Ratatui Core

ratatui-core is the core library of the ratatui project, providing the essential building blocks for creating rich terminal user interfaces in Rust.

Why ratatui-core?

The ratatui-core crate is split from the main ratatui crate to offer better stability for widget library authors. Widget libraries should generally depend on ratatui-core, benefiting from a stable API and reducing the need for frequent updates.

Applications, on the other hand, should depend on the main ratatui crate, which includes built-in widgets and additional features.

Installation

Add ratatui-core to your Cargo.toml:

cargo add ratatui-core

Crate Organization

ratatui-core is part of the Ratatui workspace that was modularized in version 0.30.0 to improve compilation times, API stability, and dependency management. This crate provides the foundational types and traits that other crates in the workspace depend on.

When to use ratatui-core:

• Building widget libraries that implement Widget or StatefulWidget
• Creating lightweight applications that don't need built-in widgets
• You want minimal dependencies and faster compilation times
• You need maximum API stability (core types change less frequently)

When to use the main ratatui crate:

• Building applications that use built-in widgets
• You want convenience and don't mind slightly longer compilation times
• You need backend implementations and terminal management utilities

For detailed information about the workspace organization, see ARCHITECTURE.md.

Contributing

We welcome contributions from the community! Please see our CONTRIBUTING guide for more details on how to get involved.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.