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Installation

OpenTUI is available as an npm package and can be installed with any JavaScript package manager. This guide covers installation, system requirements, and verification steps.

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System requirements

Before installing OpenTUI, ensure you have the following prerequisites:

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Required

  • Zig compiler - OpenTUI requires Zig to build the native core
  • Bun 1.3.0+ (recommended), Node.js 18+, or another JavaScript runtime
You must have Zig installed on your system to build OpenTUI packages. Visit the Zig installation guide for platform-specific instructions.

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Supported platforms

OpenTUI provides pre-built binaries for:
  • macOS (x64, ARM64)
  • Linux (x64, ARM64)
  • Windows (x64, ARM64)

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Install OpenTUI

Choose your preferred package manager to install the core OpenTUI package: 
bun install @opentui/core
We recommend using Bun for the best development experience with OpenTUI. Bun provides faster installation, built-in TypeScript support, and is the primary runtime used by the OpenTUI team.

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Framework packages

OpenTUI provides framework-specific packages for React and SolidJS: 
bun install @opentui/react
Framework packages automatically include @opentui/core as a dependency.

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Verify installation

Create a simple test file to verify your installation:
test.ts
import { createCliRenderer, TextRenderable } from "@opentui/core"

const renderer = await createCliRenderer()

const text = new TextRenderable(renderer, {
  id: "test",
  content: "OpenTUI is working!",
  fg: "#00FF00",
  position: "absolute",
  left: 2,
  top: 2,
})

renderer.root.add(text)
Run the test file: 
bun run test.ts
You should see green text displayed in your terminal. Press Ctrl+C to exit.

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Quick start with create-tui

The fastest way to get started is using the create-tui scaffolding tool: 
bun create tui
This interactive CLI will:
  1. Prompt you for project configuration
  2. Set up a new OpenTUI project with best practices
  3. Install dependencies automatically
  4. Provide example code to get started

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Try examples without installation

You can explore OpenTUI examples without cloning the repository: 
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anomalyco/opentui/main/packages/core/src/examples/install.sh | sh

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Troubleshooting

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Zig not found

If you see an error about Zig not being found:
  1. Install Zig from ziglang.org/learn/getting-started/
  2. Ensure zig is in your PATH
  3. Verify installation: zig version

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Build errors

If you encounter build errors:
  1. Ensure you have the latest version of Zig
  2. Clear your package manager cache
  3. Try reinstalling dependencies
rm -rf node_modules bun.lockb
bun install

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Platform-specific binaries

OpenTUI automatically downloads platform-specific binaries. If you’re on an unsupported platform, you may need to build from source. See the Development Guide for instructions.

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Next steps

Quickstart tutorial

Build your first TUI application

Core concepts

Learn about renderers, renderables, and layouts

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

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