github.com/vadimdemedes/ink @v7.1.0 sqlite

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<img width="240" alt="Ink" src="https://github.com/vadimdemedes/ink/raw/v7.1.0/media/logo.png">

React for CLIs. Build and test your CLI output using components.

Ink provides the same component-based UI building experience that React offers in the browser, but for command-line apps. It uses Yoga to build Flexbox layouts in the terminal, so most CSS-like properties are available in Ink as well. If you are already familiar with React, you already know Ink.

Since Ink is a React renderer, all features of React are supported. Head over to the React website for documentation on how to use it. Only Ink's methods are documented in this readme.

Fully AI-generated pull requests are not accepted. You can use AI, but should be verified and cleaned up by a human. Only Opus 4.6+ (high-effort) and Codex 5.4+ (extra high) are accepted models. Preferably created with Opus and verified by Codex.

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        <sup>
            <a href="https://opencollective.com/vadimdemedes">My open source work is supported by the community ❤️</a>
        </sup>

Install

npm install ink react

[!NOTE] This readme documents the upcoming version of Ink. For the latest stable release, see Ink on npm.

Usage

import React, {useState, useEffect} from 'react';
import {render, Text} from 'ink';

const Counter = () => {
    const [counter, setCounter] = useState(0);

    useEffect(() => {
        const timer = setInterval(() => {
            setCounter(previousCounter => previousCounter + 1);
        }, 100);

        return () => {
            clearInterval(timer);
        };
    }, []);

    return <Text color="green">{counter} tests passed</Text>;
};

render(<Counter />);

Who's Using Ink?

• Claude Code - An agentic coding tool made by Anthropic.
• Gemini CLI - An agentic coding tool made by Google.
• GitHub Copilot CLI - Just say what you want the shell to do.
• Canva CLI - CLI for creating and managing Canva Apps.
• Cloudflare's Wrangler - The CLI for Cloudflare Workers.
• Linear - Linear built an internal CLI for managing deployments, configs, and other housekeeping tasks.
• Gatsby - Gatsby is a modern web framework for blazing-fast websites.
• tap - A Test-Anything-Protocol library for JavaScript.
• Terraform CDK - Cloud Development Kit (CDK) for HashiCorp Terraform.
• Specify CLI - Automate the distribution of your design tokens.
• Twilio's SIGNAL - CLI for Twilio's SIGNAL conference. Blog post.
• Typewriter - Generates strongly-typed Segment analytics clients from arbitrary JSON Schema.
• Prisma - The unified data layer for modern applications.
• Blitz - The Fullstack React Framework.
• New York Times - NYT uses Ink's kyt - a toolkit that encapsulates and manages the configuration for web apps.
• tink - A next-generation runtime and package manager.
• Inkle - A Wordle game.
• loki - Visual regression testing tool for Storybook.
• Bit - Build, distribute, and collaborate on components.
• Remirror - Your friendly, world-class editor toolkit.
• Prime - Open-source GraphQL CMS.
• emoj - Find relevant emojis.
• emma - Find and install npm packages easily.
• npm-check-extras - Check for outdated and unused dependencies, and run update/delete actions on selected ones.
• swiff - Multi-environment command-line tools for time-saving web developers.
• share - Share files quickly.
• Kubelive - A CLI for Kubernetes that provides live data about the cluster and its resources.
• changelog-view - View changelogs.
• cfpush - Interactive Cloud Foundry tutorial.
• startd - Turn your React component into a web app.
• wiki-cli - Search Wikipedia and read article summaries.
• garson - Build interactive, config-based command-line interfaces.
• git-contrib-calendar - Display a contributions calendar for any Git repository.
• gitgud - Interactive command-line GUI for Git.
• Autarky - Find and delete old node_modules directories to free up disk space.
• fast-cli - Test your download and upload speeds.
• tasuku - Minimal task runner.
• mnswpr - A Minesweeper game.
• lrn - Learning by repetition.
• turdle - A Wordle game.
• Shopify CLI - Build apps, themes, and storefronts for the Shopify platform.
• ToDesktop CLI - All-in-one platform for building Electron apps.
• Walle - A full-featured crypto wallet for EVM networks.
• Sudoku - A Sudoku game.
• Sea Trader - A Taipan!-inspired trading simulator game.
• srtd - Live-reloading SQL templates for Supabase projects.
• tweakcc - Customize your Claude Code styling.
• argonaut - Manage Argo CD resources.
• Qodo Command - Build, run, and manage AI agents.
• Nanocoder - A community-built, local-first AI coding agent with multi-provider support.
• dev3000 - An AI agent MCP orchestrator and developer browser.
• Neovate Code - An agentic coding tool made by AntGroup.
• instagram-cli - Instagram client.
• ElevenLabs CLI - ElevenLabs agents client.
• SSH AI Chat - Chat with AI over SSH.
• Deep Code CLI - AI coding assistant optimized for the DeepSeek model.

