Flexbox in Terminal

Displaying a flexbox-like layout in a terminal is not as straightforward as in web development, since terminals don’t support CSS. However, you can achieve similar effects using tools like:

1. NCurses (for C/C++) – Provides a way to create UI elements in the terminal.

2. Blessed (for Node.js) – A library that allows flexible TUI (Text-based UI) layouts.

3. Rich (for Python) – Supports flexible text-based layouts.

4. ASCII Art & Padding – Manually format text using spaces or box-drawing characters.

Example using Python's rich library

If you're using Python, the rich library supports flexible layouts using tables and columns.

Installation:

bash
pip install rich

Code Example:

python
from rich.console import Console
from rich.layout import Layout

console = Console()

layout = Layout()
layout.split_row(
    Layout(name="left", size=30),
    Layout(name="right")
)

layout["left"].update("Left Content")
layout["right"].update("Right Content")

console.print(layout)

This will create a two-column flexible layout, similar to a flexbox with display: flex; justify-content: space-between;.

Example using Node.js & Blessed

If you're using JavaScript (Node.js), you can use the blessed package.

Installation:

bash
npm install blessed

Code Example:

javascript
const blessed = require('blessed');

const screen = blessed.screen();
const box1 = blessed.box({
  top: 'center',
  left: 'left',
  width: '50%',
  height: '100%',
  content: 'Left Box',
  border: { type: 'line' }
});

const box2 = blessed.box({
  top: 'center',
  left: '50%',
  width: '50%',
  height: '100%',
  content: 'Right Box',
  border: { type: 'line' }
});

screen.append(box1);
screen.append(box2);
screen.render();

This splits the terminal into two flexible sections, much like a flexbox layout.

Would you like a solution in another language or a more specific terminal tool? 🚀

If you're building a TUI (Text User Interface) application in Node.js, here are the most useful and powerful packages you can use:

1️⃣ Blessed (Most Popular)

📌 GitHub: chjj/blessed
✔️ Best for: Creating full-featured terminal UIs with widgets (buttons, text boxes, lists, etc.)

🔹 Features:

• Supports layouts similar to CSS Flexbox

• Can create interactive forms, tables, and even dashboards

• Works with mouse and keyboard input

🔹 Installation:

bash
npm install blessed

🔹 Example:

javascript
const blessed = require('blessed');

const screen = blessed.screen();
const box = blessed.box({
  top: 'center',
  left: 'center',
  width: '50%',
  height: '50%',
  content: 'Hello, Terminal!',
  border: { type: 'line' }
});

screen.append(box);
screen.render();

2️⃣ Blessed-Contrib (For Dashboards)

📌 GitHub: yaronn/blessed-contrib
✔️ Best for: Creating beautiful dashboards in the terminal with charts, grids, and tables

🔹 Features:

• Supports bar charts, line graphs, maps, and tables

• Built on top of Blessed

🔹 Installation:

bash
npm install blessed-contrib

🔹 Example (Simple Dashboard):

javascript
const blessed = require('blessed');
const contrib = require('blessed-contrib');

const screen = blessed.screen();
const grid = new contrib.grid({ rows: 2, cols: 2, screen });

const chart = contrib.line({
  label: 'CPU Usage',
  style: { line: 'yellow', text: 'green', baseline: 'black' }
});

grid.set(0, 0, 2, 2, chart);
screen.render();

3️⃣ Ink (React for the Terminal)

📌 GitHub: vadimdemedes/ink
✔️ Best for: Building terminal apps using React components

🔹 Features:

• Uses React syntax (<Component />) for building UIs

• Supports hooks (useState, useEffect)

• Works well with CLI applications

🔹 Installation:

bash
npm install ink

🔹 Example (Simple React TUI App):

javascript
const React = require('react');
const { render, Text } = require('ink');

const App = () => <Text>Hello, Terminal!</Text>;

render(<App />);

4️⃣ Terminal-Kit (For Interactive CLIs)

📌 GitHub: cronvel/terminal-kit
✔️ Best for: Creating interactive command-line tools

🔹 Features:

• Handles colors, menus, input fields, and tables

• Supports autocomplete and progress bars

🔹 Installation:

bash
npm install terminal-kit

🔹 Example (User Input):

javascript
const term = require('terminal-kit').terminal;

term.green('What is your name? ');
term.inputField({}, (err, input) => {
  term.green(`\nHello, ${input}!\n`);
  process.exit();
});

5️⃣ Cli-Ui (Lightweight UI for CLIs)

📌 GitHub: nutboltu/cli-ui
✔️ Best for: Simple interactive prompts and UI elements

🔹 Features:

• Lightweight and simple API

• Includes spinners, progress bars, and colors

🔹 Installation:

bash
npm install cli-ui

🔹 Example:

javascript
const cliUi = require('cli-ui');

cliUi.loading.start('Fetching data...');
setTimeout(() => cliUi.loading.stop('Done!'), 3000);

Which One Should You Choose?

