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Interactive TUI

mind probe opens an interactive terminal UI: a browsable, searchable view of every source and item, and the interactive front end for the rest of the CLI (meld, learn, sync, upgrade, config). For the probe verb and its flags, see Commands.

Opening it

  • mind probe with no opt-out launches the TUI. It requires a TTY on stdout.
  • It falls back to the non-interactive catalog listing when --no-tui (short -n) is given, when --json is given, or when stdout is not a terminal (piped or redirected).
  • The query, --kind, and --source arguments apply in both modes. In the listing they filter it; in the TUI they seed the initial search and filter state.

The browse tree

Two top-level groups, each an independently collapsible tree:

  • Installed: the manifest. Installed items grouped source -> kind -> item, each showing effective name, source, and short commit, matching what recall reports.
  • Available: catalog items of melded sources that are not installed, not-yet-melded sources suggested by the registry, and ad-hoc sources you enter, de-duplicated.

A third Unmanaged group appears below them when the agent home holds items mind did not install. See Unmanaged items.

Under each group the hierarchy is source -> kind (skills, agents, rules) -> item -> detail. Expanding an item shows its description and frontmatter, and for a skill its file tree.

  • Up / Down: move the highlight.
  • Left / Right: collapse / expand a structural node (source and kind buckets).
  • Space: also collapses / expands a structural node.
  • Enter: open the details dialog on a source or item; on a group header or kind bucket it toggles instead.

As the selection moves, the view scrolls to keep the highlighted row away from the top and bottom edges while there are more rows to scroll. Near the start or end of the list the highlight may sit at the edge.

A search box filters the visible tree by case-insensitive substring over item name and description, across both groups, and composes with the active kind and source filters. Clearing the search restores the full tree.

Live refresh

The TUI polls the on-disk registry (sources.json) and manifest (manifest.json) about once a second, so changes made by another mind process or a direct edit appear without a manual reload. A refresh preserves the current selection, expansion, and search state, and is skipped while a mutating action is running.

Actions

Each action invokes the same verb the CLI exposes, against the same registry, manifest, and store. Every mutating action confirms before applying; destructive actions (forget, unmeld --forget) require an explicit confirmation. Results and errors are shown inline.

  • Install / learn: install the selected Available item. On a higher node it installs in bulk: a source installs every available item from it, a kind bucket every item of that kind, and the Available group everything. Already-installed items are skipped.
  • Forget: uninstall the selected Installed item.
  • Meld / unmeld: meld the selected or entered source; unmeld a melded source. The TUI’s unmeld uninstalls the source’s installed items by default and confirms first.
  • Sync / upgrade: sync all or the selected source; upgrade pending or the selected items, showing the same deltas and confirming before applying.
  • Config lobes: view and manage agent homes (list / add / remove).

An install preview arms the same dependency closure as the direct install action. See Dependencies.

Details dialog

Pressing Enter on a source or item opens a centered details dialog describing the node and listing the actions valid for it as a selectable list, each run through the normal confirm-and-execute path.

  • For an item: its kind, source, the commit when installed, and the description. It offers Install when the item is not installed, else Forget.
  • For a source: its name and installed/available item counts, and Install all available items, Uninstall all installed items, and Unmeld. An action is omitted when it would do nothing.

In the dialog, j / k move the highlight, Enter or y runs the highlighted action, and Esc, q, or n dismisses without acting. On a group header, kind bucket, or suggested source there is no dialog: Enter keeps its toggle/preview.

Registry preview

The Available group lists suggested, not-yet-melded sources: the union of the [discover].sources entries declared by all melded sources, de-duplicated by URL and excluding sources already melded. Expanding a registry entry shallow-clones it to a temporary preview area and shows its catalog tree under Available without registering it. Confirming promotes the preview to a real meld; declining discards the temp clone.

Terminal handling

  • Actions whose verbs may prompt interactively run with the TUI suspended: mind leaves raw mode and the alternate screen, runs the verb on the normal terminal so its prompts read stdin and write stdout exactly as the CLI does, then restores the alternate screen and redraws. After the verb you press Enter to return. The verbs that suspend are meld and unmeld.
  • While the TUI holds the terminal, every git child runs non-interactively (GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 and an ssh BatchMode=yes wrapper), so an auth-required remote fails fast with an error surfaced inline instead of hanging the UI on a hidden prompt. The suspended interactive meld restores interactive git for its duration, so a passphrase or host-key prompt works on the normal terminal.

Exit

  • q quits from the main view.
  • Ctrl-C is a force-exit from every mode. One Ctrl-C arms and shows a hint; a second consecutive Ctrl-C exits, so a single accidental Ctrl-C while typing does not quit. Any other key disarms.