Box CLI Maker

Box CLI Maker is a Go library for rendering highly customizable boxes in the terminal.

Features

• 9 built‑in styles (Single, Double, Round, Bold, SingleDouble, DoubleSingle, Classic, Hidden, Block)
• Custom glyphs for all corners and edges
• Title positions: Inside, Top, Bottom
• Content alignment: Left, Center, Right
• Optional content wrapping with WrapContent and WrapLimit
• Color support with:
• First 16 ANSI color names
• #RGB, #RRGGBB, rgb:RRRR/GGGG/BBBB, rgba:RRRR/GGGG/BBBB/AAAA
• Unicode and emoji support with proper width handling
• Explicit errors from Render, plus MustRender for panic‑on‑error

Installation

go get github.com/box-cli-maker/box-cli-maker/v3

Quick Start

package main

import (
    "fmt"

    box "github.com/box-cli-maker/box-cli-maker/v3"
)

func main() {
    b := box.NewBox().
    Style(box.Single).  // single-line border
    Padding(2, 1).      // inner padding: x (horizontal), y (vertical)
    TitlePosition(box.Top).
    ContentAlign(box.Center).
    Color(box.Cyan).
    TitleColor(box.BrightYellow)

    out, err := b.Render("Box CLI Maker", "Render highly customizable boxes\n in the terminal")
    if err != nil {
        panic(err)
    }
    fmt.Println(out)
}

NewBox constructs a box with the default Single style.
Configure it via fluent methods, then call Render (or MustRender) to get the box as a string.

API Overview

Construction

b := box.NewBox() // recommended

You can clone a configured box and tweak it:

base := box.NewBox().
        Style(box.Single).
        Padding(2, 1).
        ContentAlign(box.Left)

info := base.Copy().Color(box.Green)
warn := base.Copy().Color(box.Yellow)

Styles

Select a built‑in style:

b.Style(box.Double)

Styles Showcase

box.Single

box.SingleDouble

box.Double

box.DoubleSingle

box.Bold

box.Round

box.Hidden

box.Classic

box.Block

You can override any glyph after choosing a style:

b.Style(box.Single).
  TopLeft("+").
  TopRight("+").
  BottomLeft("+").
  BottomRight("+").
  Horizontal("-").
  Vertical("|")

Titles and Alignment

Title position:

b.TitlePosition(box.Inside) // default
b.TitlePosition(box.Top)
b.TitlePosition(box.Bottom)

Title position showcase

box.Inside

box.Top

box.Bottom

Content alignment:

b.ContentAlign(box.Left) // default
b.ContentAlign(box.Center)
b.ContentAlign(box.Right)

Content Alignment showcase

box.Left

box.Center

box.Right

Padding

b.Padding(px, py) // horizontal (px) and vertical (py) padding
b.HPadding(px)    // horizontal only
b.VPadding(py)    // vertical only

Negative padding values are allowed to be set but cause Render to return an error.

Wrapping

b.WrapContent(true)       // enable wrapping (default width: 2/3 of terminal)
b.WrapLimit(40)           // set explicit wrap width (enables wrapping)
b.WrapContent(false)      // disable wrapping

Render returns an error if the wrap limit is negative or the terminal width cannot be determined when wrapping is enabled without a limit.

Colors

Colors can be applied to:

• Title: TitleColor
• Content: ContentColor
• Border: Color

Accepted formats:

• First 16 ANSI names:

box.Black, box.Red, box.Green, box.Yellow, box.Blue, box.Magenta, box.Cyan, box.White and their bright variants: box.BrightBlack, box.BrightRed, box.BrightGreen, box.BrightYellow, box.BrightBlue, box.BrightMagenta, box.BrightCyan, box.BrightWhite
(plus a few aliases like box.HiRed, box.HiBlue, etc.)

• Hex and XParseColor formats (Supports TrueColor and 8-bit):

• #RGB

• #RRGGBB
• rgb:RRRR/GGGG/BBBB
• rgba:RRRR/GGGG/BBBB/AAAA

Example:

b.TitleColor(box.BrightYellow)
b.ContentColor("#00FF00")
b.Color("rgb:0000/ffff/0000")

Invalid colors cause Render to return an error.

Rendering

out, err := b.Render("Title", "Content")
if err != nil {
    // handle invalid style, colors, padding, wrapping, etc.
}

fmt.Println(out)

Render returns an error if:

• The BoxStyle is invalid
• The TitlePosition is invalid
• The wrap limit is negative
• Padding is negative
• A multiline title is used with a non‑Inside title position
• Any configured colors are invalid
• Terminal width detection fails when needed for wrapping

For convenience:

out := b.MustRender("Title", "Content") // panics on error

Examples

The examples directory contains small, focused programs that showcase different features:

• simple_box – minimal single box with title and content.
• content_align – compare Left, Center, and Right content alignment.
• content_wrap – demonstrate WrapContent / WrapLimit with long text.
• title_positions – show Inside, Top, and Bottom title placement.
• box_styles – render all built‑in border styles and colors.
• custom_box – build boxes using fully custom corner/edge glyphs.
• ansi_styles_and_links – use bold/underline/blink/strikethrough and OSC 8 hyperlinks.
• colors_and_unicode – mix hex/ANSI colors with CJK, emoji, and wrapping.
• ansi_art – render more decorative/"artistic" boxes.
• shared_styles – derive multiple boxes from a shared base style with Copy.
• ksctl – real‑world example from ksctl showing wide titles vs narrow content.
• lolcat – rainbow color demo using custom ANSI styling helpers.
• readme – code used to generate the screenshot at the top of this README.

Unicode, Emoji, and Width Handling

This library uses mattn/go-runewidth and github.com/charmbracelet/x/ansi to handle:

• Wide characters (e.g., CJK)
• Emojis and other multi‑cell glyphs
• Stripping ANSI sequences when measuring widths

Note:

1. Rendering quality depends on the terminal emulator and font. Some combinations may misalign visually.
2. Indic scripts and complex text may not display correctly in most terminals.
3. Online playgrounds and many CI environments often use basic fonts and may not render Unicode/emoji correctly; widths might be misreported.

Migration from v2

v3 is a new major version with a redesigned API.

Key changes:

• Config struct and New(Config) have been replaced with:

go b := box.NewBox(). Style(box.Single). Padding(2, 1). TitlePosition(box.Top). ContentAlign(box.Left)

• String‑based fields (Type, ContentAlign, TitlePos) are now strongly typed:
• "Single" → box.Single
• "Top" → box.Top

• "Center" → box.Center

• Colors:

• No more interface{} colors (uint, [3]uint, etc.).
• Use ANSI names or the documented hex/rgb formats instead.

• Invalid colors now error at Render time.

• Print / Println behavior can be replicated by fmt.Println(b.MustRender(...)) or your own helper.

Read more at Migration guide.

The old v2 API remains available at:

go get github.com/Delta456/box-cli-maker/v2

but is no longer actively developed.

Projects Using Box CLI Maker

• kubernetes/minikube: Run Kubernetes locally.
• And others listed on pkg.go.dev.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to:

• thecodrr/boxx
• Atrox/box
• sindreorhus/cli-boxes

for inspiration, and to all contributors who have improved this library over time.

License

Licensed under MIT.