Pysual

Python interfaces for Window, Terminal, and Web.

Assign controls, change their properties, and name event handlers. The same application runs in a native window, a terminal, or an SVG browser interface. Python 3.11+. MIT licensed. Early development; APIs may change.

See the 0.1.2 release notes for fixes and supported scope.

Install

A published release installs with pip. Python 3.11 or newer:

python -m pip install pysual

Windows x64, Linux x64, and Apple Silicon wheels include the native window host and the SDL libraries it needs. Other platforms receive the pure-Python wheel, whose Python terminal and web backends are ready to use. Building a window host for another platform is described in building.

Start in a browser

git clone https://github.com/PabloMP2P/Pysual.git
cd Pysual
python -m venv .venv
# Activate .venv using your shell, then:
python -m pip install -e '.[dev,build]'
python examples/hello.py --backend web

Activate with .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1 in PowerShell or source .venv/bin/activate on macOS/Linux. The live Web host and Python terminal renderer need no graphics packages or C compiler. For library-only installation, use python -m pip install ..

python examples/hello.py --backend terminal --terminal python
python -m pysual native
python examples/hello.py --backend window

The native builder finds a C compiler and provisions checksum-pinned SDL development packages on Windows. Linux/macOS require a C11 compiler, pkg-config, SDL3, SDL3_ttf, and SDL3_image development libraries. See building for compiler and platform details.

Write an application

from pysual import App, Button, Label

class Hello(App):
    def build(self):
        self.title = "Hello"
        self.layout, self.padding, self.spacing = "stack", 24, 12
        self.message = Label(text="Ready")
        self.greet = Button(text="Say hello")

    def greet_on_click(self, event):
        self.message.text = "Hello, Pysual!"

Hello().run_blocking(backend="web")

Assignment adopts and names each control; greet_on_click binds automatically. Names must not collide with existing members: the factory names label, button, image, slider, menu and the other snake-case control names are taken, so prefer descriptive names such as message or save_button (a BindingError names the conflict). Handlers can be synchronous or async def. Properties and public methods route to the UI owner automatically. run() returns after the first frame for REPLs and scripts doing other work; wait() waits for closure. run_blocking() combines the two. Import pysual.autoconfig before creating controls to enable --backend, --terminal, --pysual-theme, and --pysual-scale in your own script.

Three backends

Terminal auto prefers an available C host and falls back to Python when it cannot start. Choose --terminal c to require C, or --terminal python for a dependency-free renderer. Terminal typography follows the emulator's cell grid.

python -m pysual examples/hello.py --backend window -o dist/hello.exe
python -m pysual examples/hello.py --backend terminal --terminal python -o dist/hello-terminal.exe
python -m pysual examples/hello.py --backend web -o dist/hello.html

Use extensionless executable names on Linux/macOS. Build on each target OS; these commands do not cross-compile. Outside a checkout the same commands are pysual build … (or python -m pysual build …) after pip install. Web builds fetch a checksum-pinned Pyodide runtime once; --runtime PATH makes subsequent builds fully local. Serve the bundled HTML from a static HTTP host. Application handlers remain Python and need no application Python server. See Web delivery.

Included

• 43 catalog controls: editable grids, virtual lists/trees, tabs, menus, dialogs, text and value editors, charts, range selection, navigation, choice cards, disclosure groups, badges, actionable alerts, meters, and progress.
• Five layout modes, nine theme families in light and dark (18 themes), 44 icons, bundled fonts, shadows, gradients, surfaces, interaction motion, and custom painting.
• Unicode text editing, selection, clipboard where supported, undo/redo, async events, drag/drop, and batched property updates.
• Retained rendering, bounded caches, on-demand frames, and incremental native scene updates.

Choose Modern, Windows, macOS, Terminal, Win31, WinXP, Macintosh, Analog arcade, or Neon. Each has a light and dark version with its own control surfaces, typography, borders, and interaction states. Preview them with:

python examples/theme_gallery.py --backend web

See the rendered comparison of all 18 appearances.

Use get_theme("winxp") for light and get_theme("winxp_dark") for dark. See themes and custom painting for the complete catalog and compatibility details.

Stress test

The stress lab mixes 20 control types, including grids, trees, charts, images, and editors. Choose balanced, text, forms, visual, or collections scenes, with presets from 100 to 5,000 controls or an exact count up to 20,000. It opens on the large preset with continuous redraw and VSync off.

python examples/stress_test.py --backend window --controls 2000 --mix balanced --workload local-update
python examples/stress_test.py --backend terminal --terminal python --controls 100 --mix forms
python examples/stress_test.py --backend web --mix visual
python examples/stress_test.py --controls 500 --workload property --fraction 0.25 --rate 60 --warmup 2 --duration 10 --report work/stress.json

Changing a preset or another dashboard control applies it immediately. Pause, restart measurements, or export a JSON report from the same bar. --help lists the control mixes and rendering options. Timed runs measure --duration seconds after warmup. Use the same seed, viewport, theme, workload, and rendering settings when comparing runs.

Workloads cover idle scenes, paint invalidation, layout changes, property updates, and one-control updates. Rendering options include the presentation cap, redraw interval, VSync, body reuse, and surface-cache budget.

Python submission rates, native presentation loops, and terminal output counters are reported separately. These do not measure physical screen refresh or browser paint. Live metrics refresh at 4 Hz by default and add work to a static scene; pass --no-telemetry to leave them on demand. Collection rows and chart points are counted separately from widgets.

Develop

Style and commit conventions are in Contributing.

python -m pytest
python tools/check_typing.py

After changing control properties, run python tools/generate_factory_types.py to refresh the factory typing signatures. Add --check to verify them without writing changes; the generator needs only the Python standard library.

For new controls, see control composition and catalog development.

The full test suite requires Node.js 24 for the Web JavaScript contracts. Native tests require a built host and report explicit skips otherwise. CI builds and checks the native implementation separately. Applications need no Node.js or npm project.

API guide · Native rendering · Building · Web · Contributing

Controls are custom drawn. OS accessibility bridges, complex-script shaping, full font fallback, mobile hosts, and OS-level modality between separate native processes are outside this release's supported scope. Real display, terminal, clipboard, IME, and packaged-app behavior should be checked on the target system.