gum

• gum

  • CLI for glamorous shell scripts [1]: add interactive, styled UX to bash/zsh by composing subcommands—structured primitives that print to stdout, fit pipes, and capture into variables—instead of writing a full CLI in Go or Python.

  • Primitives (examples)

    • gum input — text prompt (e.g. placeholder).
    • gum choose — menu selection.
    • gum confirm — yes/no.
    • gum filter — fuzzy finder.
    • gum spin — spinner around a command.
    • gum style — colors, borders, layout.

  • Mental model

    • Not a classic CLI framework; closer to Unix pipes + TUI-like components—replace ad hoc read / echo / raw ANSI with consistent interactive building blocks while staying in the shell.

  • Minimal examples

    • name=$(gum input --placeholder "Enter your name")

    • choice=$(gum choose "build" "test" "deploy")

    • gum confirm "Deploy to prod?" && ./deploy.sh

    • gum spin --title "Deploying..." -- ./deploy.sh

  • Where it sits

    • Raw shell — bash, zsh.
    • Gum — quick interactive shell UX and prompts.
    • Full TUI apps — Bubble Tea, Textual, etc.
    • Full CLI frameworks — Cobra, Click, etc.
    • When you want fast script UX upgrades, use gum; when you want a stateful multi-pane app, use a TUI framework instead.

  • Why people reach for it

    • Less friction than flags-only scripts (scripts ask instead of you memorizing options). [2]
    • Better DX: color, layout, spinners, confirmations—still composable shell, no framework lock-in.

  • Limitations

    • Ephemeral interaction, not a persistent layout; not a Kanban board or long-running dashboard.
    • Not stateful between invocations; no native multi-pane UI.
    • Complements tmux (layout + persistence), fzf (sometimes overlapping with gum filter), and agent/orchestration glue—not a replacement for those.

  • Footnotes

    • [1] https://github.com/charmbracelet/gum

    • [2] https://tech.aufomm.com/how-do-i-use-charmbracelet-gum-to-improve-my-scripts/