Do you need help choosing the right one for your project? 🚀

Yoga Layout: A Cross-Platform Flexbox Engine

Yoga is an open-source cross-platform layout engine that implements Flexbox for UI development. It was created by Meta (Facebook) to provide fast and efficient layout calculations for various platforms, including mobile, web, and desktop applications.

🔹 GitHub Repo: facebook/yoga
🔹 Written In: C++
🔹 Bindings Available For: JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Rust, Go, and more.

🔹 Why Use Yoga?

1. Implements CSS Flexbox: Brings the power of CSS Flexbox to non-web environments.

2. Lightweight & Fast: Designed for high-performance rendering in UI frameworks.

3. Cross-Platform: Works on Android, iOS, React Native, WebAssembly, and more.

4. Low-Level Control: Can be embedded in game engines, terminal UIs, or native apps.

5. Used in React Native: React Native’s layout system is powered by Yoga.

🔹 How Does Yoga Work?

Instead of relying on a browser's CSS engine, Yoga computes layouts independently using a C++ implementation of Flexbox rules. It takes a tree of nodes (like a UI structure) and calculates the sizes/positions based on Flexbox rules.

Example: Creating a Flexbox Layout with Yoga

Let's use JavaScript (Node.js) with yoga-layout:

🔹 Install Yoga for Node.js

bash
npm install yoga-layout

🔹 Example: Creating a Simple Flexbox Layout

javascript
const yoga = require('yoga-layout');

// Create a root node
const root = yoga.Node.create();
root.setWidth(500);
root.setHeight(300);
root.setFlexDirection(yoga.FLEX_DIRECTION_ROW); // Like "display: flex; flex-direction: row;"

// Create a child node
const child = yoga.Node.create();
child.setWidth(100);
child.setHeight(100);
child.setMargin(yoga.EDGE_ALL, 10); // Add margin

// Attach child to root
root.insertChild(child, 0);

// Calculate layout
root.calculateLayout(500, 300, yoga.DIRECTION_LTR);

console.log(root.getComputedLayout()); // Output the calculated positions
console.log(child.getComputedLayout()); // Output child position

🔹 Where is Yoga Used?

• React Native (Handles all layout calculations)

• Component-based UI frameworks

• Terminal-based UIs (TUI)

• Game UI layouts (Unity, Unreal, etc.)

• Cross-platform desktop applications

🔹 Should You Use Yoga?

✔ Yes, if you:

• Need flexbox-style layouts outside of a browser.

• Are working with React Native or embedded UI systems.

• Want consistent UI layouts across platforms.

❌ No, if you:

• Are just building for the web (use CSS Flexbox instead).

• Don't need fine-grained control over layout calculations.

Would you like help integrating Yoga into a specific project? 🚀

Using Yoga Layout to Create a TUI in Node.js

You can use Yoga Layout for flexbox-style layouts in a terminal UI (TUI) by combining it with a rendering library like Blessed or Ink (React for terminal).

🔹 Approach

1. Use Yoga Layout to calculate flexible layouts.

2. Render the computed layout inside a terminal UI framework like Blessed or Ink.

🔹 Method 1: Using Yoga with Blessed

🔹 Install Dependencies:

bash
npm install blessed yoga-layout

🔹 Code Example (Basic TUI with Flexbox)

javascript
const blessed = require('blessed');
const yoga = require('yoga-layout');

// Create the root node
const root = yoga.Node.create();
root.setWidth(80);
root.setHeight(24);
root.setFlexDirection(yoga.FLEX_DIRECTION_ROW);

// Create a left panel
const leftPanel = yoga.Node.create();
leftPanel.setWidth(40);
leftPanel.setHeight(24);
leftPanel.setMargin(yoga.EDGE_ALL, 1);
root.insertChild(leftPanel, 0);

// Create a right panel
const rightPanel = yoga.Node.create();
rightPanel.setFlexGrow(1);
rightPanel.setHeight(24);
rightPanel.setMargin(yoga.EDGE_ALL, 1);
root.insertChild(rightPanel, 1);

// Calculate layout
root.calculateLayout(80, 24, yoga.DIRECTION_LTR);

// Create a Blessed screen
const screen = blessed.screen();
const box1 = blessed.box({
  top: root.getComputedTop(),
  left: root.getComputedLeft(),
  width: leftPanel.getComputedWidth(),
  height: leftPanel.getComputedHeight(),
  content: 'Left Panel',
  border: { type: 'line' },
  style: { border: { fg: 'blue' } }
});

const box2 = blessed.box({
  top: rightPanel.getComputedTop(),
  left: rightPanel.getComputedLeft(),
  width: rightPanel.getComputedWidth(),
  height: rightPanel.getComputedHeight(),
  content: 'Right Panel (Flexible)',
  border: { type: 'line' },
  style: { border: { fg: 'green' } }
});

// Append boxes and render screen
screen.append(box1);
screen.append(box2);
screen.render();

How It Works

• Yoga calculates the flexible layout.

• Blessed renders the UI based on Yoga's computed positions.

• The left panel has a fixed width.

• The right panel flexes and fills the remaining space.

🔹 Method 2: Using Yoga with Ink (React-based)

Ink is a React-based framework for building TUI apps. You can use Yoga’s layout engine inside Ink components.

🔹 Install Dependencies:

bash
npm install ink yoga-layout

🔹 Code Example (Basic Flexbox in Ink)

javascript
const React = require('react');
const { render, Box, Text } = require('ink');

const App = () => (
  <Box flexDirection="row">
    <Box width={30} borderStyle="round" borderColor="blue" padding={1}>
      <Text>Left Panel</Text>
    </Box>
    <Box flexGrow={1} borderStyle="round" borderColor="green" padding={1}>
      <Text>Right Panel (Flexible)</Text>
    </Box>
  </Box>
);

render(<App />);

How It Works

• Ink internally uses Yoga Layout.

• flexGrow={1} makes the right panel flexible.

• Ink handles rendering without needing direct Yoga calls.

🔹 Which One Should You Use?

🔹 Use Ink if you prefer React-style development.
🔹 Use Blessed + Yoga if you need fine-grained Yoga control.

Would you like to extend this into a full interactive terminal app? 🚀

Do You Have to Set a Specific Width and Height in Yoga?

No, you don’t have to explicitly set a width and height in Yoga. Instead, Yoga provides flexbox properties that allow elements to dynamically size based on their content and parent container.

🔹 What Happens If You Don’t Set Width & Height?

If you don't define setWidth() and setHeight(), the node will:

1. Shrink to fit its content (if no flex properties are set).

2. Expand dynamically if flexGrow is enabled.

3. Be constrained by its parent’s layout if a parent node defines width/height.

🔹 Example: Flexible Layout Without Fixed Width/Height

javascript
const yoga = require('yoga-layout');

// Root node (container)
const root = yoga.Node.create();
root.setFlexDirection(yoga.FLEX_DIRECTION_ROW);
root.setWidth(500); // Fixed width, height can be dynamic

// Child node 1 (Fixed size)
const box1 = yoga.Node.create();
box1.setWidth(100);
box1.setHeight(100);
root.insertChild(box1, 0);

// Child node 2 (Flexible size)
const box2 = yoga.Node.create();
box2.setFlexGrow(1); // Expands to fill remaining space
box2.setHeight(100);
root.insertChild(box2, 1);

// Compute layout
root.calculateLayout(undefined, undefined, yoga.DIRECTION_LTR);

console.log('Box1:', box1.getComputedLayout());
console.log('Box2:', box2.getComputedLayout());

🔹 How to Make Elements Auto-Size?

🔹 Example: Dynamic Height Using ALIGN_STRETCH

javascript
const container = yoga.Node.create();
container.setWidth(300);
container.setHeight(400);
container.setFlexDirection(yoga.FLEX_DIRECTION_COLUMN);

const child = yoga.Node.create();
child.setFlexGrow(1); // Expands to fill available space
child.setAlignSelf(yoga.ALIGN_STRETCH); // Stretches to parent's height
container.insertChild(child, 0);

container.calculateLayout(undefined, undefined, yoga.DIRECTION_LTR);
console.log('Child layout:', child.getComputedLayout());

🔹 Conclusion

✔ No, you don’t need to set explicit width/height.
✔ Use Flexbox properties like flexGrow, flexShrink, and alignSelf to create dynamic layouts.
✔ If an element has no content and no explicit size, it may collapse to 0x0 size.

