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TypeDialog/README.md
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TypeDialog Logo

TypeDialog

A powerful, standalone library and CLI tool for creating interactive forms and prompts using the inquire crate.

Features

  • 8 Prompt Types: text, confirm, select, multi-select, password, custom, editor, date
  • Declarative Forms: TOML-based UI definitions with fragments & composition
  • Dynamic Logic: Conditional fields, smart defaults, real-time validation
  • Multi-Language Support: Fluent (.ftl) translations with automatic locale detection
  • Multiple Output Formats: JSON, YAML, TOML, and Nickel output
  • Zero Runtime Dependencies: Core library runs anywhere, no external tools required
  • 3 Backends: CLI (inquire), TUI (ratatui), Web (axum)

Integration Key

  • Type-Safe Schemas: Bidirectional Nickel integration to manage configurations and settings files.
    It requires Nickel CLI

Quick Start

Installation

See docs/INSTALLATION.md for detailed setup.

Requirements:

  • Rust 1.70+ - Install
  • just - cargo install just (or brew install just)

Build & Run

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/anthropics/typedialog.git
cd typedialog

# Build
just build::default

# Test
just test::all

# Run example
cargo run --example form

Backends at a Glance

CLI Backend (inquire)

Interactive terminal prompts for scripting and automation.

# Simple prompt
typedialog text "Enter your name"

# With options
typedialog select "Choose role" Admin User Guest

# Output as JSON
typedialog text "Email" --format json

Use for: Scripts, CI/CD pipelines, server tools, piping between tools See: examples/04-backends/cli/

TUI Backend (ratatui)

Full terminal UI with keyboard navigation and mouse support.

cargo run -p typedialog-tui --example form_with_autocompletion

Use for: Interactive dashboards, system administration tools, complex forms See: examples/04-backends/tui/

Web Backend (axum)

HTTP server with browser-based forms.

cargo run -p typedialog-web -- --config config/web/dev.toml
# Open http://localhost:3000

Use for: SaaS platforms, public forms, mobile-friendly interfaces See: examples/04-backends/web/

Complete backend guide: Backend-Specific Examples

Nickel Integration

Type-safe configuration management with bidirectional Nickel schema support.

Generate interactive forms from Nickel schemas, collect user input, and produce validated configuration output:

# 1. Define schema in Nickel
nickel eval config.ncl > schema.toml

# 2. Run interactive form
typedialog form schema.toml --backend tui

# 3. Get validated output in any format
# JSON, YAML, TOML, or back to Nickel with type preservation

Benefits:

  • Schema validation before/after collection
  • Type contracts enforced throughout pipeline
  • Documentation embedded in schemas
  • Deterministic configuration generation

Learn more:

Documentation

Complete documentation in docs/:

Document Purpose
INSTALLATION.md Prerequisites & setup
DEVELOPMENT.md Development workflows
BUILD.md Building & cross-compilation
RELEASE.md Release process
CONFIGURATION.md Backend & Nickel configuration

Examples

Complete working examples in examples/:

Category Path Contents
Getting Started 01-basic Form syntax, sections, validation
Advanced Features 02-advanced Conditional logic, dynamic fields
Styling 03-styling Themes, borders, visual design
Backends 04-backends CLI, TUI, Web implementations
Composition 05-fragments Reusable components
Integrations 06-integrations Nickel, i18n
Production 09-templates Real-world use cases

Quick start: examples/README.md

Development

Use just for all development tasks:

# Show available commands
just --list

# Format, lint, test
just check-all

# Build & package
just distro::build-release
just distro::create-package

# Full CI/CD
just ci::full

See docs/DEVELOPMENT.md for details.

Building & Distribution

Build from Source

just build::release

Binaries in target/release/

Create Distribution Package

just distro::build-release
just distro::create-package
just distro::create-checksums

Package includes binaries, configs, and installers.

See docs/BUILD.md for complete guide.

Install Distributed Release

# Linux/macOS
curl -fsSL https://github.com/anthropics/typedialog/releases/download/latest/install.sh | bash

# Windows PowerShell
irm https://github.com/anthropics/typedialog/releases/download/latest/install.ps1 | iex

See docs/RELEASE.md for release workflow.

Configuration

Pre-configured settings for each backend and environment:

config/
├── cli/         # default, dev, production
├── tui/         # default, dev, production
└── web/         # default, dev, production

See docs/CONFIGURATION.md for all options.

Project Structure

typedialog/
├── crates/
│   ├── typedialog-core/       # Core library
│   ├── typedialog/            # CLI binary
│   ├── typedialog-tui/        # TUI binary
│   └── typedialog-web/        # Web binary
├── config/                      # Configuration files
├── examples/                    # Working examples
├── scripts/                     # Build automation
├── installers/                  # Installation scripts
├── docs/                        # Documentation
├── justfile                     # Command orchestration
└── Cargo.toml                   # Workspace manifest

Key Technologies

  • Rust - Type-safe systems language
  • inquire - Interactive prompt library (CLI backend)
  • Ratatui - Terminal UI framework (TUI backend)
  • Axum - Web framework (Web backend)
  • Nickel - Type-safe configuration language (schema integration)
  • TOML - Form and configuration language
  • Fluent - Multi-language translation system
  • just - Command orchestration

Commands at a Glance

# Development
just fmt                # Format code
just lint               # Lint code
just test::all          # Run tests
just dev::watch         # Watch & rebuild
just dev::docs          # Generate docs

# Building
just build::default     # Debug build
just build::release     # Release build
just distro::cross      # Cross-compile

# CI/CD
just ci::full           # Complete pipeline
just check-all          # Format + lint + test

# Distribution
just distro::build-release      # Release build
just distro::create-package     # Package
just distro::create-checksums   # Checksums
just distro::package-release    # Prepare release

System Requirements

Minimum

  • Rust 1.70+
  • 4GB RAM
  • 2GB disk space

For Cross-Compilation

  • Docker (or cargo-cross)

Optional Tools

  • Nickel CLI - For developing type-safe Nickel schemas (used with 06-integrations/nickel/ examples)
  • cargo-watch - For hot-reload during development
  • cargo-cross - For cross-compilation to other platforms

See docs/INSTALLATION.md for setup.

License & Compliance

  • Project License: MIT
  • Dependency SBOM (SPDX): SBOM.spdx.json - ISO/IEC 5962:2021
  • Dependency SBOM (CycloneDX): SBOM.cyclonedx.json - ECMA standard
  • Regenerate SBOMs: just distro::generate-sbom

All dependencies are compatible with MIT license. Audit vulnerabilities: just ci::audit

Getting Help

  1. Documentation - Start with docs/README.md
  2. Examples - Check examples/README.md
  3. Issues - Open on GitHub

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See documentation for setup and guidelines.

Ready to get started? → docs/INSTALLATION.md