Installation

Install Rezi packages from npm to start building terminal applications.

Requirements

• Runtime: Node.js 18.18.0+ or Bun 1.3.0+
• Operating System: Linux, macOS, or Windows
• Terminal: Any terminal emulator with 256-color or true-color support

Install via npm

If you want a ready-to-run starter, use the scaffolding tool:

npm create rezi my-app

Install the core and Node.js/Bun backend packages:

npm install @rezi-ui/core @rezi-ui/node

Or with other package managers:

npm install @rezi-ui/core @rezi-ui/node

pnpm add @rezi-ui/core @rezi-ui/node

yarn add @rezi-ui/core @rezi-ui/node

bun add @rezi-ui/core @rezi-ui/node

Prebuilt Binaries

Installing @rezi-ui/node also installs @rezi-ui/native, which contains the prebuilt .node binaries for supported platforms:

No install-time source build runs for unsupported targets. If a matching prebuilt binary is not available, build from a repository checkout with npm run build:native.

Package Overview

Optional packages

@rezi-ui/core

The core package is runtime-agnostic and contains:

• All widget constructors (ui.text, ui.button, ui.table, etc.)
• Layout engine with flexbox-like semantics
• Theme system with built-in presets
• Form management and validation
• Keybinding parser and matcher
• Focus management utilities
• Binary protocol builders and parsers

@rezi-ui/node

The Node.js/Bun backend provides:

• Runtime execution modes (worker, inline, auto)
• Native addon binding to the Zireael C engine
• Terminal capability detection
• Event loop integration
• Debug tracing and performance instrumentation

@rezi-ui/testkit

Testing utilities for Rezi applications:

• Test fixtures for protocol testing
• Golden file comparison utilities
• Mock backends for unit testing

Install for development:

npm install --save-dev @rezi-ui/testkit

TypeScript Setup

Rezi is written in TypeScript and ships with full type definitions. No additional @types/* packages are needed.

Recommended tsconfig.json settings:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2022",
    "module": "ESNext",
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "strict": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true
  }
}

For maximum type safety, enable these additional options:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "noUncheckedIndexedAccess": true,
    "exactOptionalPropertyTypes": true
  }
}

Verify Installation

Create a test file to verify your installation:

// test.ts
import { ui } from "@rezi-ui/core";
import { createNodeApp } from "@rezi-ui/node";

const app = createNodeApp({
    initialState: {},
});

app.view(() => ui.text("Rezi is working!"));

await app.start();

Run with:

npx tsx test.ts

Or with Bun:

bun run test.ts

You should see "Rezi is working!" displayed in your terminal.

Building from Source

For contributors or custom platform builds, see the Build Guide.

Next Steps

• Quickstart - Build your first Rezi application
• Examples - Learn from example applications
• Widget Catalog - Browse available widgets