Would you like a real-world example in a TUI? 🚀

Does Blessed Support Flexbox Out of the Box?

No, Blessed does NOT support Flexbox natively. It relies on absolute positioning (top, left, width, height) and box models instead. However, you can combine Yoga Layout with Blessed to achieve Flexbox-like layouts in a terminal.

🔹 How Layout Works in Blessed

Blessed has a grid-like positioning system with properties like:

• top, left, width, height (absolute positioning)

• shrink (content-based sizing)

• align, valign (text alignment, not Flexbox)

• padding, margin (basic spacing)

🚫 What Blessed lacks:

• No flexDirection (row / column layouts)

• No flexGrow / flexShrink

• No auto-spacing like CSS Flexbox

🔹 How to Add Flexbox to Blessed?

Since Blessed doesn’t have built-in Flexbox, you can use Yoga Layout to calculate positions dynamically, then apply them manually to Blessed elements.

Example: Using Yoga to Handle Flexbox in Blessed

javascript
const blessed = require('blessed');
const yoga = require('yoga-layout');

// Create a root layout node
const root = yoga.Node.create();
root.setWidth(80);
root.setHeight(24);
root.setFlexDirection(yoga.FLEX_DIRECTION_ROW);

// Left panel (fixed size)
const leftPanel = yoga.Node.create();
leftPanel.setWidth(30);
leftPanel.setHeight(24);
root.insertChild(leftPanel, 0);

// Right panel (flexible)
const rightPanel = yoga.Node.create();
rightPanel.setFlexGrow(1); // Takes remaining space
rightPanel.setHeight(24);
root.insertChild(rightPanel, 1);

// Calculate layout
root.calculateLayout(80, 24, yoga.DIRECTION_LTR);

// Create Blessed screen
const screen = blessed.screen();
const box1 = blessed.box({
  top: 0,
  left: 0,
  width: leftPanel.getComputedWidth(),
  height: leftPanel.getComputedHeight(),
  content: 'Left Panel (Fixed)',
  border: { type: 'line' },
  style: { border: { fg: 'blue' } }
});

const box2 = blessed.box({
  top: 0,
  left: leftPanel.getComputedWidth(),
  width: rightPanel.getComputedWidth(),
  height: rightPanel.getComputedHeight(),
  content: 'Right Panel (Flexbox)',
  border: { type: 'line' },
  style: { border: { fg: 'green' } }
});

// Append and render
screen.append(box1);
screen.append(box2);
screen.render();

🔹 Alternative: Use Blessed-Contrib (Grid System)

If you only need basic flexible layouts, you can use blessed-contrib, which provides a grid system (though it’s not true Flexbox).

🔹 Install blessed-contrib:

bash
npm install blessed blessed-contrib

🔹 Example: Using blessed-contrib Grid

javascript
const blessed = require('blessed');
const contrib = require('blessed-contrib');

// Create screen and grid
const screen = blessed.screen();
const grid = new contrib.grid({ rows: 1, cols: 2, screen });

// Left panel (Fixed)
const box1 = grid.set(0, 0, 1, 1, blessed.box, {
  content: 'Left Panel',
  border: { type: 'line' },
  style: { border: { fg: 'blue' } }
});

// Right panel (Auto width)
const box2 = grid.set(0, 1, 1, 1, blessed.box, {
  content: 'Right Panel (Flex-like)',
  border: { type: 'line' },
  style: { border: { fg: 'green' } }
});

screen.render();

🔹 Which Approach Should You Use?

🔹 Best choice?

• If you want real Flexbox, use Yoga Layout + Blessed.

• If you want easier layouts, try blessed-contrib.

Would you like help with a specific TUI layout? 🚀

Can You Map Yoga + Blessed into JSX Components?

Yes! You can use React + Ink to create a JSX-based terminal UI with Flexbox layouts using Yoga.

🚀 Ink is a React renderer for CLI applications, and it uses Yoga Layout internally for rendering, meaning you get Flexbox support out of the box—just like React Native.

🔹 How to Use Ink for JSX-Based TUI?

1️⃣ Install Ink

bash
npm install ink

2️⃣ Create a JSX-Based TUI with Flexbox

jsx
import React from 'react';
import { render, Box, Text } from 'ink';

const App = () => (
  <Box flexDirection="row">
    {/* Left Panel (Fixed width) */}
    <Box width={30} borderStyle="round" borderColor="blue">
      <Text>Left Panel</Text>
    </Box>

    {/* Right Panel (Flexible width) */}
    <Box flexGrow={1} borderStyle="round" borderColor="green">
      <Text>Right Panel (Flexbox)</Text>
    </Box>
  </Box>
);

render(<App />);

🔹 Box in Ink behaves just like a Yoga node, so you can use flexDirection, flexGrow, justifyContent, etc.

