) -> Option<cmd::Cmd<Msg>> {
        match msg {
            Msg::Increment => { self.count += 1; None }
            Msg::Decrement => { self.count -= 1; None }
            Msg::Quit => Some(cmd::quit()),
        }
    }

    fn view(&self) -> Element<Msg> {
        col![
            text!(""),
            Element::Text(
                TextElement::new(format!("Counter: {}", self.count))
                    .bold()
                    .fg(Color::Cyan)
            ),
            text!(""),
            text!("Up/Down to change | q to quit").dim(),
        ]
    }
}

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> std::io::Result<()> {
    ElementProgramBuilder::new(Counter { count: 0 })
        .with_alt_screen()
        .with_fps(30)
        .run()
        .await
}

Run with cargo run --example counter_element.

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Features

Architecture

• TEA Pattern — Model-Update-View cycle with immutable state
• Element Tree — Virtual DOM-like tree structure for declarative UI
• Taffy Flexbox — CSS Flexbox layout engine (flex-direction, gap, padding, align-items, justify-content)
• Incremental Rendering — Line-diff algorithm minimizes terminal redraws
• Async Runtime — Non-blocking event loop powered by Tokio

Components

Component	Description
Alert	Colored alerts (Success/Info/Warning/Error)
Badge	Inline status badges
Divider	Horizontal/vertical separators
List	Scrollable list with selection
MultiSelect	Multi-selection list with checkboxes
Select	Single-selection dropdown
Table	Data table with headers
Tabs	Tab navigation
TextInput	Single-line text input
Textarea	Multi-line text editor with scrolling
Viewport	Scrollable content container
Modal	Overlay dialog
StatusBar	Bottom status bar
Progress	Progress bar
Spinner	Loading animation

Layout & Styling

• Flexbox Layout — FlexDirection, AlignItems, JustifyContent
• Dimensions — Auto, Points(f32), Percent(f32)
• Spacing — padding, margin, gap
• Borders — Single, Double, Rounded, Thick
• Colors — 16 ANSI colors + RGB support
• Text Styles — bold, italic, underline, dim, strikethrough

Advanced Features

• Markdown Rendering — Full CommonMark support with syntax highlighting (via syntect)
• Streaming Content — Real-time text streaming (perfect for LLM outputs)
• Keymap System — Vim-like key bindings
• Focus Management — Tab navigation between components
• Mouse Support — Click and scroll events (coming soon)

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Examples

Component Demo

use a3s_tui::components::{Alert, AlertKind, Badge, Table, Tabs};
use a3s_tui::{col, ElementModel, ElementProgramBuilder};

struct Demo {
    tabs: Tabs,
}

impl ElementModel for Demo {
    type Msg = Msg;

    fn view(&self) -> Element<Msg> {
        col![
            self.tabs.element(),
            Alert::new(AlertKind::Success, "All systems operational.").element(),
            Badge::new("v0.1.0").color(Color::Green).element(),
            Table::new(vec!["Name", "Status"])
                .row(vec!["Server", "Online"])
                .element(),
        ]
    }
}

Run cargo run --example demo to see all components in action.

Chat Application

See examples/chat.rs for a complete chat UI with:

• Markdown rendering with syntax highlighting
• Streaming text output
• Modal dialogs
• Scrollable viewport
• Custom keybindings

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Architecture

TEA Flow

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  User Input (keyboard, resize, etc.)    │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────┘
                   │
                   ▼
         ┌─────────────────┐
         │  Event → Msg    │
         └────────┬────────┘
                  │
                  ▼
         ┌─────────────────┐
         │  update(msg)    │  ← Modify state
         └────────┬────────┘
                  │
                  ▼
         ┌─────────────────┐
         │  view()         │  ← Build Element tree
         └────────┬────────┘
                  │
                  ▼
         ┌─────────────────┐
         │  Layout Engine  │  ← Taffy Flexbox
         └────────┬────────┘
                  │
                  ▼
         ┌─────────────────┐
         │  Renderer       │  ← Paint to grid
         └────────┬────────┘
                  │
                  ▼
         ┌─────────────────┐
         │  Terminal       │  ← Crossterm output
         └─────────────────┘

Element Tree

Elements are the building blocks of your UI:

pub enum Element<Msg> {
    Box(BoxElement<Msg>),      // Container with Flexbox layout
    Text(TextElement),          // Styled text
    Spacer,                     // Flexible space
}

Use macros for concise syntax:

col![                          // Vertical column
    text!("Header").bold(),
    row![                      // Horizontal row
        text!("Left"),
        Element::Spacer,       // Push to edges
        text!("Right"),
    ],
]

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API Reference

Core Traits

ElementModel

pub trait ElementModel: Sized + 'static {
    type Msg: From<Event> + 'static;

    fn update(&mut self, msg: Self::Msg) -> Option<Cmd<Self::Msg>>;
    fn view(&self) -> Element<Self::Msg>;
}

Builders

ElementProgramBuilder

ElementProgramBuilder::new(model)
    .with_alt_screen()         // Use alternate screen buffer
    .with_fps(30)              // Target frame rate
    .with_mouse(true)          // Enable mouse events
    .run()
    .await

Macros

• col![...] — Vertical column (FlexDirection::Column)
• row![...] — Horizontal row (FlexDirection::Row)
• text!("...") — Text element shorthand
• spacer!() — Flexible spacer

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Comparison

Feature	a3s-tui	ratatui	cursive
Architecture	TEA	Immediate mode	Object-oriented
Layout	Flexbox (Taffy)	Constraints	Linear
Rendering	Incremental	Full redraw	Incremental
Async	Native (Tokio)	Manual	Callbacks
Markdown	Built-in	External	External
Components	16 built-in	DIY	10+ built-in

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Roadmap

• TEA architecture
• Element tree + Flexbox layout
• 16 core components
• Markdown rendering
• Streaming content
• Keymap system
• Mouse event support
• Grid layout
• Animation system
• Theme system
• Performance benchmarks
• Comprehensive test suite

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Follow Microsoft Rust Guidelines
2. Run cargo fmt and cargo clippy before committing
3. Add tests for new features
4. Update documentation

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License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

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Acknowledgments

• Taffy — Flexbox layout engine
• Crossterm — Terminal manipulation
• Ink — React-like TUI framework (inspiration)
• Elm — The Elm Architecture pattern