TUI

The Nur-gold terminal UI for interactive sessions.

Built with Ratatui

The entire interface — cards, borders, animations, drag-select, and the scrollbar — is built on Ratatui (github.com/ratatui/ratatui) with crossterm for input/rendering. Enormous thanks to the Ratatui folks. 💙

Opening the TUI

nur                     # fresh session
nur "fix the bug"       # start with a prompt
nur -c                  # continue last session
nur -r <session-id>     # resume specific session

Opening banner

The splash is intentionally lean:

1. MUSE art
2. <active provider> loaded · v<cli>
3. model · cwd · session
4. Purple ecosystem line (sandbox · subagents · tools + pack status)
5. Permission mode

Mouse/keyboard interaction tips that used to live under the art are behind /tips so the banner stays short. The active provider name comes from config.provider (see Authentication).

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Keyboard shortcuts

Navigation

Key	Action
↑ ↓ · mouse wheel · drag scrollbar	Scroll transcript
Drag on chat text	Select + auto-copy (keeps range while you scroll; works on expanded thought/tool bodies)
Click ↓ N · End	Jump to latest message
Click the exact click to peek text	Opens stable dialogue (frozen position; Esc · outside · ✕ only)
Click ▸	Expand / collapse in place
Ctrl+C (peek open, no selection)	Copy full thought / tool body
Right-click or double-click a prompt	Prompt menu: fork · edit · revert · copy (works on the sticky header too)
Ctrl+P / Ctrl+N · Alt+↑/↓	Previous / next prompt from history

Peek dialogue

Click a card (or a finished turn's timing strip) to pin a peek box with its full content. Close it with the ✕, Esc, or a click anywhere outside the box.

Input

Key	Action
Ctrl+A	Select-all input (or whole transcript if input empty)
Ctrl+C	Copy selection (transcript or input); else interrupt / double-tap quit
Ctrl+V	Paste into input
Ctrl+X	Cut input selection (or whole input)
Enter	Send message
Shift+Enter	Newline in input

Control

Key	Action
Shift+Tab	Cycle permission mode (manual → plan → auto → manual)
Ctrl+R	Open sessions browser
Esc	Close peek, then cancel current turn

Approval

When the agent requests permission to run a write/shell tool:

Key	Action
y	Approve this one time
a	Always approve this tool (for this session)
n	Deny

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Slash commands

Type / in the input to see available commands.

Permission and mode

Command	Purpose
/mode	Show current permission mode
/plan	Switch to plan mode (explore + shell freely; no code edits or repo commits)
/manual	Switch to manual mode (approval required for writes)
/auto	Switch to auto mode (auto-approve all)

See Permission modes below for exactly what each mode allows.

Session and state

Command	Purpose
/sessions	Open sessions browser (same as Ctrl+R)
/resume	Resume a session
/todos	Show current todos
/clear	Clear current screen
/new	Start a new session

Knowledge stack

Command	Purpose
/graphify	Query the code knowledge graph
/plur	Search shared engram memory
/ruflo	Search vector memory
/skills	List available skills
/ecosystem	Show ecosystem status
/memory	Show session memory

Quick memory

Type # followed by a note to save it directly to ~/.nur/memory.md without starting a turn:

# use cargo-nextest for test runner, not cargo test

The note is appended to your persistent memory file and recalled automatically in future sessions.

Model and context

Command	Purpose
/model	Show and switch models. Run bare to open a picker that fetches your provider's live model list (/models) — filter, arrow, and ↵ to switch, or type any id. /model <id> switches directly (e.g. /model muse-spark-1.1)
/plugins	Marketplace picker (same UX as provider//login picker): filter, ↑↓/wheel, ↵ to install or enable/disable. Skills land in ~/.nur/plugins/<id> and mirror in full (incl. references/) to ~/.nur/skills. CLI: nur plugins list\|install\|enable\|disable\|uninstall. Natural-language phrases (e.g. think like fable) auto-activate skills for the turn — status chip skill · activated from your wording…
/effort	Change reasoning effort
/compact	Manually compact context (thins old tool bodies; keeps recent turns; writes .precompact.bak)
/usage	Show token usage and cost (/cost) — includes budget caps when set
/budget	Session spend ceiling: /budget [cost <usd>\|tokens <n>\|clear\|save]
/poor	Toggle cost-saver prompt (skip PLUR inject / skills catalog / long memory; tools stay full)
/context	Context-window utilization (bar + tokens)
/status	Session snapshot: model · mode · cwd · tokens · cost

Project and shell

Command	Purpose
/cd <path>	Change the working directory tools are sandboxed to (~ and relative paths OK)
/pwd	Print the current working directory
/init	Initialise project instructions (NUR.md)
/config	Show config + data paths
/permissions	Show or reload allow/deny/ask rules (permissions.toml)
/hooks	Local tool hook status (hooks.toml)
/doctor	Inline health check: version · auth · ecosystem · shell · budgets
/help	Show keys + commands reference
/login	Multi-provider sign-in (see below)
/logout	Clear stored API key
/goal	Standing session goal (see below)
/btw	One-off note for the next message only
/codesearch /cs	Fast workspace ripgrep
/mc /mcp	MCP servers via the Executor gateway
/fusion	Multi-model debate → one synthesized answer. /fusion panel <ids> sets the panel, /fusion <question> asks it, /fusion off clears
/local	Managed local model (bundled llama.cpp): /local up [tier\|url], status, models, down
/bench	Benchmark models on your tasks: /bench add\|list\|run <name> [models]\|remove
/feedback	File a GitHub issue (gh or browser)
/tips	Mouse + keyboard interaction tips (lean banner counterpart)
/bug	Open GitHub issues page (report a bug)
/exit	Quit NurCLI

Multi-provider /login

/login

Scrollable, type-to-filter catalog of 60+ providers → masked key → writes provider / base_url / model to config and hot-swaps the HTTP client. Full detail: Authentication.

