ink-component-generator

Development

Generate Ink (React for CLI) components for terminal UIs with hooks, state management, and layout components.

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Ink Component Generator

Generate Ink (React) components for terminal UIs.

Capabilities

Generate Ink React components
Create custom hooks for CLI state
Set up layout components (Box, Text)
Implement input handling
Create loading and progress components
Set up testing with ink-testing-library

Usage

Invoke this skill when you need to:

Build terminal UIs with React patterns
Create interactive CLI components
Implement stateful terminal interfaces
Set up Ink project structure

Inputs

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
projectName	string	Yes	Project name
components	array	Yes	Component definitions
includeHooks	boolean	No	Generate custom hooks

Component Structure

{
  "components": [
    {
      "name": "SelectList",
      "type": "interactive",
      "props": ["items", "onSelect"],
      "state": ["selectedIndex"]
    }
  ]
}

Generated Patterns

Select List Component

import React, { useState, useCallback } from 'react';
import { Box, Text, useInput, useApp } from 'ink';

interface SelectListProps {
  items: string[];
  onSelect: (item: string, index: number) => void;
}

export const SelectList: React.FC<SelectListProps> = ({ items, onSelect }) => {
  const [selectedIndex, setSelectedIndex] = useState(0);
  const { exit } = useApp();

  useInput((input, key) => {
    if (key.upArrow) {
      setSelectedIndex((prev) => (prev > 0 ? prev - 1 : items.length - 1));
    } else if (key.downArrow) {
      setSelectedIndex((prev) => (prev < items.length - 1 ? prev + 1 : 0));
    } else if (key.return) {
      onSelect(items[selectedIndex], selectedIndex);
    } else if (input === 'q' || key.escape) {
      exit();
    }
  });

  return (
    <Box flexDirection="column">
      {items.map((item, index) => (
        <Box key={item}>
          <Text color={index === selectedIndex ? 'green' : undefined}>
            {index === selectedIndex ? '> ' : '  '}
            {item}
          </Text>
        </Box>
      ))}
      <Box marginTop={1}>
        <Text dimColor>Use arrow keys to navigate, Enter to select, q to quit</Text>
      </Box>
    </Box>
  );
};

Text Input Component

import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { Box, Text, useInput } from 'ink';

interface TextInputProps {
  placeholder?: string;
  onSubmit: (value: string) => void;
  mask?: string;
}

export const TextInput: React.FC<TextInputProps> = ({
  placeholder = '',
  onSubmit,
  mask,
}) => {
  const [value, setValue] = useState('');
  const [cursor, setCursor] = useState(0);

  useInput((input, key) => {
    if (key.return) {
      onSubmit(value);
      return;
    }
    if (key.backspace || key.delete) {
      setValue((prev) => prev.slice(0, -1));
      setCursor((prev) => Math.max(0, prev - 1));
      return;
    }
    if (!key.ctrl && !key.meta && input) {
      setValue((prev) => prev + input);
      setCursor((prev) => prev + 1);
    }
  });

  const displayValue = mask ? mask.repeat(value.length) : value;

  return (
    <Box>
      <Text>
        {displayValue || <Text dimColor>{placeholder}</Text>}
        <Text backgroundColor="white"> </Text>
      </Text>
    </Box>
  );
};

Spinner Component

import React, { useState, useEffect } from 'react';
import { Text } from 'ink';

const frames = ['⠋', '⠙', '⠹', '⠸', '⠼', '⠴', '⠦', '⠧', '⠇', '⠏'];

interface SpinnerProps {
  label?: string;
}

export const Spinner: React.FC<SpinnerProps> = ({ label }) => {
  const [frame, setFrame] = useState(0);

  useEffect(() => {
    const timer = setInterval(() => {
      setFrame((prev) => (prev + 1) % frames.length);
    }, 80);
    return () => clearInterval(timer);
  }, []);

  return (
    <Text>
      <Text color="green">{frames[frame]}</Text>
      {label && <Text> {label}</Text>}
    </Text>
  );
};

Custom Hook - useAsync

import { useState, useEffect, useCallback } from 'react';

interface AsyncState<T> {
  data: T | null;
  loading: boolean;
  error: Error | null;
}

export function useAsync<T>(
  asyncFn: () => Promise<T>,
  deps: any[] = []
): AsyncState<T> & { refetch: () => void } {
  const [state, setState] = useState<AsyncState<T>>({
    data: null,
    loading: true,
    error: null,
  });

  const execute = useCallback(async () => {
    setState({ data: null, loading: true, error: null });
    try {
      const data = await asyncFn();
      setState({ data, loading: false, error: null });
    } catch (error) {
      setState({ data: null, loading: false, error: error as Error });
    }
  }, deps);

  useEffect(() => {
    execute();
  }, [execute]);

  return { ...state, refetch: execute };
}

Dependencies

{
  "dependencies": {
    "ink": "^4.0.0",
    "react": "^18.0.0"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/react": "^18.0.0",
    "ink-testing-library": "^3.0.0"
  }
}

Target Processes

tui-application-framework
interactive-form-implementation
dashboard-monitoring-tui