tui-test for Python

Control, inspect, and test terminal apps from Python.

Install

pip install tui-test

Python 3.8+ is supported.

The wheel contains an ordinary shared library. Python uses generated ctypes declarations for its typed C ABI. The package has no Python native extension.

Set TUI_TEST_NATIVE_LIBRARY to an absolute library path to override the bundled library. The loader checks the ABI version before the first operation.

Build from source

Install Rust 1.90 or later and the build dependencies for the supported terminal backends. Build a wheel with the standard Python build frontend:

python -m pip install build
env -u CARGO_TARGET_DIR python -m build bindings/python

The build uses setuptools-rust with Binding.NoBinding. Wheels use py3-none-<platform> tags. The source distribution includes the shared ABI, the Rust engine, their assets, and the Cargo configuration that separates backend symbols. Source builds need Cargo dependency access.

For cross builds, set CARGO_BUILD_TARGET and pass -C--build-option=--plat-name=<platform> to python -m build --wheel. Build Linux release wheels in the required manylinux or musllinux container. Use auditwheel repair before publication. Setuptools-rust disables static libc linkage for musl shared libraries.

For a checkout, use the shared library directly:

env -u CARGO_TARGET_DIR cargo build -p tui-test-ffi
PYTHONPATH=bindings/python/src \
TUI_TEST_NATIVE_LIBRARY="$PWD/target/debug/libtui_test_ffi.dylib" \
python bindings/python/examples/shared_library.py

Use libtui_test_ffi.so on Linux or tui_test_ffi.dll on Windows. The example proves that a copied screen remains valid after the session closes.

Each asynchronous call uses a separate worker thread. A blocked wait cannot prevent close() from interrupting waits. Cancellation releases each native result when its call returns.

Cancellation stops the Python await, not the native operation. A canceled open(), run(), or restart() can still complete. The adapter does not close the session automatically after cancellation. This preserves any replacement session with the same name. The caller remains responsible for explicit session cleanup; cancellation does not confirm that a spawn stopped.

Quick start

from tui_test import TuiTest

async with TuiTest.ephemeral() as terminal:
    await terminal.run("my-app")
    await terminal.get_by_text("Ready").expect()
    await terminal.get_by_text("Continue").click()
    await terminal.get_by_text("Done").expect()

API

TuiTest

TuiTest(session=None, *, backend=None, timeouts=None, profile=None, screen_history_limit=None, artifacts=None, recording=None)

Set trace.mode to "on" for every session or "on-failure" for failures. Users can open trace.html; agents should read trace.md, trace.json, and timeline.json.

artifacts["on_failure"] selects "none", "text", "html", or "all". Use include_recording to include the cast in failure artifacts.

Properties

Lifecycle

open() options are shell, backend, cols, rows, cwd, env, wait_ready, restart, retries, profile, and timeouts. run() accepts the same options except shell.

The default size is 80 by 30. Timeout defaults are 5 seconds for text and idle, and 30 seconds for command, exit, and ready.

Input

Native history

scroll(lines) accepts integers from -2147483648 through 2147483647. Positive values show older output. Negative values move toward the live screen. Zero leaves the viewport unchanged. Movement stops at the available history boundaries. get_viewport() returns a Viewport dictionary with offset and history integer fields. Both fields count rows. An offset of zero means the live screen.

Visible text, locators, and captures use this viewport. text(full=True) remains independent: it returns history plus the live screen. New output preserves the historical view until retained history expires. Keyboard input returns to the live screen. Mouse input and historical locator clicks fail while the viewport shows history. Call scroll_to_bottom() before mouse input. This API is separate from mouse.scroll().

get_cursor() and State.cursor retain the application cursor coordinates. Captures project that cursor into the viewport and hide it outside the view. Raster recordings capture viewport changes. Asciicast remains a PTY stream.

await terminal.scroll_to_top()
print(await terminal.get_viewport())
print(await terminal.text())
print(await terminal.text(full=True))
await terminal.scroll(-2)
await terminal.scroll_to_bottom()

State

Waits and assertions

wait_clipboard() waits for the next change. A string matches text. A compiled text re.Pattern uses Python's search() semantics; bytes patterns are rejected.

