/opentui

Solid Configuration

Project Setup

Quick Start

bunx create-tui@latest -t solid my-app
cd my-app && bun install

The CLI creates the my-app directory for you - it must not already exist.

Options: --no-git (skip git init), --no-install (skip bun install)

Manual Setup

mkdir my-tui && cd my-tui
bun init
bun install @opentui/solid @opentui/core solid-js

TypeScript Configuration

tsconfig.json

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "lib": ["ESNext"],
    "target": "ESNext",
    "module": "NodeNext",
    "moduleResolution": "NodeNext",
    
    "jsx": "preserve",
    "jsxImportSource": "@opentui/solid",
    
    "strict": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "noEmit": true,
    "types": ["bun-types"]
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*"]
}

Critical settings:

• jsx: "preserve" - Let Solid's compiler handle JSX
• jsxImportSource: "@opentui/solid" - Import JSX runtime from OpenTUI Solid
• module / moduleResolution: "NodeNext" - Recommended for OpenTUI compatibility

Bun Configuration

bunfig.toml

Required for the Solid compiler:

preload = ["@opentui/solid/preload"]

This loads the Solid JSX transform before your code runs.

Package Configuration

package.json

{
  "name": "my-tui-app",
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "bun run src/index.tsx",
    "dev": "bun --watch run src/index.tsx",
    "test": "bun test",
    "build": "bun run build.ts"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@opentui/core": "latest",
    "@opentui/solid": "latest",
    "solid-js": "latest"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@types/bun": "latest",
    "typescript": "latest"
  }
}

Project Structure

Recommended structure:

my-tui-app/
├── src/
│   ├── components/
│   │   ├── Header.tsx
│   │   ├── Sidebar.tsx
│   │   └── MainContent.tsx
│   ├── stores/
│   │   └── appStore.ts
│   ├── App.tsx
│   └── index.tsx
├── bunfig.toml           # Required!
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json

Entry Point (src/index.tsx)

import { render } from "@opentui/solid"
import { App } from "./App"

render(() => <App />)

App Component (src/App.tsx)

import { Header } from "./components/Header"
import { Sidebar } from "./components/Sidebar"
import { MainContent } from "./components/MainContent"

export function App() {
  return (
    <box flexDirection="column" width="100%" height="100%">
      <Header />
      <box flexDirection="row" flexGrow={1}>
        <Sidebar />
        <MainContent />
      </box>
    </box>
  )
}

Renderer Configuration

render() Options

import { render } from "@opentui/solid"
import { ConsolePosition } from "@opentui/core"

render(() => <App />, {
  // Rendering
  targetFps: 30,
  
  // Behavior
  exitOnCtrlC: true,
  autoFocus: true,          // Auto-focus elements on click (default: true)
  useMouse: true,           // Enable mouse support (default: true)
  
  // Debug console
  consoleOptions: {
    position: ConsolePosition.BOTTOM,
    sizePercent: 30,
    startInDebugMode: false,
  },
  
  // Cleanup
  onDestroy: () => {
    // Cleanup code
  },
})

Using Existing Renderer

import { render } from "@opentui/solid"
import { createCliRenderer } from "@opentui/core"

const renderer = await createCliRenderer({
  exitOnCtrlC: false,
})

render(() => <App />, renderer)

Building for Distribution

Build Script (build.ts)

import solidPlugin from "@opentui/solid/bun-plugin"

await Bun.build({
  entrypoints: ["./src/index.tsx"],
  outdir: "./dist",
  target: "bun",
  minify: true,
  plugins: [solidPlugin],
})

console.log("Build complete!")

Run: bun run build.ts

Creating Executables

import solidPlugin from "@opentui/solid/bun-plugin"

await Bun.build({
  entrypoints: ["./src/index.tsx"],
  target: "bun",
  plugins: [solidPlugin],
  compile: {
    target: "bun-darwin-arm64",  // or bun-linux-x64, etc.
    outfile: "my-app",
  },
})

Available targets:

• bun-darwin-arm64 - macOS Apple Silicon
• bun-darwin-x64 - macOS Intel
• bun-linux-x64 - Linux x64
• bun-linux-arm64 - Linux ARM64
• bun-windows-x64 - Windows x64

Environment Variables

Create .env for development:

# Debug settings
OTUI_SHOW_STATS=false
SHOW_CONSOLE=false

# App settings
API_URL=https://api.example.com

Bun auto-loads .env files:

const apiUrl = process.env.API_URL

Testing Configuration

Test Setup

// src/test-utils.tsx
import { testRender } from "@opentui/solid"

export async function renderForTest(
  Component: () => JSX.Element,
  options = { width: 80, height: 24 }
) {
  return await testRender(Component, options)
}

Test Example

// src/components/Counter.test.tsx
import { test, expect } from "bun:test"
import { renderForTest } from "../test-utils"
import { Counter } from "./Counter"

test("Counter renders initial value", async () => {
  const { snapshot } = await renderForTest(() => <Counter initialValue={5} />)
  expect(snapshot()).toContain("Count: 5")
})

Common Configuration Issues

Missing bunfig.toml

Symptom: JSX not transformed, syntax errors

Fix: Create bunfig.toml with preload:

preload = ["@opentui/solid/preload"]

Wrong JSX Settings

Symptom: JSX compiles to React calls

Fix: Ensure tsconfig has:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "jsx": "preserve",
    "jsxImportSource": "@opentui/solid"
  }
}

Build Missing Plugin

Symptom: Built output has untransformed JSX

Fix: Add Solid plugin to build:

import solidPlugin from "@opentui/solid/bun-plugin"

await Bun.build({
  // ...
  plugins: [solidPlugin],
})