🔹 What About Blessed in JSX?

If you want to use Blessed with JSX, you can use React-Blessed, but it does not support Yoga Layout.

🔹 React-Blessed Example

jsx
import React from 'react';
import { render } from 'react-blessed';

const App = () => (
  <box top="0" left="0" width="50%" height="100%" border={{ type: 'line' }}>
    Left Panel
  </box>
);

const screen = render(<App />);

📌 Why Ink is Better?

• Supports Flexbox natively using Yoga.

• More React-like (closer to React Native).

• More active development than React-Blessed.

🔹 Conclusion

✔ Ink is the best option for JSX-based TUI with Yoga-style Flexbox.
✔ If you still need Blessed, use Ink for layout and Blessed for widgets.
✔ React-Blessed is an alternative, but lacks Yoga's Flexbox support.

Would you like a more complex Ink example (e.g., handling user input)? 🚀

Got it! You want to map Yoga + Blessed into JSX components while still using Blessed for rendering. This is possible using React-Blessed, which lets you write JSX components that render in the terminal using Blessed.

🔹 How to Replace Yoga + Blessed with JSX Components

We will:

1. Use React-Blessed to handle the terminal UI in JSX.

2. Use Yoga Layout inside JSX components to calculate positions.

3. Render the result into Blessed elements dynamically.

1️⃣ Install Dependencies

bash
npm install react react-blessed yoga-layout blessed

2️⃣ Create App.jsx

Here’s how you can replace your Yoga + Blessed setup with JSX components:

jsx
import React, { useEffect, useState } from "react";
import { render } from "react-blessed";
import blessed from "blessed";
import yoga from "yoga-layout";

// Flexbox component using Yoga Layout
const FlexContainer = ({ children }) => {
  const [layout, setLayout] = useState(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    // Root Yoga Node (80x24)
    const root = yoga.Node.create();
    root.setWidth(80);
    root.setHeight(24);
    root.setFlexDirection(yoga.FLEX_DIRECTION_ROW);

    // Left panel (fixed size)
    const leftPanel = yoga.Node.create();
    leftPanel.setWidth(30);
    leftPanel.setHeight(24);
    root.insertChild(leftPanel, 0);

    // Right panel (flexible)
    const rightPanel = yoga.Node.create();
    rightPanel.setFlexGrow(1);
    rightPanel.setHeight(24);
    root.insertChild(rightPanel, 1);

    // Calculate layout
    root.calculateLayout(80, 24, yoga.DIRECTION_LTR);

    setLayout({
      leftPanel: {
        width: leftPanel.getComputedWidth(),
        height: leftPanel.getComputedHeight(),
      },
      rightPanel: {
        width: rightPanel.getComputedWidth(),
        height: rightPanel.getComputedHeight(),
        left: leftPanel.getComputedWidth(),
      },
    });
  }, []);

  if (!layout) return null;

  return (
    <>
      <box
        top={0}
        left={0}
        width={layout.leftPanel.width}
        height={layout.leftPanel.height}
        border={{ type: "line" }}
        style={{ border: { fg: "blue" } }}
      >
        Left Panel (Fixed)
      </box>
      <box
        top={0}
        left={layout.rightPanel.left}
        width={layout.rightPanel.width}
        height={layout.rightPanel.height}
        border={{ type: "line" }}
        style={{ border: { fg: "green" } }}
      >
        Right Panel (Flexbox)
      </box>
    </>
  );
};

// Main App Component
const App = () => {
  return (
    <FlexContainer />
  );
};

// Create Blessed Screen & Render App
const screen = blessed.screen();
render(<App />, screen);

🔹 What This Does

✅ Uses JSX components instead of raw Blessed objects.
✅ Uses Yoga for layout calculations inside useEffect().
✅ Dynamically maps Yoga nodes to Blessed JSX elements.
✅ Automatically re-renders when layout updates.

🔹 Why This is Useful?

✔ Write Terminal UI in JSX, making it easier to structure.
✔ Keep Flexbox layout using Yoga, instead of manual calculations.
✔ React-Blessed handles rendering, just like a normal React app.

Would you like to add more features like input handling or dynamic resizing? 🚀