pycascadeui 3.1.0

Redux-inspired UI framework for discord.py

Build predictable, state-driven interfaces with discord.py.
A flexible, Redux-inspired UI framework that introduces centralized state, access control, lifecycle control, and predictable data flow to Discord applications.

Read the Docs

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Why CascadeUI

Interactive Discord UIs become difficult to manage as they grow. State accumulates across View subclass attributes, components stop responding after bot restarts, multi-step forms lose data between pages, and sharing data between views requires manual message.edit() plumbing in every callback.

CascadeUI introduces structure built on a Redux-inspired core:

• Centralized state instead of scattered view attributes, so every view reads from a single source of truth and stays in sync automatically.
• Predictable updates through dispatched actions, with one way to change state and one way to read it. No callback spaghetti.
• Clear separation between logic and presentation. Reducers handle data, views render it, and neither knows about the other.
• Reusable UI patterns instead of one-off implementations. Menus, pagination, forms, wizards, tabs, and persistent panels are first-class library primitives.
• Built-in interaction control for ownership, instance limits, and navigation. Restrict who can click what, cap how many concurrent instances a user or guild can hold, and push, pop, or replace views without tracking message history by hand.
• Persistence, undo/redo, and lifecycle handling without the boilerplate. Components survive bot restarts, state history is one method call away, and session cleanup happens automatically.

The pattern scales from simple panels to full application-style interfaces.

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Architecture

CascadeUI follows a unidirectional data flow model:

User interaction -> dispatch(action)
  -> middleware
  -> reducer (state update)
  -> subscribers notified
  -> views re-render

All state lives in a single store. Actions describe what happened. Reducers define how state changes. Views subscribe to relevant state and update automatically.

Coming from Redux or React?

CascadeUI ports Redux's mental model onto Discord. Most core primitives have a closest analogue in frameworks you already know:

CascadeUI	Closest Redux / React analogue
StateStore	Redux store
@cascade_reducer	Redux reducer
@computed	Reselect / useMemo
build_ui()	React component render()
on_state_changed	componentDidUpdate + auto re-render
push() / pop() / replace()	React Router navigation
Middleware chain	applyMiddleware
PersistenceMiddleware	redux-persist (opt-in per slot)

Full treatment: guide/concepts.md walks through each mapping in depth, including where the two diverge - middleware is async, state persists across bot restarts (Discord messages outlive your code), and Discord's platform layer (ephemeral 15-minute wall, webhook tokens, rate limits) has no React/Redux equivalent.

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When to Use

Every discord.py view requires access control, session cleanup, and interaction safety. CascadeUI handles all of that out of the box with class-level declarations - no boilerplate, no manual checks.

Even a single-view panel benefits from owner_only = True and instance_limit = 1. As your interface grows, the same framework scales to:

• Shared state across multiple views via StateStore
• Real data and message persistence via PersistenceMiddleware
• Cross-view reactivity with dispatch() and subscribed_actions
• Multi-step flows and validation via WizardLayoutView and FormLayoutView
• Navigation stacks (push() / pop() / replace()), session policies, and participant_limit
• Grid-based game boards with emoji_grid() and button_grid()

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Getting Started

pip install pycascadeui

Optional dependencies:

pip install pycascadeui[sqlite]

Requirements:

• Python 3.10+
• discord.py 2.7+

Hello World

A minimal CascadeUI view: per-user counter with ownership, instance replacement, and state-driven rebuilds - in about 20 lines.

import discord
from discord.ui import ActionRow
from cascadeui import StatefulButton, StatefulLayoutView, card

class CounterView(StatefulLayoutView):
    # Class-level policy -- ownership and instance control in three lines.
    owner_only = True              # Only the opener can click
    instance_limit = 1             # One live counter per user
    instance_policy = "replace"    # Second open replaces the first

