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# OpenTUI React (@opentui/react)
A React reconciler for building terminal user interfaces with familiar React patterns. Write TUIs using JSX, hooks, and component composition.
## Overview
OpenTUI React provides:
- **Custom reconciler**: React components render to OpenTUI renderables
- **JSX intrinsics**: `<text>`, `<box>`, `<input>`, etc.
- **Hooks**: `useKeyboard`, `useRenderer`, `useTimeline`, etc.
- **Full React compatibility**: useState, useEffect, context, and more
## When to Use React
Use the React reconciler when:
- You're familiar with React patterns
- You want declarative UI composition
- You need React's ecosystem (context, state management libraries)
- Building applications with complex state
- Team knows React already
## When NOT to Use React
| Scenario | Use Instead |
|----------|-------------|
| Maximum performance critical | `@opentui/core` (imperative) |
| Fine-grained reactivity | `@opentui/solid` |
| Smallest bundle size | `@opentui/core` |
| Building a framework/library | `@opentui/core` |
## Quick Start
```bash
bunx create-tui@latest -t react my-app
cd my-app
bun run src/index.tsx
```
The CLI creates the `my-app` directory for you - it must **not already exist**.
**Agent guidance**: Always use autonomous mode with `-t <template>` flag. Never use interactive mode (`bunx create-tui@latest my-app` without `-t`) as it requires user prompts that agents cannot respond to.
Or manual setup:
```bash
mkdir my-tui && cd my-tui
bun init
bun install @opentui/react @opentui/core react
```
```tsx
import { createCliRenderer } from "@opentui/core"
import { createRoot } from "@opentui/react"
import { useState } from "react"
function App() {
const [count, setCount] = useState(0)
return (
<box border padding={2}>
<text>Count: {count}</text>
<box
border
onMouseDown={() => setCount(c => c + 1)}
>
<text>Click me!</text>
</box>
</box>
)
}
const renderer = await createCliRenderer()
createRoot(renderer).render(<App />)
```
## Core Concepts
### JSX Elements
React maps JSX intrinsic elements to OpenTUI renderables:
```tsx
// These are not HTML elements!
<text>Hello</text> // TextRenderable
<box border>Content</box> // BoxRenderable
<input placeholder="..." /> // InputRenderable
<select options={[...]} /> // SelectRenderable
```
### Text Modifiers
Inside `<text>`, use modifier elements:
```tsx
<text>
<strong>Bold</strong>, <em>italic</em>, and <u>underlined</u>
<span fg="red">Colored text</span>
<br />
New line with <a href="https://example.com">link</a>
</text>
```
### Styling
Two approaches to styling:
```tsx
// Direct props
<box backgroundColor="blue" padding={2} border>
<text fg="#00FF00">Green text</text>
</box>
// Style prop
<box style={{ backgroundColor: "blue", padding: 2, border: true }}>
<text style={{ fg: "#00FF00" }}>Green text</text>
</box>
```
## Available Components
### Layout & Display
- `<text>` - Styled text content
- `<box>` - Container with borders and layout
- `<scrollbox>` - Scrollable container
- `<ascii-font>` - ASCII art text
### Input
- `<input>` - Single-line text input
- `<textarea>` - Multi-line text input
- `<select>` - List selection
- `<tab-select>` - Tab-based selection
### Code & Diff
- `<code>` - Syntax-highlighted code
- `<line-number>` - Code with line numbers
- `<diff>` - Unified or split diff viewer
### Text Modifiers (inside `<text>`)
- `<span>` - Inline styled text
- `<strong>`, `<b>` - Bold
- `<em>`, `<i>` - Italic
- `<u>` - Underline
- `<br>` - Line break
- `<a>` - Link
## Essential Hooks
```tsx
import {
useRenderer,
useKeyboard,
useOnResize,
useTerminalDimensions,
useTimeline,
} from "@opentui/react"
```
See [API Reference](./api.md) for detailed hook documentation.
## In This Reference
- [Configuration](./configuration.md) - Project setup, tsconfig, bundling
- [API](./api.md) - Components, hooks, createRoot
- [Patterns](./patterns.md) - State management, keyboard handling, forms
- [Gotchas](./gotchas.md) - Common issues, debugging, limitations
## See Also
- [Core](../core/REFERENCE.md) - Underlying imperative API
- [Solid](../solid/REFERENCE.md) - Alternative declarative approach
- [Components](../components/REFERENCE.md) - Component reference by category
- [Layout](../layout/REFERENCE.md) - Flexbox layout system
- [Keyboard](../keyboard/REFERENCE.md) - Input handling and shortcuts
- [Testing](../testing/REFERENCE.md) - Test renderer and snapshots