RunTUI — Modern Terminal UI Framework for Python

Build beautiful, interactive, mouse-aware terminal applications in pure Python — no curses, no ncurses, no external dependencies.

runtui in action — animated demo

runtui is a full-featured, cross-platform TUI (Text User Interface) library written in 100% pure Python.
It brings modern desktop-like experience into your terminal: windows, dialogs, forms, image rendering, embedded terminals, mouse support, theming, layout managers and even a visual RAD (Rapid Application Development) designer.

Works seamlessly on Linux, macOS, and Windows

✨ Highlights

Pure Python — zero compiled dependencies
Cross-platform (Linux, macOS, Windows)
Rich set of widgets — Button, Input, Password, TextArea, Dropdown, ListBox, CheckBox, Radio, Calendar, ColorPicker, ProgressBar, Image, real Terminal, etc.
Multiple layout engines: Absolute, Box, Dock, Grid
Theme engine with built-in themes: Dark, Light, Nord, Solarized, Turbo Vision / Borland style
Mouse support (click, drag, scroll, hover)
Window manager with floating & tiled windows + taskbar
Dialogs: MessageBox, File Open/Save, Custom Forms
Visual RAD designer (rad_designer.py) — drag & drop UI building + code generation
Embedded terminal widget with PTY support (run vim, htop, bash, python REPL, … inside your app!)
Browser under Text UI (can browse any website, a full chrome mirror)
Clean event loop, timers, key bindings, context menus

Installation

pip install runtui

Run

python -m runtui.tui_os

python -m runtui.rad_designer

More examples in the examples/ folder:

cal.py — Calendar
calc.py — Calculator
chatbox.py — LLM Chat App
clock.py — A basic clock program
demo_app.py — widget showcase
mine.py - window's mine game
notes.py — mac os like personal notes
rad_designer.py — visual designer (very cool!)
puzzle.py — mac os like puzzle game
trome.py — a Text UI browser via chrome mirror (very cool!)
tui_os.py — tui desktop / OS-like interface

It is highly recommended to run everything inside tui_os.py by browse these python files in Finder.

Why choose runtui over other TUI libraries?

Feature	runtui	Textual	urwid	py_cui	rich + textual
Pure Python	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cross-platform (good)	✓	✓	△	✓	✓
Mouse support	✓	✓	✗	✓	✓
Built-in themes	✓ (many)	✓ (CSS)	✗	✗	✓
Embedded terminal widget	✓ (PTY)	✗	✗	✗	✗
Visual RAD designer	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗
Image rendering	✓	✓	✗	✗	✓
Floating windows + taskbar	✓	△	✗	✗	✗
LLM Chat App	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗

License

MIT

Made with ❤️ in the terminal
Start building your next TUI masterpiece today!

Metadata

Release files for runtui 0.1.5

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for runtui 0.1.5
File	Size	Uploaded
runtui-0.1.5.tar.gz	29.5 MB	Oct 3, 2026	Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for runtui 0.1.5
File	Interpreter	ABI	Platform	Reset
runtui-0.1.5-py3-none-any.whl 165.9 kB Oct 3, 2026	Python 3	none	any	Details

Total release size: 29.6 MB

Release files / runtui-0.1.5.tar.gz

Download URL	runtui-0.1.5.tar.gz
Size	29.5 MB
Tags	Source
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`2bc60278ecce72a7173b50c1dfc0b79dc142d4492770ff1393874547bf0c16df`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`17ac6a0a353f258cdf824faa1228a9c15404638c6043d49b10c01571605b7f36`
Upload date	Oct 3, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.15`

Release files / runtui-0.1.5-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL	runtui-0.1.5-py3-none-any.whl
Size	165.9 kB
Tags	Python 3
SHA-256 checksum How to use checksums	`15a809a7fb4ca19870f355389bee953e7492711f42e7ac05a291c78b63970503`
BLAKE2b-256 checksum How to use checksums	`92946b053b1b85c35a067c48089512540e0036a4f69ddfde74a5cb0ab3cefc6b`
Upload date	Oct 3, 2026
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing? What is trusted publishing?	No
Uploaded via	`twine/7.0.0 CPython/3.13.15`