    # Reactivity -- build_ui() re-runs whenever scoped state changes.
    subscribed_actions = {"SCOPED_UPDATE"}
    state_scope = "user"

    def build_ui(self):
        self.clear_items()
        count = self.scoped_state.get("count", 0)
        self.add_item(card(f"Count: **{count}**"))
        self.add_item(ActionRow(StatefulButton(
            label="+1",
            style=discord.ButtonStyle.primary,
            callback=self._increment,
        )))

    async def _increment(self, interaction):
        count = self.scoped_state.get("count", 0)
        await self.dispatch_scoped({"count": count + 1})

# In a cog command:
#   view = CounterView(context=ctx)
#   await view.send()

See the Quickstart for the detailed walkthrough and examples/v2_hello_world.py for the full runnable cog.

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Feature Showcase

Cross-View Reactivity

Dispatch actions from any view and update all subscribers instantly across the interface.

# Any view can dispatch a named action.
await self.dispatch("SETTINGS_UPDATED", {"theme": "dark"})

# Any other open view that subscribes wakes up automatically --
# no manual message.edit(), no cross-view wiring.
class NotificationPanel(StatefulLayoutView):
    subscribed_actions = {"SETTINGS_UPDATED"}
    # build_ui() re-runs whenever SETTINGS_UPDATED fires anywhere.

---

Dynamic Rendering

Define build_ui() once. The library calls it on every relevant state change and ships the edit for you. No on_state_changed() override, no manual refresh(), no message.edit() plumbing.

class SettingsHub(StatefulLayoutView):
    state_scope = "user"
    subscribed_actions = {"SETTINGS_UPDATED"}

    def build_ui(self):
        self.clear_items()
        settings = self.user_scoped_state()
        self.add_item(card(
            "## Settings",
            key_value({
                "Theme": settings.get("theme", "default").title(),
                "Notifications": "On" if settings.get("notify") else "Off",
            }),
        ))

# build_ui() is called automatically on state changes --
# no manual refresh() or on_state_changed() override needed.

---

Navigation and Flow

Push, pop, and replace views on a shared navigation stack. MenuLayoutView handles the wiring for category-based hubs -- declare your categories and target views, the pattern generates the push callbacks and action_section() items automatically.

from cascadeui import MenuLayoutView

class SettingsMenu(MenuLayoutView):
    instance_limit = 1
    instance_scope = "user_guild"
    instance_policy = "replace"

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        categories = [
            {"label": "Appearance", "emoji": "\N{ARTIST PALETTE}",
             "description": "Theme and accent colors", "view": AppearanceView},
            {"label": "Notifications", "emoji": "\N{BELL}",
             "description": "Alert preferences", "view": NotificationsView},
            {"label": "Locale", "emoji": "\N{GLOBE WITH MERIDIANS}",
             "description": "Language and timezone", "view": LocaleView},
        ]
        super().__init__(*args, categories=categories, **kwargs)

---

Ownership Control

Views are owner-only by default - only the user who opened it can interact. For multi-user scenarios, allowed_users and participant_limit extend that control.

class BattleshipView(StatefulLayoutView):
    unauthorized_message = "You're not part of this game."
    instance_limit = 1
    instance_policy = "reject"
    participant_limit = 2
    auto_register_participants = True

    def __init__(self, *args, opponent_id: int, **kwargs):
        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.allowed_users = {self.user_id, opponent_id}

---

Lifecycle Control

Control active sessions per user, guild, or globally with automatic cleanup, replacement policies, and view-capacity caps.

class DashboardView(TabLayoutView):
    instance_limit = 1               # Only one open at a time
    instance_scope = "user_guild"    # Per user per guild
    instance_policy = "replace"      # Exit the old one, open the new one


class GameView(StatefulLayoutView):
    participant_limit = 8           # Owner + 7 joiners maximum
    auto_register_participants = True  # Claim slots from allowed_users on send()

---

Persistence and Continuity

Persist views and state across restarts with automatic restoration.

