Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to TUI for managing XDG default applications
Author here. I made this little TUI program for managing default applications on the Linux desktop. Maybe some of you will find it useful. Happy to answer any questions.
TUI for managing XDG default applications is a terminal user interface program that helps Linux desktop users set and manage their default applications. It provides a text-based way to configure which applications open… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.
- 1IS
I created a TUI for systemd/systemctl called isd (interactive systemd). It provides a fuzzy search for units, auto-refreshing previews, smart sudo handling, and a fully customizable, keyboard-focused interface for power users and newcomers alike. It is a more powerful (but heavier) version of sysz, which was the inspiration for the project. This should be a huge timesaver for anybody who frequently interacts with or edits systemd units/services. And if not, please let me know why! :)
2025 · isd-project.github.io · its alternatives →
- 2
The top-like text-based user interface for Austin. Contribute to P403n1x87/austin-tui development by creating an account on GitHub.
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 3
tui-use lets agents interact with programs that expect a human at the keyboard — REPLs, debuggers, TUI apps, and anything else bash can't reach. - onesuper/tui-use
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 4TI
2017 · tux.io · its alternatives →
- 5
Hi HN, Trogon is a project to generate a TUI for command line apps. It presents the arguments, options, and switches as a form. Editing the form generates a command line, which you can then run with a keypress. I'm a lover of the command line. But I can recall only a fraction of the switches for most commands I use. I would love it if there was a TUI available for most commands. Trogon currently works with Python and the Click library, but I would like it to cover more of the Python ecosystem and also generate TUIs for apps not written in Python. More information in the repository. Let me…
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 6
Last month, I started learning a Python TUI framework called Textual. After working on a 4x4 board game, I made an interactive app to test your CLI text processing skills with 40 beginner to intermediate level exercises. The app is fairly basic in terms of features — only single input file, so no stdin data, multiple files, etc. Most of the exercises in this app is based on my Computing from the Command Line ebook (https://learnbyexample.github.io/cli-computing/preface.html). I hope to improve the TUI app to support all the 200+ exercises sometime next year.
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 7
A Terminal UI to browse Hacker News. Contribute to aome510/hackernews-TUI development by creating an account on GitHub.
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 8
A hackable, minimal, fast TUI file explorer. Contribute to sayanarijit/xplr development by creating an account on GitHub.
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 9
TUIs for the terminal, desktop, and web. Contribute to ansiwave/nimwave development by creating an account on GitHub.
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 10
A simple programming and debugging environment.
2022 · hackage.haskell.org · its alternatives →
- 11
Review and refine Git diffs before you push. Contribute to xguot/difi development by creating an account on GitHub.
Feb 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 12
:dizzy: A TUI file manager built for projects. Contribute to dzfrias/projectable development by creating an account on GitHub.
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 13
Kuulto▲116Use /ai to organize files, convert image formats, and more
Jan 2026 · kuulto.app · its alternatives →
- 14
Hi HN, I’m a solo content-creator/Blender user and developed this tool as an easy way to manage and render multiple Blender renders locally. The TUI portion is written in TypeScript because it gave me a good way to build the front end that allowed for some complex components in a language that I was intimately familiar with, and the portions that interact with Blender are actually Python scripts.
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 15JT
2022 · gitlab.com · its alternatives →
- 16MT
Hi there, This is just a shameless self-plug about a personal project of mine: "Using mpv and mpvc to play and manage the stuff I listen." To that end I've forked the great https://github.com/lwilletts/mpvc and started hacking around, so far I've focused on: getting a minimal TUI working, improving the CLI, playing online music (eg. youtube and other streaming services), and bugfixes (including the introducing new ones). The project is mainly developed, and, used under Debian/Ubuntu systems so expect the best results with these. What I expect from sharing in HN is: -…
2022 · gmt4.github.io · its alternatives →
- 17
An Azure devops TUI tool, with management metrics, to follow up on stuck items, too much wip per team member and tracking across sprints.
Jun 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 18
I made a Playwright MCP for TUI apps so now you can vibe code terminal apps with a lot of features like code mode and session recordings. Already vibe coded a nice reddis viewer/editor with it https://github.com/michaellee8/redis-nav.
Jan 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 19
I've been building go-tui (https://go-tui.dev), a terminal UI framework for Go inspired by the templ framework for the web (https://templ.guide/). The syntax should be familiar to templ users and is quite different from other terminal frameworks like bubbletea. Instead of imperative widget manipulation or bubbletea's elm architecture, you write HTML-like syntax and Tailwind-style classes that can intermingle with regular Go code in a new .gsx filetype. Then you compile these files to type-safe Go using `tui generate`. At runtime there's a flexbox layout engine based…
Mar 2026 · go-tui.dev · its alternatives →
- 20
HTTP client/libcurl TUI front end in Rust, with request + key storage - PThorpe92/CuTE
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 21TO
2016 · demo.tuleap.org · its alternatives →
- 22
Hi there, I tried to build a CLI tool to edit and visualize Excel/CSV files directly in the terminal, I called it "dss". I did it for fun to tweak spreadsheet formulas without leaving my terminal or opening heavy GUI apps. It is an interactive editor of sheets with charts and formula engine diretly in TUI. The formula engine is handmaded but I'd like to improve it. I copied a lot from my previous Datacmd project and from Termdash repo. Hoping to receive some feedback.
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 23
Hi HN, I built a simple TUI for viewing and editing .md files in the terminal. More and more markdown files keep appearing in our projects, and I found myself needing a quick way to view(with syntax highlighting) and edit them without leaving the terminal, so I built this
Apr 2026 · mdee.bkh.dev · its alternatives →
- 24DT
A terminal TUI that leverage tmux to make managing terminal tabs easier and more friendly.
Jan 2026 · karlvmuller.com · its alternatives →
Also compare
- Interactive systemd – a better way to work with systemd units alternatives
- Austin-Tui – Spy inside a running Python program at no performance cost alternatives
- TUI-use: Let AI agents control interactive terminal programs alternatives
- Tux.io – a (now working) Linux desktop in your browser alternatives
- Trogon – An automatic TUI for command line apps alternatives
- Interactive exercises for Linux CLI text processing commands alternatives
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →