ink

). Use for grouping, spacing, borders, alignment. Default flexDirection is row. Text - Text output with optional styling (color, bold, italic, etc.) Newline - Inserts blank lines. Must be inside a Box with flexDirection column. Spacer - Flexible empty space that expands along the main axis. Content Heading - Section heading (h1: bold+underlined, h2: bold, h3: bold+dimmed, h4: dimmed) Divider - Horizontal separator with optional centered title Badge - Colored inline label (variants: default, info, success, warning, error) Spinner - Animated loading spinner with optional label ProgressBar - Horizontal progress bar (0-1) Sparkline - Inline chart using Unicode block characters BarChart - Horizontal bar chart with labels and values Table - Tabular data with headers and rows List - Bulleted or numbered list ListItem - Structured list row with title, subtitle, leading/trailing text Card - Bordered container with optional title KeyValue - Key-value pair display Link - Clickable URL with optional label StatusLine - Status message with colored icon (info, success, warning, error) Markdown - Renders markdown text with terminal styling Interactive TextInput - Text input field (events: submit, change) Select - Selection menu with arrow key navigation (events: change) MultiSelect - Multi-selection with space to toggle (events: change, submit) ConfirmInput - Yes/No confirmation prompt (events: confirm, deny) Tabs - Tab bar navigation with left/right arrow keys (events: change) Visibility Conditions Use visible on elements to show/hide based on state. Syntax: { "$state": "/path" } , { "$state": "/path", "eq": value } , { "$state": "/path", "not": true } , { "$and": [cond1, cond2] } for AND, { "$or": [cond1, cond2] } for OR. Dynamic Prop Expressions Any prop value can be a data-driven expression resolved at render time: { "$state": "/state/key" } - reads from state model (one-way read) { "$bindState": "/path" } - two-way binding: use on the natural value prop of form components { "$bindItem": "field" } - two-way binding to a repeat item field { "$cond": , "$then": , "$else": } - conditional value { "$template": "Hello, ${/name}!" } - interpolates state values into strings Components do not use a statePath prop for two-way binding. Use { "$bindState": "/path" } on the natural value prop instead. Event System Components use emit to fire named events. The element's on field maps events to action bindings: CustomButton : ( { props , emit } ) => ( < Box > < Text > { props . label } { /* emit("press") triggers the action bound in the spec's on.press */ } ) , { "type" : "CustomButton" , "props" : { "label" : "Submit" } , "on" : { "press" : { "action" : "submit" } } , "children" : [ ] } Built-in Actions setState , pushState , and removeState are built-in and handled automatically: { "action" : "setState" , "params" : { "statePath" : "/activeTab" , "value" : "home" } } { "action" : "pushState" , "params" : { "statePath" : "/items" , "value" : { "text" : "New" } } } { "action" : "removeState" , "params" : { "statePath" : "/items" , "index" : 0 } } Repeat (Dynamic Lists) Use the repeat field on a container element to render items from a state array: { "type" : "Box" , "props" : { "flexDirection" : "column" } , "repeat" : { "statePath" : "/items" , "key" : "id" } , "children" : [ "item-row" ] } Inside repeated children, use { "$item": "field" } to read from the current item and { "$index": true } for the current index. Streaming Use useUIStream to progressively render specs from JSONL patch streams: import { useUIStream } from "@json-render/ink" ; const { spec , send , isStreaming } = useUIStream ( { api : "/api/generate" } ) ; Server-Side Prompt Generation Use the ./server export to generate AI system prompts from your catalog: import { catalog } from "./catalog" ; const systemPrompt = catalog . prompt ( { system : "You are a terminal assistant." } ) ; Providers Provider Purpose StateProvider Share state across components (JSON Pointer paths). Accepts optional store prop for controlled mode. ActionProvider Handle actions dispatched via the event system VisibilityProvider Enable conditional rendering based on state ValidationProvider Form field validation FocusProvider Manage focus across interactive components JSONUIProvider Combined provider for all contexts External Store (Controlled Mode) Pass a StateStore to StateProvider (or JSONUIProvider ) to use external state management: import { createStateStore , type StateStore } from "@json-render/ink" ; const store = createStateStore ( { count : 0 } ) ; < StateProvider store = { store } > { children } store . set ( "/count" , 1 ) ; // React re-renders automatically When store is provided, initialState and onStateChange are ignored. createRenderer (Higher-Level API) import { createRenderer } from "@json-render/ink" ; import { standardComponents } from "@json-render/ink" ; import { catalog } from "./catalog" ; const InkRenderer = createRenderer ( catalog , { ... standardComponents , // custom component overrides here } ) ; // InkRenderer includes all providers (state, visibility, actions, focus) render ( < InkRenderer spec = { spec } state = { { activeTab : "overview" } } /> ) ; Key Exports Export Purpose defineRegistry Create a type-safe component registry from a catalog Renderer Render a spec using a registry createRenderer Higher-level: creates a component with built-in providers JSONUIProvider Combined provider for all contexts schema Ink flat element map schema (includes built-in state actions) standardComponentDefinitions Catalog definitions for all standard components standardActionDefinitions Catalog definitions for standard actions standardComponents Pre-built component implementations useStateStore Access state context useStateValue Get single value from state useBoundProp Two-way binding for $bindState / $bindItem expressions useActions Access actions context useAction Get a single action dispatch function useOptionalValidation Non-throwing variant of useValidation useUIStream Stream specs from an API endpoint createStateStore Create a framework-agnostic in-memory StateStore StateStore Interface for plugging in external state management Components Typed component map (catalog-aware) Actions Typed action map (catalog-aware) ComponentContext Typed component context (catalog-aware) flatToTree Convert flat element map to tree structure Terminal UI Design Guidelines Use Box for layout (flexDirection, padding, gap). Default flexDirection is row. Terminal width is ~80-120 columns. Prefer vertical layouts (flexDirection: column) for main structure. Use borderStyle on Box for visual grouping (single, double, round, bold). Use named terminal colors: red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white, gray. Use Heading for section titles, Divider to separate sections, Badge for status, KeyValue for labeled data, Card for bordered groups. Use Tabs for multi-view UIs with visible conditions on child content. Use Sparkline for inline trends and BarChart for comparing values.