from cascadeui import PersistenceMiddleware, SQLiteBackend, setup_middleware

# Install PersistenceMiddleware once in your bot's setup_hook:
async def setup_hook(self):
    await setup_middleware(
        PersistenceMiddleware(backend=SQLiteBackend("cascadeui.db"), bot=self),
    )

Declare persistent_slots on any view that should carry application state to disk. The rest stays volatile:

class BattleshipView(StatefulLayoutView):
    scoped_slot = "battleship_stats"       # per-subsystem bucket
    persistent_slots = ("battleship_stats",)  # opt this slot into persistence

---

State History (Undo/Redo)

Snapshot-based state history per session with built-in undo and redo support.

class SettingsHub(StatefulLayoutView):
    enable_undo = True   # Every dispatch captures a snapshot

    async def _undo(self, interaction):
        await self.undo()   # Restore previous snapshot

    async def _redo(self, interaction):
        await self.redo()   # Reapply the reverted snapshot

---

Ephemeral Refresh

Discord ephemeral messages become uneditable after 15 minutes. CascadeUI handles the token handoff automatically.

class FleetView(StatefulLayoutView):
    timeout = 3600                       # Handoff auto-engages for timeout > 900s
    refresh_button_label = "Refresh"     # Default: "Continue Session"

---

Developer Tools

Inspect live state, session activity, and performance timings without leaving your Discord client.

from cascadeui import DevToolsCog

# In your bot's setup_hook:
await bot.add_cog(DevToolsCog(bot))

---

View Patterns

Category Menu

Category-based navigation hubs with automatic drill-down, themed cards, and declarative per-category styling.

from cascadeui import MenuLayoutView, card, key_value

class ConfigHub(MenuLayoutView):
    menu_style = discord.ButtonStyle.primary
    auto_exit_button = True

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        categories = [
            {"label": "General", "emoji": "\u2699\ufe0f",
             "description": "Core settings", "view": GeneralView},
            {"label": "Moderation", "emoji": "\U0001f6e1\ufe0f",
             "description": "AutoMod and logging", "view": ModerationView},
        ]
        super().__init__(*args, categories=categories, **kwargs)

    def _build_header(self):
        return [card("## Server Config", key_value(self._summary()))]

---

Tabbed Dashboard

Structured, multi-section interfaces with tab-based navigation and composable layouts.

---

Dynamic Pagination

Generate paginated interfaces from raw data with built-in navigation and formatting helpers.

import discord
from cascadeui import PaginatedLayoutView, card, divider

def format_page(items):
    lines = [f"**{item['name']}** | {item['rarity']} | {item['value']}g" for item in items]
    return [card(
        "## Inventory",
        divider(),
        "\n".join(lines),
        color=discord.Color.blue(),
    )]

view = await PaginatedLayoutView.from_data(
    items=all_items,
    per_page=4,
    formatter=format_page,
    context=ctx,
)
await view.send()

---

Leaderboards

Paginated ranked displays with cross-page numbering, optional summary stats, and a persistent variant for admin-posted panels that refresh on live data without a bot restart.

from cascadeui import LeaderboardLayoutView, PersistentLeaderboardLayoutView, get_store

class BattleshipLeaderboard(LeaderboardLayoutView):
    leaderboard_top_n = 25
    leaderboard_per_page = 10
    title = "Battleship Rankings"

    def format_stats(self, user_id, stats):
        wins = stats.get("wins", 0)
        games = stats.get("games", 0)
        return f"**{wins}W** / {games - wins}L"

    def build_summary(self, entries):
        # Each game contributes to two player rows, so halve for unique games.
        unique_games = sum(s.get("games", 0) for _, s in entries) // 2
        return {"Players": str(len(entries)), "Games Played": str(unique_games)}


# One-shot usage: fetch live entries and pass them in.
entries = get_store().computed["battleship_leaderboards"].get(guild_id, [])
view = BattleshipLeaderboard(context=ctx, entries=entries)
await view.send()


