bbc-news-cli

Crates.iobbc-news-cli
lib.rsbbc-news-cli
version1.0.3
created_at2025-10-19 00:31:51.133489+00
updated_at2025-10-19 02:15:11.688565+00
descriptionBrowse BBC News like a hacker.
homepagehttps://github.com/hako/bbcli
repositoryhttps://github.com/hako/bbcli
max_upload_size
id1889791
size197,892
Wesley Hill (hako)

documentation

README

bbcli

Browse BBC News like a hacker.

A terminal-based BBC News reader built with Rust and ratatui, featuring a compact, numbered list interface with vim-like navigation.

Note: This is a complete rewrite of bbcli in Rust.

installation

From crates.io

# Install from crates.io
cargo install bbc-news-cli

Using cargo-binstall (recommended)

Fast binary installation without compiling:

# Install cargo-binstall first if needed
# See: https://github.com/cargo-bins/cargo-binstall

cargo binstall bbc-news-cli

Using eget

Download pre-built binaries:

eget hako/bbcli

From source

git clone https://github.com/hako/bbcli
cd bbcli
cargo build --release
cargo install --path .

usage

# Launch interactive TUI
bbcli

# Or use CLI mode (see below)
bbcli list

cli mode:

bbcli includes a powerful CLI mode for quick access to headlines and articles without launching the full TUI.

List Headlines

# List top stories
bbcli list

# List from specific feed
bbcli --feed world list
bbcli --feed technology list
bbcli --feed business list

Open Article in Browser

# Open article #3 in browser
bbcli open 3

# Open from specific feed
bbcli --feed technology open 1

Show Article in Terminal

# Read article #2 in terminal (reader mode)
bbcli show 2

# Show article from specific feed
bbcli --feed world show 5

Available Feeds

Use -f or --feed with any of these feeds:

  • top (default) - Top Stories
  • world - World News
  • uk - UK News
  • business / biz - Business
  • politics / pol - Politics
  • health - Health
  • education / edu - Education & Family
  • science / sci - Science & Environment
  • technology / tech - Technology
  • entertainment / ent - Entertainment & Arts
  • Regional: england, scotland, wales, northern ireland
  • International: africa, asia, europe, latin america, middle east, us & canada

tui keyboard shortcuts:

Navigation

Key Action
j / ↓ Scroll down
k / ↑ Scroll up
G Scroll to bottom
l Go to latest (top)

Actions

Key Action
o Open article in browser
O Open article in new tab
Space Jump to current ticker article
r Refresh news

Views

Key Action
Tab Toggle preview pane
a / Enter Open full article view
f Open feed selector
? Toggle help menu

Settings

Key Action
s Cycle sort order (Default / Newest First / Oldest First)
t Toggle date format (humanized / absolute)
T Cycle theme (light / dark)
p Cycle image protocol (Auto / Halfblocks / Sixel / Kitty)

Other

Key Action
q / Esc Quit

Feed Menu

Press f to open the feed menu and switch between different BBC News feeds:

  • Top Stories (default)
  • World
  • UK
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Health
  • Education & Family
  • Science & Environment
  • Technology
  • Entertainment & Arts
  • Regional feeds (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales)
  • International regions (Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, US & Canada)

Navigate with j/k or arrow keys, press Enter to select, f or Esc to close.

Features

Preview Pane

Press Tab to toggle the preview pane, which displays a 80/20 split showing:

  • Article image (with configurable image protocol support)
  • Title and description
  • Publication date and feed name

Full Article View

Press Enter or a to open the full article view with reader mode:

  • Clean, distraction-free article text
  • Scrollable with j/k or arrow keys
  • Press Tab, Enter, or Esc to return to list view

Story Sorting

Press s to cycle through sort orders:

  • Default: RSS feed order (as received)
  • Newest First: Sort by publication date, newest at top
  • Oldest First: Sort by publication date, oldest at top

Sort order persists across manual and automatic refreshes.

Ticker Navigation

The footer displays breaking news headlines from Top Stories feed, rotating every ~10 seconds. Press Space to instantly jump to the current ticker article in the feed.

Auto-Refresh

The app automatically refreshes news every 5 minutes, keeping stories visible during refresh (no loading placeholder).

Themes

Press T to cycle between light and dark themes. The default theme can be set in your config file.

Offline Mode

bbcli automatically caches feeds and articles to disk for offline reading:

To clear the cache:

rm -rf ~/.bbcli/cache/

configuration:

Custom keybindings can be defined in either:

$HOME/.bbcli

Or:

$HOME/.config/bbcli

See example-config.toml for all available options:

# Theme: "light" or "dark" (default: "dark")
theme = "dark"

[keybindings]
quit = 'q'
open = 'o'
open_new_tab = 'O'
refresh = 'r'
latest = 'l'
scroll_up = 'k'
scroll_down = 'j'
scroll_bottom = 'G'

Copy the example config:

cp example-config.toml ~/.bbcli

Or create your own custom configuration with preferred keybindings and theme.

credits

Inspired and extended by the original bbcli python version.

license

MIT

Commit count: 0

cargo fmt