---
title: TUI Overview
description: The redesigned terminal UI — Claude Code and Kimi Code styling with a 19MB Go binary.
sidebar:
  order: 1
  label: TUI Overview
---

## Terminal UI Overview

NIKI's terminal UI was redesigned to replicate the styling of Claude Code and Kimi Code, built in Go as a 19MB static binary with zero runtime dependencies. The TUI boots to an interactive frame in **5.9 ms** and outputs `--version` in **6.8 ms**.

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## Design Language

The TUI follows a modern terminal aesthetic with:

- **Pixel mascot badge** with customizable theme styles
- **Rounded welcome card** with aligned metadata table (directory, session, model, version)
- **Quick action announcement row** with cyan diamond glyph
- **Redesigned composer** with rounded border and dynamic responsive width
- **Dual-mode status footer** with permission pills, mode badge, thinking state, cwd, git branch, keyboard hints, and real token context meter
- **Enriched transcript rendering** with golden sparkle user glyphs, assistant bullets, and tree-branch tool execution cells

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## Performance Contract

| Metric | NIKI (Go) | Codex CLI (Rust) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `--version` | **6.8 ms** | 20.0 ms |
| TTFP (First Paint) | **5.9 ms** | 23.4 ms |
| Idle Memory (2s) | **13.1 MB** | 21.7 MB |
| Binary Size | **19 MB** | 244 MB |

Measured on host (`AMD Ryzen 7 4800H`, `Linux WSL2`, `go1.27.1`).

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## Cross-Platform Support

The TUI supports cross-platform terminal polling on both POSIX and Windows systems, with:

- POSIX terminal polling via termios
- Windows terminal polling via console API
- Graceful fallback for unsupported terminals
- `NIKI_TUI_DEBUG` per-frame log for troubleshooting

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## Keyboard Shortcuts

| Key | Action |
| --- | --- |
| `Enter` | Send message or execute command |
| `Esc` | Interrupt ongoing model stream or deny approval prompt |
| `Ctrl+C` | Cleanly cancel current turn and restore terminal state |
| `Ctrl+Z` | Suspend process to background |
| `Ctrl+F` | Transcript search |
| `Ctrl+E` | Toggle mouse motion/SGR |
| `Ctrl+Y` | Yank from kill ring |
| `Ctrl+W` / `Ctrl+U` / `Ctrl+K` | Delete into kill ring |
| `Ctrl+Z` / `Ctrl+_` | Input undo |
| `Ctrl+Y` | Input redo (yank) |
| `Alt+Y` | Yank-pop (cycle kill ring) |

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## Slash Commands

| Command | Action |
| --- | --- |
| `/help` | Display active keybindings, tools, and slash commands |
| `/doctor` | Run comprehensive system and sandbox diagnostics |
| `/compact` | Force context compaction, folding past turn history |
| `/model` | Inspect active model, context window, and token prices |
| `/clear` | Clear visible terminal viewport |
| `/quit` | Cleanly restore terminal termios state and exit |
| `/status` | Show pipeline status |
| `/permissions` | Manage permission settings |
| `/plan` | Toggle plan mode |
| `/version` | Show version information |
| `/rename` | Rename current session |
| `/fork` | Fork current session |
| `/branch` | Show or switch branches |
| `/usage` | Show usage statistics |
| `/effort` | Adjust effort level |
| `/mcp` | Manage MCP servers |
| `/skills` | Manage skills |
| `/copy` | Copy last response |
| `/export-md` | Export transcript as Markdown |
| `/btw` | Add a side note |
| `/code-review` | Run code review |
| `/security-review` | Run security review |
| `/add-dir` | Add directory to workspace |
| `/loop` | Toggle loop mode |
| `/voice` | Toggle voice input |

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## Theming

The TUI supports theme customization with:

- Warm SAND_500 as the default theme
- Customizable mascot badge styles
- Color depth detection: `NO_COLOR` → ANSI-16 → 256-color → truecolor
- Kitty keyboard protocol support (progressive adoption, I4)