# Persistent variant -- admin-posted panel that survives bot restarts
# and re-fetches live data on every restore.
class PersistentBoard(PersistentLeaderboardLayoutView):
    persistence_key = "battleship-leaderboard-main"

---

Forms and Validation

Define structured input flows with declarative fields, native text inputs, and per-field validation.

from cascadeui import FormLayoutView, min_length, regex

class RegistrationForm(FormLayoutView):
    instance_limit = 1
    instance_policy = "reject"
    exit_policy = "delete"

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        fields = [
            {
                "id": "username", "label": "Username", "type": "text",
                "required": True, "min_length": 3, "max_length": 20,
                "validators": [
                    min_length(3),
                    regex(r"^[a-zA-Z0-9_]+$", "Alphanumeric and underscores only"),
                ],
            },
            {
                "id": "role", "label": "Role", "type": "select",
                "required": True,
                "options": [
                    {"label": "Developer", "value": "dev"},
                    {"label": "Designer", "value": "design"},
                ],
            },
        ]
        super().__init__(*args, title="Registration", fields=fields, **kwargs)

    async def on_submit(self, interaction, values):
        await self.respond(
            interaction, f"Welcome, {values['username']}!", ephemeral=True,
        )
        await self.exit()

---

Multi-Step Wizard

Multi-step flows with back/next/finish navigation, per-step builders and validators, and fully customizable button styling.

from cascadeui import WizardLayoutView

class CharacterCreator(WizardLayoutView):
    instance_limit = 1
    instance_policy = "replace"
    exit_policy = "delete"

    back_button_label = "Previous"
    next_button_label = "Continue"
    finish_button_label = "Create Character"
    finish_button_style = discord.ButtonStyle.success

    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        steps = [
            {"name": "Identity", "builder": self.build_identity},
            {"name": "Class",    "builder": self.build_class},
            {"name": "Stats",    "builder": self.build_stats},
            {"name": "Review",   "builder": self.build_review},
        ]
        super().__init__(*args, steps=steps, **kwargs)

---

Emoji Grid

Text-rendered grids with optional axis labels and a mutation API. Plugs directly into card() and Container.

from cascadeui import emoji_grid, card

grid = emoji_grid(4, 4, fill="\u2b1c", col_labels="numeric")
grid.fill_rect((1, 0), (1, 3), "\U0001f7e6")
grid[(2, 2)] = "\u2764\ufe0f"

view.add_item(card(grid))

Button Grid

Interactive cell grids packed into ActionRow components. Discord's 5x5 limit is enforced automatically.

from cascadeui import button_grid, StatefulButton

rows = button_grid(3, 3, lambda r, c: StatefulButton(
    label=f"{chr(65 + r)}{c + 1}",
    style=discord.ButtonStyle.secondary,
    callback=on_cell_click,
))
for row in rows:
    view.add_item(row)

---

Features

For full details, see the official documentation.

State

• Centralized store with dispatch and reducer cycle
• Custom reducers via @cascade_reducer with automatic deep copy and collision guards
• Action batching with nested-batch collapse and a single notification per commit
• @computed values with selector-based cache invalidation (≈ Reselect / useMemo)
• Selector-based subscriptions for targeted re-renders
• Scoped state family: get_scoped(), set_scoped(), merge_scoped(), iter_scoped()
• Slot helpers: access_slot(), read_slot(), slot_property
• Middleware pipeline for logging, persistence, and transformation (Redux-style, async)
• Event hooks for lifecycle observation
• Cross-view reactivity: dispatch from any view, all subscribers update instantly

