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How I Built a TUI Without Leaving the Terminal
- TUI, which stands for Terminal User Interface, allows users to interact with software features directly from the terminal using a keyboard-driven approach.
- TUI tools are fast, scriptable, lightweight, and favored by developers, sysadmins, and minimalists for their efficiency and simplicity.
- The author built a music streaming TUI named Sparklines-TUI on a custom backend built on JioSaavn, leveraging React and Ink for the interactive command-line app.
- The tech stack included NodeJS, TypeScript, Ink, mpv for music playback, and custom backend on top of JioSaavn, making it suitable for Termux (Android), though unstable.
- The UI development using React and Ink was streamlined, allowing the author to utilize previous web development knowledge with minimal learning curve.
- Challenges in the project included implementing music playback with mpv, handling logs, managing custom commands with NodeJS, and working on UI perfection and modularization.
- The TUI project features functionalities like controlling music, login/register, API key-based interaction, continuous playback, custom shortcuts, search, recommendations, and more.
- A help menu offers useful commands like navigation shortcuts, play/pause, volume control, seeking, speed adjustment, and display options within the TUI.
- The author views the project as a personal experiment to push the limits of terminal UI in JS and values the process of learning and experimentation more than external recognition.
- The TUI project showcases the potential of leveraging terminal interfaces for personalized applications, emphasizing the importance of self-motivated projects in driving innovation.
- This informative article was originally published on https://blog.samay15jan.xyz, delving into the author's journey of building a music streaming TUI within the terminal environment.
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