Rooibos Documentation

Build terminal user interfaces with Ruby using The Elm Architecture.

Getting Started

New to Rooibos? Start here.

• Why Rooibos? — What is a TUI? Why functional state management?

• Installation — Set up Ruby and add Rooibos to your project

• Quickstart — Build your first app in 5 minutes

Coming from another ecosystem?

• For React Developers — Redux → Rooibos mental model

• For Go Developers — BubbleTea → Rooibos translation

• For Python Developers — Textual → Rooibos translation

• Ruby Primer — Ruby basics for polyglots

Tutorial

Learn by building a complete File Browser application.

→ Start the Tutorial

Essentials

Deep-dive into core concepts.

• The Elm Architecture — Model-View-Update explained

• Models — Designing state with Data.define

• Messages — Events and pattern matching

• Update Functions — Pure state transitions

• Views — Rendering with RatatuiRuby

• Commands — Async operations and side effects

• The Runtime — How Rooibos runs your app

• Shortcuts — Cmd and Msg aliases

Scaling Up

Advanced patterns for larger applications.

• Custom Commands — Write your own async commands

• Command Composition — Chain and parallelize work

• Fractal Architecture — Nested fragments with Cmd.map

• Message Routing — The Router DSL

• Ractor Safety — Future-proof your app

• Async Patterns — Streaming, polling, websockets

• Testing — Comprehensive testing strategies

Best Practices

Common UI patterns and recipes.

• Modal Dialogs

• Forms and Validation

• Lists and Tables

• HTTP Workflows

• Streaming Data

• Orchestration

Troubleshooting

When things go wrong.

• Common Errors — Error messages and fixes

• Debugging — Tracing and inspection

• Performance — Optimization tips

For Contributors

• Documentation Plan — The roadmap for these docs

• Documentation Style Guide — How to write docs

• Design Documents — Architecture decisions

• Contributing Guidelines: How to contribute patches and features