Views

• V2 layout-based system for structured, container-driven interfaces
• Full support for traditional discord.py Views (V1)
• Pre-built patterns: menus, tabs, wizards, forms, pagination, leaderboards
• PaginatedView.from_cursor() for lazy cursor-driven pagination with LRU page cache
• DisplayLayoutView for one-shot V2 sends from a pre-built container
• Automatic state-driven rebuilds: define build_ui(), the library handles the edit (≈ React render())
• Theming with per-view overrides and a ContextVar that propagates through builders (≈ React.Context)

Components

• Stateful buttons, selects, and modals with state integration
• Select callbacks can opt into a values second parameter
• V2 builders: card(), stats_card(), action_section(), toggle_section(), image_section(), link_section(), confirm_section(), button_row(), cycle_button(), toggle_button(), tab_nav(), key_value(), alert(), progress_bar(), divider(), gap(), gallery()
• Grid helpers: emoji_grid() and button_grid()
• Typed modal fields (text, integer, float, date) with per-field validation
• Declarative FormSchema and WizardSchema base classes
• Component wrappers: loading states, confirmation dialogs, cooldowns

Interaction Control

• Owner-only views by default; allowed_users opens access to specific users
• Instance limits per user, guild, user+guild, or globally with replace or reject policies
• participant_limit with on_participant_limit hook and auto_register_participants
• check_instance_available() for fail-fast pre-checks before constructing expensive views
• Auto-defer with respond(), open_modal(), and _safe_defer() helpers
• Interaction serialization so rapid clicks process sequentially
• Refresh throttling via refresh_cooldown_ms and reactive 429 backoff
• Silent snowflake coercion at every public boundary
• Class-attribute validation at subclass-definition time

Navigation and Lifecycle

• Navigation stack: push(), pop(), replace() on one shared message (≈ React Router)
• Parent/child view lifecycle via attach_child() or parent= with automatic cleanup
• session_continuity opt-in for repeat-open state coalescing
• auto_refresh_ephemeral for user-driven token handoff past the 15-minute ephemeral wall
• Automatic message re-fetch so long-lived views survive the interaction token's 15-minute window

Persistence

• Persistent views that survive bot restarts with automatic message re-attachment
• Opt-in per slot via persistent_slots = (...) (≈ redux-persist)
• Built-in SQLite and in-memory backends; custom backends via capability-flag Protocol
• Named scoped buckets via scoped_slot for per-subsystem persistence
• Two-namespace model (registry and application) with per-namespace debounce and retry backoff
• Undo and redo via snapshot-based state history (opt in with enable_undo)

Developer Tools

• Built-in profiler with markdown and JSON exports
• DevToolsCog with a tabbed state inspector and owner-only /cascadeui command group

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V1 Components

CascadeUI supports traditional discord.py Views and embeds.

Use V1 when you need:

• Embed-specific features such as fields or timestamps
• Simpler layouts without containers

All core features such as navigation, persistence, and undo/redo are supported.

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Examples

The documentation includes full implementations demonstrating practical usage:

• Dashboards and control panels
• Settings systems
• Pagination
• Forms and wizards
• Persistent views
• Multi-user games with shared state, hidden information, and challenge flows (TicTacToe, Battleship)
• Open-join lobbies with capacity caps and host-vs-participant authority (Werewolf-style)

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Documentation

• https://hollowthesilver.github.io/CascadeUI/

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Support

• Discord: https://discord.com/invite/9Xj68BpKRb
• Issues: https://github.com/HollowTheSilver/CascadeUI/issues

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Development

git clone https://github.com/HollowTheSilver/CascadeUI.git
cd CascadeUI
pip install -e ".[dev]"

pytest tests/ -v
black cascadeui/
isort cascadeui/

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Developer's Note

I built CascadeUI with over ten years of Python, and roughly fifteen years of developement experience. All documentation, docstrings and test modules are written and designed using custom Anthropic Opus sub-agents. I do not attempt to conceal this fact. I'm a proponent of efficient and responsible agent application in software design. That experience is what makes these tools effective. They're amplifiers, not substitutes.

-- Hollow

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MIT License