(PRs welcome. Append new entries at the end. Repos must have 100+ stars and showcase Ink beyond a basic list picker.)

Contents

• Getting Started
• App Lifecycle
• Components
• <Text>
• <Box>
• <Newline>
• <Spacer>
• <Static>
• <Transform>
• Hooks
• useInput
• usePaste
• useApp
• useStdin
• useStdout
• useBoxMetrics
• useStderr
• useWindowSize
• useFocus
• useFocusManager
• useCursor
• useAnimation
• API
• Testing
• Using React Devtools
• Screen Reader Support
• Useful Components
• Useful Hooks
• Recipes
• Examples
• Continuous Integration

Getting Started

Use create-ink-app to quickly scaffold a new Ink-based CLI.

npx create-ink-app my-ink-cli

Alternatively, create a TypeScript project:

npx create-ink-app --typescript my-ink-cli

Manual JavaScript setup

Ink requires the same Babel setup as you would do for regular React-based apps in the browser.

Set up Babel with a React preset to ensure all examples in this readme work as expected. After installing Babel, install @babel/preset-react and insert the following configuration in babel.config.json:

npm install --save-dev @babel/preset-react

{
    "presets": ["@babel/preset-react"]
}

Next, create a file source.js, where you'll type code that uses Ink:

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

const Demo = () => <Text>Hello World</Text>;

render(<Demo />);

Then, transpile this file with Babel:

npx babel source.js -o cli.js

Now you can run cli.js with Node.js:

node cli

If you don't like transpiling files during development, you can use import-jsx or @esbuild-kit/esm-loader to import a JSX file and transpile it on the fly.

Ink uses Yoga, a Flexbox layout engine, to build great user interfaces for your CLIs using familiar CSS-like properties you've used when building apps for the browser. It's important to remember that each element is a Flexbox container. Think of it as if every `

in the browser haddisplay: flex. See [](#box) built-in component below for documentation on how to use Flexbox layouts in Ink. Note that all text must be wrapped in a [

App Lifecycle

An Ink app is a Node.js process, so it stays alive only while there is active work in the event loop (timers, pending promises, useInput listening on stdin, etc.). If your component tree has no async work, the app will render once and exit immediately.

To exit the app, press Ctrl+C (enabled by default via exitOnCtrlC), call exit() from useApp inside a component, or call unmount() on the object returned by render().

Use waitUntilExit() to run code after the app is unmounted:

const {waitUntilExit} = render(<MyApp />);

await waitUntilExit();

console.log('App exited');

Components

<Text>

This component can display text and change its style to make it bold, underlined, italic, or strikethrough.

import {render, Text} from 'ink';

const Example = () => (
    <>
        <Text color="green">I am green</Text>
        <Text color="black" backgroundColor="white">
            I am black on white
        </Text>
        <Text color="#ffffff">I am white</Text>
        <Text bold>I am bold</Text>
        <Text italic>I am italic</Text>
        <Text underline>I am underline</Text>
        <Text strikethrough>I am strikethrough</Text>
        <Text inverse>I am inversed</Text>
    </>
);

render(<Example />);

[!NOTE] <Text> allows only text nodes and nested <Text> components inside of it. For example, <Box> component can't be used inside <Text>.

color

Type: string

Change text color. Ink uses chalk under the hood, so all its functionality is supported.

<Text color="green">Green</Text>
<Text color="#005cc5">Blue</Text>
<Text color="rgb(232, 131, 136)">Red</Text>

backgroundColor

Type: string

Same as color above, but for background.

<Text backgroundColor="green" color="white">Green</Text>
<Text backgroundColor="#005cc5" color="white">Blue</Text>
<Text backgroundColor="rgb(232, 131, 136)" color="white">Red</Text>

dimColor

Type: boolean\ Default: false

Dim the color (make it less bright).

<Text color="red" dimColor>
    Dimmed Red
</Text>

bold

Type: boolean\ Default: false

Make the text bold.

italic

Type: boolean\ Default: false

Make the text italic.

underline

Type: boolean\ Default: false

Make the text underlined.

strikethrough

Type: boolean\ Default: false

Make the text crossed with a line.

inverse

Type: boolean\ Default: false

Invert background and foreground colors.

<Text inverse color="yellow">
    Inversed Yellow
</Text>

wrap

Type: string\ Allowed values: wrap hard truncate truncate-start truncate-middle truncate-end\ Default: wrap

This property tells Ink to wrap or truncate text if its width is larger than the container. If wrap is passed (the default), Ink will wrap text