dev-null-tty

A keyboard-first terminal client for /dev/null, built with Textual and managed with uv.

The Following, Latest, and Trending journals load real commits from the signed /api/v1/log/{log} endpoint after sign-in. Each journal supports automatic cursor-based infinite scrolling and commit search. Guest users can view the profile and sign in; journals require an approved device. Signed-in users can browse a cursor-paginated notifications inbox, publish commits, reply to a commit, or quote it. Opening the notifications inbox marks notifications read on /dev/null. Click detected HTTP(S) links with the mouse to open them in your default browser. The modal composer shows the original commit above the editor for replies and quotes, and submits through the signed POST /api/v1/commits endpoint. Press Ctrl+P to submit. Press Ctrl+Q or Escape to close the composer. Press Enter on a selected journal entry to open its full commit and replies. Use j / k to navigate replies, Enter to follow a reply into its own thread, u to move to the parent comment, and q or Escape to return to the previous screen. Commit details show the ancestor and parent-comment context in a scrollable pane on the left, and the comment being replied to above its replies on the right. Press Ctrl+J / Ctrl+K or use the mouse wheel to scroll the ancestor history. Press Ctrl+R to reply to the thread's main commit or selected comment. Scroll the replies list to load older replies.

The profile's Sign in with GitHub action starts the documented PKCE device authorization flow. To preserve existing sign-ins, the app keeps its dedicated Ed25519 keypair under ~/.dev-null-tui/ (directory mode 0700, private key mode 0600, no passphrase). It opens the authorization page and, after approval, signs POST /api/v1/devices with the devnull-api namespace. The verifier and state remain in memory. The private key stays on the device and is never included in API requests.

Before opening the authorization page, the app registers its per-user XDG desktop handler for devnull:// (no sudo). After approval, the handler queues the callback for the running TUI, which checks the state before redeeming the one-time code. Pasting the full devnull://auth/callback?... URL remains available if callback handling is unavailable.

The device key stays in ~/.dev-null-tui/. On each launch, the app checks that key with a signed GET /api/v1/me and restores the profile when the device is still approved. A revoked or unapproved key is retained, but the app remains signed out so you can authorize a device again.

Log out removes the local private and public key files and clears the in-memory session; callback handoff data and the callback-handler registration are left untouched. This API does not expose a device-revocation endpoint, so use Settings → Devices to revoke the device's server-side approval too.

The handler can also be registered manually from the command line:

uv run dev-null-tty --register-handler

This registers a per-user XDG desktop entry for devnull:// (no sudo). The handler queues the callback in ~/.dev-null-tui/ with owner-only permissions; the running TUI validates its state and removes the handoff file. Manual paste remains available if registration is unavailable.

Run

uv run dev-null-tty

Keyboard shortcuts:

• h / l — Previous / next journal
• r — Refresh the active journal
• n — Open notifications
• j / k — Next / previous commit or notification
• Enter — Open the selected commit/notification or follow a selected reply
• Ctrl+J / Ctrl+K — Scroll commit thread history
• Ctrl+R — Reply to the thread's main commit or selected comment
• u — Move up to the parent comment in a thread
• q (commit thread) — Return to the previous screen
• Escape — Return to the previous screen
• Shift+C — New commit
• Shift+Q — Quote selected commit
• Shift+R — Reply to selected commit
• Ctrl+P — Submit the commit, reply, or quote
• q — Quit

Journal navigation wraps between Latest, Following, and Trending. Loaded journals remain visible when you switch away; a cached journal refreshes after you leave it selected for two seconds.

Test

uv run pytest

Release

Configure a PyPI trusted publisher for this GitHub repository using the .github/workflows/publish.yml workflow and the pypi environment. Update the version in pyproject.toml (and refresh uv.lock), then push a matching version tag, for example:

git tag v0.2.0
git push origin v0.2.0

The workflow checks that the tag matches the project version, runs the tests, builds the wheel and source distribution, and publishes them to PyPI using OpenID Connect. No PyPI API token is required.

The upstream project is nunomaduro/dev-null.sh.