Snapshot options are update, include_style, and include_title.

Capture

Recording options: format, fps, speed, idle_time_limit, zoom, background, and transparent. MP4 requires ffmpeg and does not support transparency.

The extension selects the format: .png or .apng, .gif, .mp4, or .cast. format overrides it.

Locator

Locators resolve against the latest terminal screen before every read or action.

from tui_test import TextStyle

save = (
    terminal
    .get_by_text("Settings")
    .get_by_text("Save", direction="after")
    .get_by_style(TextStyle(foreground="green"))
    .unique()
)

await save.click()

Create a locator

whitespace is "exact" or "normalize". direction is "within", "after", or "before".

TextStyle fields are foreground, background, bold, dim, italic, underline_style, underline_color, inverse, hidden, strikethrough, and blink.

get_by_link(uri) matches an exact OSC 8 target, not visible URL text; get_by_link("") requires no link. Root style/link selectors find runs within each row. Chained calls with the default within direction check whole matches. Styles skip blanks if visible text exists; links check every cell.

Compose locators

link = terminal.get_by_link("https://example.com")
bold = terminal.get_by_style(TextStyle(bold=True))
bold_link_cells = bold.and_(link)
either = link.or_(terminal.get_by_text("Help"))
sections = terminal.get_by_text("Docs and Help")
contains_link = sections.filter(has=link)
without_old_text = sections.filter(has_not=terminal.get_by_text("old"))
entirely_linked = sections.get_by_link("https://example.com")

and_() keeps shared cells; or_() combines cells without duplicates. Adjacent cells merge within each physical row, even across original matches. Gaps and row breaks split runs. Counts and clicks use these runs; text keeps exact whitespace.

filter accepts only locators. has requires a match inside each candidate; has_not requires none. Both conditions apply when supplied, and the inner match may cover the whole candidate. For partially linked "Docs", filter(has=link) keeps the whole word, get_by_link(uri) rejects it, and and_(link) returns its linked cells.

Use locators from one TuiTest. Composition leaves them unchanged and reads one fresh snapshot when used. Selection order matters: a.first().and_(b) differs from a.and_(b).first(). Any full branch includes scrollback for the whole query. Errors propagate.

Select matches

Read and act

click() accepts button, alt, ctrl, shift, clicks, and timeout. button is "left", "middle", or "right".

location() and click() require one match. all() does not wait.

Keyboard

await terminal.keyboard.press("Ctrl+C")
await terminal.keyboard.press("Escape", ":", "w", "q", "Enter")

Named keys include Up, Down, Left, Right, Home, End, PageUp, PageDown, Insert, Delete, Backspace, Tab, Enter, Space, Escape, and F1 through F12. Join modifiers such as Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Super, Meta, or Hyper with +.

Mouse

Coordinates are zero-based terminal cells.

Button options are button, alt, ctrl, and shift. Click also accepts on_text and clicks.

await terminal.mouse.click(10, 5, button="right", ctrl=True)

Module functions

Test helpers

Import from tui_test.testing.

TerminalOptions adds shell, program, session, and prefix to the client and spawn options.

DEFAULT_SHELL is the platform default.

from tui_test.testing import terminal

async with terminal(program=("my-app",)) as app:
    await app.get_by_text("Ready").expect()

Configuration

from tui_test import AutomaticRecording, Colors, Profile, Timeouts

terminal = TuiTest(
    profile=Profile(
        scrollback=500,
        colors=Colors(foreground="#ffffff", background="#000000"),
    ),
    timeouts=Timeouts(text=10_000, command=60_000),
    artifacts={"dir": "artifacts", "on_failure": "all"},
    trace={"mode": "on-failure", "directory": "artifacts/traces"},
    recording=AutomaticRecording(directory="artifacts/casts"),
)

Types

__version__ contains the package version.

Errors

All errors extend TuiTestError. Structured native failures expose details and artifact; expectation errors continue to populate compatibility terminal.text and terminal.screenshot fields. Failure artifacts can contain terminal output, titles, locator operands, and recordings, so review them before uploading.

Sessions are local to the current process and cannot be controlled by the CLI. Cancelling a task does not stop an active terminal operation.