Bubble Tea
A Go framework for building interactive terminal apps using the Elm Architecture.
- Stars
- 45.6k
- Forks
- 2.6k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- Go
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- Library
What it is
Bubble Tea is a Go framework for building terminal applications, the text-based programs you run in a command line window. It uses The Elm Architecture, a pattern where the app keeps a model of its state, updates that state when events like key presses arrive, and renders a view from that state. The README says it supports inline, full-window, or mixed terminal UIs and includes features such as keyboard and mouse handling and native clipboard support.
- Build a shopping-list style app that moves a cursor with arrow keys and toggles items, as in the README tutorial
- Create a full-window terminal dashboard or an inline prompt tool
- Add keyboard and mouse handling to a command-line program
- Combine with the separate Bubbles library for common UI components like text inputs
Great for
- Go developers who want to build interactive command-line tools with a visual interface
- Developers who prefer a functional, state-driven way to structure UI code
- Teams building simple or complex terminal apps that need keyboard and mouse input
- People who want to follow the official tutorial to learn terminal UI basics in Go
Not ideal for
- People who do not write Go, since the framework is only for Go code
- Anyone who needs a ready-made finished app rather than a library to build one, because it is a framework for developers
- Projects that need a graphical desktop or web interface, since it targets terminals
How to get it
- 1
Install with a package manager
You'll need: Go
Fetch the library into a Go module
go mod tidy - 2
Run it
- Create a Go program that imports charm.land/bubbletea/v2 as tea
- Define a model struct to hold your app state
- Implement Init, Update, and View methods on the model
- Call tea.NewProgram with your initial model and run it
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Read the upgrade guide if you are moving from v1 to v2
- Use the Bubbles library for ready-made UI components
- Explore the examples directory linked from the README to see working programs
- Use the Command Tutorial linked in the README to learn how to perform I/O
Downloads
Strengths
- Simple, clear structure based on Init, Update, and View methods that the README explains step by step
- Includes a tutorial, examples, and Go docs to help you get started
- Used in production according to the README, with an MIT license
Trade-offs
- Requires working knowledge of Go, as the README's tutorial states
- The README mentions an upgrade guide from v1, so older code may need changes to work with v2
- No binaries are provided with the latest release, so you must build from source using Go
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bubbletea (this) | 45.6k | Library | intermediate | 4 days ago | Go developers who want to build interactive command-line tools with a visual interface |
| tview | 14.1k | Library | intermediate | 3 months ago | Go developers building interactive command-line tools with menus, forms, or tables |
| termui | 13.6k | Library | intermediate | 1.3 years ago | Go developers who want to build a terminal monitoring dashboard |
| lipgloss | 12k | Library | intermediate | 4 days ago | Go developers building terminal user interfaces |
| kratos | 26k | Library | intermediate | 4 days ago | Go developers building a set of backend services that talk over HTTP or gRPC |
| superfile | 24k | App | beginner | 7 days ago | People who spend a lot of time in the terminal and want a visual file browser there |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.