Session goal & side notes

Command	Behaviour
/goal <text>	Standing goal for this session. Prepended as context on every turn (not shown as a user bubble).
/goal	Show the current goal
/goal clear	Drop the goal (none / off also work)
/btw <note>	Queues a one-off note that rides along with your next message only (stackable)

Code search

/codesearch <regex or text>
/cs foo::bar

Runs the workspace grep tool immediately and prints matches in the transcript (no full agent turn).

MCP (/mc)

/mc                 # list sources (default)
/mc sources         # same
/mc status
/mc search <query>

Uses the Executor gateway (executor tool). If MCP is missing:

nur ecosystem ensure

Feedback

/feedback <what happened / what you'd like>

Creates a GitHub issue on nuroctane/nur-cli via gh when available; otherwise opens a prefilled new-issue page in the browser. Includes CLI version, OS, and model in the body footer.

Cost control (quick)

/budget cost 5          # hard-stop this session around $5
/budget save            # persist ceilings to config.toml
/poor                   # leaner system prompt (tools unchanged)

Oversized tool results automatically spill under ~/.nur/tool-results/ with a short preview for the model — see Configuration.

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Permission modes

Cycle with Shift+Tab (manual → plan → auto); switch directly with /manual, /plan, /auto. The change applies immediately, even mid-turn.

Mode	What runs freely	What needs approval / is blocked
manual	Reads (read_file, grep, look, git_status, …)	Writes, bash, extract_frames → prompt y / a / n
plan	Reads and shell for reading, parsing, tests, and scratch/media compute (ffmpeg, extract_frames, copying a clip, analysis scripts)	Blocked: code authoring (write_file / edit_file / multi_edit / apply_patch) and repo/VCS mutation — git commit/push/add/reset/… , gh pr create, dependency installs
auto	Everything (no prompts)	—

Plan mode is for exploring and understanding a codebase without changing it: run whatever analysis you like, but no edits land and nothing is committed until you switch to manual or auto.

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Visual design

Colour system

Tool cards are colour-coded by family:

Family	Hue	Tools
read	sky	read_file list_dir grep glob
edit	violet	write_file edit_file multi_edit apply_patch
shell	amber	bash
vision	pink	look extract_frames
web	teal	web_fetch web_search
git	cyan	git_status git_diff
knowledge	indigo / orange	graphify plur ruflo skill memory

Thought cards

The model's reasoning is displayed in violet thought cards that are collapsed by default. Click to expand.

Duration chips

Each tool call shows a duration chip (e.g. 1.2s) so you can see where time is spent.

Approval mini-diff

When a write tool requests approval, the TUI shows a compact diff preview of what will change. The diff is line-numbered with +/- indicators so you can see exactly which lines will be added or removed before approving.

Transcript diffs

Edit tools (edit_file, write_file, multi_edit, apply_patch) render a green/red unified diff inline in the transcript — added lines in green bands, removed in red, with a +adds -dels chip on the card header. Cards always show click to peek; the peek dialogue opens the full path + content/diff (not just the short card preview).

Queued follow-ups — send now

While a turn is running, typing and sending queues a follow-up. The transcript shows a queued card with:

Action	What it does
send now	Interjects next: cancels the current turn if busy, then runs this follow-up with full prior session context.
dismiss	Drops the follow-up without sending.

If you do nothing, the queue still drains when the current turn finishes (unless you cancelled without send now).

Prompt menu — fork · edit · revert · copy

Right-click or double-click any of your prompts (in the transcript or on the sticky header) to open a small menu — styled like every other dialogue:

Action	What it does
Fork	Branch into a new session seeded with the conversation up to that prompt. The original session is kept intact on disk; the prompt lands in your input to continue the fork.
Edit	Load the prompt into the input without rewinding history. Send to interject as a new turn with full prior context kept.
Revert	Rewind the session to just before that prompt (transcript, messages, and the model's context are all truncated). The prompt returns to the input to edit and resend.
Copy	Copy the prompt text to the clipboard.

No keyboard shortcuts — move the highlight with the wheel or ↑/↓, choose with Enter or a click, dismiss with Esc, the ✕, or a click outside.

Sessions browser

Open with Ctrl+R or /sessions. Browse recent sessions with a prompt-first picker — see the first user message of each session to find the one you want.

• Defaults to all workspaces (not only the current cwd). Toggle here / all with Tab or the scope chip.
• Scans both ~/.nur/sessions and legacy ~/.muse/sessions; when the same id exists twice, the richer copy wins.
• Lists show message counts, tokens, and estimated cost so high-spend sessions are easy to spot.
• Session saves write a sidecar .json.bak before overwrite.

Sticky prompt

The PROMPT banner stays visible at the top as you scroll, so you always see the context of the conversation.

Splash screen

The splash shows the active model title. The rest of the chrome is model-agnostic.

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ADE / Orca integration

NurCLI writes live status files for host panels:

Path	Contents
~/.nur/status.json	Live tokens, cost, model, state
~/.nur/usage.jsonl	Per-request log
~/.nur/ade.json	Discovery manifest

nur install-hook           # install Orca agent hook
orca terminal create --command nur    # launch in Orca