The terminal is having a renaissance. Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and GitHub Copilot CLI are all built with Ink, an open-source React renderer that brings component-based UI, Flexbox layouts, and hooks to the command line. But Ink isn't just for AI companies; it empowers any developer to build beautiful, interactive terminal applications.
In this talk, I'll share what I've learned using Ink to build Instagram CLI (2k GitHub stars) and ink-picture (2M+ downloads)—real-world projects that push the boundaries of what terminal UIs can do. We'll cover core Ink concepts (Box, Text, hooks), creating an interactive TUI application from scratch, how to render images in terminals across different protocols (sixel, kitty, and more), as well as the broader ecosystem including Pastel (a Next.js-like framework for CLI apps).
Whether you're building power devtools or just want to embrace the terminal's simplicity, you'll leave with the knowledge to build your own rich CLIs and TUIs.
James Zheng / Hong Kong
James Zheng is a 18-year-old incoming CS student and an active open source contributor. He is the co-author of Instagram CLI, a popular Instagram terminal client; and author of ink-picture, a powerful image component library for Ink. James also builds assistive technology for fellow visually impaired students and organized Hong Kong's first high school student-led hackathon.