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TUI and CLI Patterns · nwave-ai | DecimalAI

codingby nwave-ai

TUI and CLI Patterns

nwave-ai/nw-ux-tui-patterns

Source nwave-ai/nwave ↗License MIT

Terminal UI and CLI design patterns for product owners. Load when designing command-line tools, interactive terminal applications, or writing CLI-specific acceptance criteria.

SkillScore100Maintained

On-demandOn-demand: invoked explicitly — never occupies your agent's context until called.

Design & UX Review pack

Last verified 8/16/2026

What it changes

Passed 22 of 22 test cases with the skill, and 19 of 22 without it.

Without skill86%

With skill100%

Checks it passed that the model alone missed

defines standard exit code 0 for success
specifies 100ms initial response threshold
defines standard exit code 2 for usage error

and 3 more in the full report

3 fixed19 passed either way0 still failing0 broke

Pass-rate lift: +14 pp
Tokens: +52%
Agent turns: 0%
Response time: -21%

Model gemini-3.6-flashMeasured 8/16/2026v122 of 22 cases passed with skill

Tokens, turns and time describe resource use, not a dollar price.

Use this skill

Save it into your project's skills folder. Claude Code picks it up in its next session.

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/nwave-ai-nw-ux-tui-patterns/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/nwave-ai-nw-ux-tui-patterns/SKILL.md

Want it pinned and updatable? pip install "decimalai>=0.15", then decimalai skills add nwave-ai-nw-ux-tui-patterns, and start Claude Code with claude --plugin-dir "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)/.agents"

1 · One-time — install the CLI (docs ↗)

pip install "decimalai>=0.15"

2 · Get the skill — writes .agents/skills/nwave-ai-nw-ux-tui-patterns/ and pins it in .decimal/skills.lock

decimalai skills add nwave-ai-nw-ux-tui-patterns

No CLI? Get the same file — curl · raw file

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/nwave-ai-nw-ux-tui-patterns/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/nwave-ai-nw-ux-tui-patterns/SKILL.md

Raw file: /s/nwave-ai-nw-ux-tui-patterns/SKILL.md ↗ · machine-readable summary at /s/nwave-ai-nw-ux-tui-patterns.json ↗

Safety checks: 3 of 3 passed

Code scan CleanIntent PassedContent Clean

See it in action

One of 3 test cases the skill fixed. Same model, same prompt, with and without the skill.

1 of 3

Prompt

I am building a terminal application for managing cloud database clusters and need an audit of our CLI design draft. Please evaluate our subcommand layout, option conventions, and failure report formatting. Produce a comprehensive review broken down by user discoverability, console output handling, and responsiveness guidelines.

What was checked, without and with the skill
Checked	Without skill	With skill
recommends --dry-run flag for destructive operations	Missed	Passed
specifies 100ms initial response threshold	Missed	Passed
includes --version flag in standard flag guidance	Passed	Passed

case-01 · gemini-3.6-flash · 8/16/2026 · answers are capped and redacted

What's inside

The instructions your model reads when the skill loads.

SKILL.md194 linessingle file

TUI and CLI Patterns

Actionable terminal interface patterns for requirements gathering and design review. Use when target is CLI tool or interactive terminal application.

CLI Argument Design

Command Structure

Follow program subcommand [flags] [arguments] (e.g., git commit -m "message").

Flags and Options

Both short (-h) and long (--help) for common flags
Reserve single-letter flags for frequently used options
Standard flags always: --help, --version, --verbose/--quiet, --no-color
Never accept secrets via flags (use files, stdin, or env vars)
Make flag order independent

Subcommands

Verbs for actions: create, delete, list, show, update
Nouns for targets: user, project, config
Pick one pattern (tool resource action or tool action resource) consistently
Provide shell completion scripts for discoverability

Argument Design Principles

Required arguments are positional; optional use flags. Accept stdin for piping. Support glob patterns for file arguments. Provide --dry-run for destructive/complex operations.

Interactive TUI Patterns

Framework Architectures

Framework	Language	Architecture	Best For
Bubble Tea	Go	Elm (Model-Update-View)	Full TUI apps with complex state
Rich	Python	Declarative rendering	Beautiful output, progress, tables
Ink	JavaScript	React component model	Teams with React experience
Textual	Python	CSS-like styling, widgets	Dashboard-style applications
Ratatui	Rust	Immediate-mode rendering	High-performance terminal apps

Key Architectural Pattern (Elm Architecture)

Model: Application state (single data structure)
Update: Pure function taking model + message, returns new model

Track record

Benchmark

22 / 22

test cases passed, vs 19 / 22 without

Adoption

Users: 0
Times used: 0

Safety and source details

SkillSafety

✓ 3 of 3 passed

Code scan15 of 15 checks clean

0 critical · 0 warning · 0 info — scanner v4 — 8/3/2026

View 15 scanner checks

live_secretremote_code_executionreverse_shelldata_exfiltrationssrf_metadataagent_snoopinganti_refusaldestructive_commandsobfuscated_unicodeunicode_homoglyphopaque_blobsuspicious_urltool_overreachtrigger_abuseprompt_injection_phrasing

IntentSafe

LLM judge · does the skill do what it claims

ContentClean

LLM judge · policy & harmful-content review

Source

Imported

nwave-ai / nwave

nWave/skills/nw-ux-tui-patterns/SKILL.md

View on GitHub ↗

License MITImported 8/3/2026Version v1

More skills from the same source and nearby in the registry, with their headline benchmark lift.

Ready to supercharge your AI agents?

See it in action

What's inside

TUI and CLI Patterns

CLI Argument Design

Command Structure

Flags and Options

Subcommands

Argument Design Principles

Interactive TUI Patterns

Framework Architectures

Key Architectural Pattern (Elm Architecture)

Track record

Benchmark

Adoption

SkillSafety

Source

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