# ggerganov/imtui

ImTui: Immediate Mode Text-based User Interface C++ Library

Repository: https://github.com/ggerganov/imtui
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/imtui
Homepage: https://imtui.ggerganov.com
Language: C++
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: ui, tui, text, user-interface
Last push: 2025-10-10T08:43:31+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 44/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 46, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2460, "days_push": 327, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3617, forks 155 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:11.788715+00:00)

## What it is
ImTui is an immediate mode text-based user interface (TUI) C++ library that ports the Dear ImGui API to the terminal via ncurses, supporting 256 ANSI colors and mouse/keyboard input. It also compiles to WebAssembly with Emscripten for in-browser demos.

## Use cases
- build a terminal UI in C++ with an immediate mode API
- port an existing Dear ImGui app to the terminal
- create a text-based client for a web service like Slack or Hacker News
- render interactive widgets with 256 colors in a TUI
- run a TUI app in the browser via Emscripten
- handle mouse and keyboard input in a terminal application

## When to choose
- you want Dear ImGui's API and widget set inside a terminal
- you're writing a C++ interactive TUI and prefer immediate mode over ncurses directly
- you need the same UI code to run in terminal and browser (WASM)

## When to avoid
- you need a rich graphical (non-text) GUI
- you prefer retained-mode TUI frameworks or are not using C++
- you need advanced terminal features beyond ANSI colors and basic mouse/keyboard support

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: ui-components, terminal-ui, gui
- domain: developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cpp, browser, wasm, cli
- tags: tui, immediate-mode, imgui, ncurses, ansi-colors, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- ggerganov/imtui (main) score 44

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:11.788715+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:31:59.924809+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/ggerganov/imtui (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:11.788715+00:00, sha bca8ebd5dc47)
  - homepage: https://imtui.ggerganov.com (fetched 2026-08-29T09:26:38.545024+00:00, sha 1cc51a962149)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.