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0 pointsdbish1mo ago0 comments

I’m relatively certain it’s just this at the end of the day. Everything I see people doing in their custom built TUIs or claude/codex CLI can be done, likely even easier, in a simplified IDE or easier to scan UI, but it feels nice/cool/cyberpunk/work-like to look like you’re doing more.

Everyone will have a “reasonable” explanation though for why they have to stay in the terminal even when they aren’t really coding anymore and it wouldn’t be hard to have a window next to your terminal if you really have to, but live and let live. Whatever makes you happy as be all become managers.

I too like a cyberpunk interface even if it’s last the need :)

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11 comments · 6 top-level

regexorcist1mo ago· 2 in thread

No it can never be the same. The terminal is about not having to switch from the keyboard. My entire workflow is tmux panes with different TUIs and terminals. Not to mention performance, with a neovim IDE you may have tens of them open in different panes for example. I wouldn't try that with VSCode.

logicprog1mo ago

You can make even lighter weight and just as keyboard driven GUIs. The only downside, as you say, is them not integrating with Tmux.

regexorcist1mo ago

Projects like opencode are making the distinction between GUI and TUI almost meaningless. And that "only" downside is a massive, deal-breaking one. At this point I only have a browser besides the terminal, and I can see that going away soon for the most part thanks to LLMs.

xiaoyu20061mo ago· 2 in thread

But GUIs are hard to built - mainly because of tech debts around all three major platforms. But nontheless displaying graphics is harder than outputting control chars.

PunchyHamster1mo ago

You could whip up decently usable UI in Delphi far quicker than similar one in any TUI framework.

The problem is that world went away from that and into HTML/CSS/JS/DOM mess that makes simple UI things hard and complex UI things slow and/or hard, on top of the bloat.

smackeyacky1mo ago

This is a recent development.

VB6 could have you roll a GUI interface in minutes, so even trivial tasks could have a GUI.

The tools for CDE on Unices were arguably even better but CDE never really got any momentum.

That it’s tough to put together a GUI now is definitely a regression and Microsoft shooting themselves in the feet regularly over the last 25 years is squarely to blame.

mr_mitm1mo ago· 1 in thread

TUIs already increased in popularity before agents became a thing. The low latency, the ease of remoting and the limited screen real estate which forces the developer to carefully design the interface are genuine advantages. I've been using mutt, vim, tig, tmux, newsboat, etc for over a decade at this point, and the cyberpunk feeling faded quickly.

setr1mo ago

The low latency and instant startup is by far the primary value add imo. Nothing else comes close.

The inherent lack of UI bloat is an added bonus.

allthetime1mo ago

It is much easier to quickly generate a usable tui for simple monitoring and management than a usable gui. Go + lipgloss + bubble tea and a single prompt will give you whatever you need in a minute or two - much faster to compile and no platform specific issues. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I do a lot of work in the terminal still and I’d much rather stay in that context then open up yet another window

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ghusto1mo ago

It isn't, at least for me. I choose between GUI and terminal apps based on which one is easies. Sometimes the "easy" option really isn't easy at all.

james_marks1mo ago

Hot take: TUI’s default to providing utility, GUI’s are prone to extra style/bloat.

Obviously both are capable of the other.

The vanilla HTML styles look bare, so you have do _something_. TUI’s look sort of cool in their simplest form.

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