Website · Examples · Tutorials
A terminal UI framework for .NET with a real compositor engine.
Per-cell alpha blending. Async windows. A portal system for dropdowns and overlays. A plugin architecture. A video player.
Watch SharpConsoleUI in action on YouTube
SharpConsoleUI gives each window its own CharacterBuffer. A compositor merges
them — with occlusion culling, per-cell Porter-Duff alpha blending, and a
Measure→Arrange→Paint layout pipeline. Each window runs on its own async thread.
Gradient backgrounds propagate through every transparent control automatically.
Because rendering goes through a diff-based cell buffer rather than writing directly to stdout, the output is equally clean over a local terminal or an SSH connection — latency and flicker are determined by what actually changed, not by a full-screen repaint.
This architecture makes things possible that other .NET terminal libraries don't do: overlapping windows with drag/resize/minimize/maximize, animated desktop backgrounds, a PTY-backed terminal emulator, video playback in three render modes, and compositor hooks for blur, fade, and custom effects.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Application Layer (Your Code) │
│ └── Window Builders, Event Handlers, Controls │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Framework Layer │
│ ├── Fluent Builders, State Services, Logging, Plugins │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Layout Layer │
│ ├── DOM Tree (LayoutNode) — Measure → Arrange → Paint │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Rendering Layer │
│ ├── Multi-pass compositor, occlusion culling, portals │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Buffering Layer │
│ ├── CharacterBuffer → ConsoleBuffer → adaptive diff output │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Driver Layer │
│ ├── NetConsoleDriver (production) / Headless (testing) │
│ └── Raw libc I/O (Unix) / Console API (Windows) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
dotnet add package SharpConsoleUIusing SharpConsoleUI;
using SharpConsoleUI.Builders;
using SharpConsoleUI.Drivers;
using SharpConsoleUI.Panel;
var windowSystem = new ConsoleWindowSystem(
new NetConsoleDriver(RenderMode.Buffer),
options: new ConsoleWindowSystemOptions(
BottomPanelConfig: panel => panel
.Left(Elements.StartMenu())
.Center(Elements.TaskBar())
.Right(Elements.Clock())
));
var window = new WindowBuilder(windowSystem)
.WithTitle("Hello")
.WithSize(60, 20)
.Centered()
.WithBackgroundGradient(
ColorGradient.FromColors(new Color(0, 20, 60), new Color(0, 5, 20)),
GradientDirection.Vertical)
.Build();
window.AddControl(Controls.Markup()
.AddLine("[bold cyan]Real compositor. Full alpha blending.[/]")
.AddLine("[#FF000080]This text has 50% alpha — composited over the gradient.[/]")
.Build());
windowSystem.AddWindow(window);
windowSystem.Run();Each window can run with its own async thread:
var clockWindow = new WindowBuilder(windowSystem)
.WithTitle("Digital Clock")
.WithSize(40, 12)
.WithAsyncWindowThread(async (window, ct) =>
{
while (!ct.IsCancellationRequested)
{
var time = window.FindControl<MarkupControl>("time");
time?.SetContent(new List<string> { $"[bold cyan]{DateTime.Now:HH:mm:ss}[/]" });
await Task.Delay(1000, ct);
}
})
.Build();dotnet new install SharpConsoleUI.Templates
dotnet new tui-app -n MyApp # Starter app with list, button, notification
dotnet new tui-dashboard -n MyDash # Fullscreen dashboard with tabs and live metrics
dotnet new tui-multiwindow -n MyApp # Two windows with master-detail pattern
cd MyApp && dotnet runPackage your app so end users can double-click to launch — no terminal knowledge required.
dotnet tool install -g SharpConsoleUI.Host
schost init # Initialize terminal config
schost run # Launch in a configured terminal window
schost pack --installer # Package as portable zip + optional installerSee the schost guide for details.
LSP-powered IntelliSense, built-in PTY terminal, git integration. Works over SSH and in containers. github.com/nickprotop/lazydotide
14 monitoring widgets. Real-time CPU, memory, disk, network, Docker, systemd. github.com/nickprotop/ServerHub
lazygit-inspired. Browse, update, install, search NuGet.org. Cross-platform. github.com/nickprotop/lazynuget
| Capability | Other .NET TUI libraries |
|---|---|
| Overlapping windows with drag, resize, minimize, maximize | Terminal.Gui v2 beta only |
| Per-cell Porter-Duff RGBA alpha blending | None |
| Gradient backgrounds propagating through controls | None |
| PreBufferPaint / PostBufferPaint compositor hooks | None |
| Per-window async threads | None |
| PTY-backed terminal emulator control | None |
| Video playback (half-block, ASCII, braille) | None |
| Animated desktop backgrounds | None |
| Portal system for dropdowns and overlays | None |
| Plugin architecture (themes, controls, windows, services) | None |
Full comparison with Terminal.Gui, Spectre.Console, and XenoAtom.Terminal.UI: nickprotop.github.io/ConsoleEx/docfx/_site/COMPARISON.html
30+ built-in controls including:
Input: Button, Checkbox, Prompt, MultilineEdit (with syntax highlighting), Slider, RangeSlider, DatePicker, TimePicker, Dropdown, Menu, Toolbar
Display: MarkupControl (Spectre-compatible markup everywhere), FigletControl, LogViewer, SpectreRenderableControl, LineGraph, SparklineControl, BarGraph
Layout: NavigationView (WinUI-inspired, responsive), TabControl, HorizontalGrid, ScrollablePanel, SplitterControl, StatusBarControl
Drawing: CanvasControl (30+ primitives), ImageControl (PNG/JPEG/WebP), VideoControl (FFmpeg, three render modes), TerminalControl (PTY, Linux)
Selection: ListControl, TableControl (virtual data, 10k+ rows, sort, filter, inline edit), TreeControl
Full reference: nickprotop.github.io/ConsoleEx/docfx/_site/CONTROLS.html
| Get Started | Fluent builder API reference |
| Tutorials | Three step-by-step tutorials |
| Controls | All 30+ controls |
| Examples | 20+ runnable example projects |
| Compositor Effects | PreBufferPaint / PostBufferPaint |
| Video Playback | VideoControl reference |
| Panel System | Taskbar, Start Menu, Clock |
| Desktop Background | Gradients, patterns, animations |
| Plugins | Extending the framework |
| State Services | All 11 built-in services |
| Themes | Built-in and custom themes |
| Comparison | vs Terminal.Gui, Spectre.Console |
| API Reference | Full API docs |
MIT — Nikolaos Protopapas
- Spectre.Console integration via SpectreRenderableControl
- Unix raw I/O approach inspired by Terminal.Gui v2
SharpConsoleUI was initially developed manually with core windowing functionality and double-buffered rendering. The project evolved to include modern features (DOM-based layout system, fluent builders, plugin architecture, theme system) with AI assistance. Architectural decisions and feature design came from the project author, while AI generated code implementations based on those decisions.