Sharpconsoleui

What it does

When your agent uses it

• : interactive console apps
• Full-screen TUIs
• Multi-window terminal desktops
• Admin/monitoring UIs that need focus

Example prompts

• “/sharpconsoleui”

Requirements

• Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Requires a .NET 8.0+ console project (net8.0/net9.0/net10.0) that can reference the `SharpConsoleUI` package and run against a modern terminal. Uses a retained-mode UI on a single cooperative UI thread, not immediate-mode Console.Write.

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Create a NetConsoleDriver and a ConsoleWindowSystem that owns all windows.
2. 2Build one or more windows with WindowBuilder (title, size, position, borders, padding).
3. 3Add controls to each window with window.AddControl(...), usually via the Controls static factory.
4. 4Wire interactivity through control events (e.g. Button.OnClick); call windowSystem.Shutdown() to exit.
5. 5windowSystem.AddWindow(window) then windowSystem.Run() starts the render/input loop (blocks until shutdown).
6. 6For layout, dialogs, portals/overlays, forms, and the full control set, load the reference files below.

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 535dd55. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • dotnet

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  Links to these hosts (documentation or services it may open):

  • nuget.org
  • github.com
  • nickprotop.github.io

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

• Compatibility

  Requires a .NET 8.0+ console project (net8.0/net9.0/net10.0) that can reference the `SharpConsoleUI` package and run against a modern terminal. Uses a retained-mode UI on a single cooperative UI thread, not immediate-mode Console.Write.

  From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Sharpconsoleui loads about 2.4k tokens when it runs, and up to ~18k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 213 tokens; SKILL.md has 845 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~213

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~2.4k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~18k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from managedcode/dotnet-skills at commit 535dd55, republished under its MIT licence (© managedcode). 845 words, ~2,439 tokens.

name

sharpconsoleui

description

Use SharpConsoleUI to build full terminal (TUI) applications in .NET — equally suited to full-screen single-window apps and multi-window desktops with overlapping draggable windows — using a compositor, a DOM layout engine, and 40+ reactive controls (data tables, tree views, forms, an embedded PTY terminal, markdown, charts, video). USE FOR: interactive console apps, full-screen TUIs, multi-window terminal desktops, dashboards, wizards, and admin/monitoring UIs that need focus, mouse, and flicker-free rendering over local terminals or SSH; NativeAOT console tools. DO NOT USE FOR: simple line-based CLI output or argument parsing; non-interactive scripts; GUI/desktop (WPF/WinForms) or web UIs. INVOKES: inspect the project, add the SharpConsoleUI package, scaffold a window/control tree, and build/run to verify the app renders.

compatibility

Requires a .NET 8.0+ console project (net8.0/net9.0/net10.0) that can reference the `SharpConsoleUI` package and run against a modern terminal. Uses a retained-mode UI on a single cooperative UI thread, not immediate-mode Console.Write.

flowchart LR
  A["NetConsoleDriver (RenderMode.Buffer)"] --> B["ConsoleWindowSystem"]
  B --> C["WindowBuilder -> Window"]
  C --> D["window.AddControl(Controls.*)"]
  D --> E["DOM layout: Measure -> Arrange -> Paint"]
  E --> F["windowSystem.AddWindow(window)"]
  F --> G["windowSystem.Run()  (blocks until Shutdown)"]
  G --> H["compositor merges per-window buffers -> terminal"]

using SharpConsoleUI;
using SharpConsoleUI.Builders;
using SharpConsoleUI.Controls;
using SharpConsoleUI.Drivers;

var driver = new NetConsoleDriver(RenderMode.Buffer);
var windowSystem = new ConsoleWindowSystem(driver);

var window = new WindowBuilder(windowSystem)
    .WithTitle("Hello World")
    .WithSize(50, 12)
    .Centered()
    .Build();

window.AddControl(Controls.Markup()
    .AddLine("[bold cyan]Hello, SharpConsoleUI![/]")
    .Build());

window.AddControl(Controls.Button("Quit")
    .OnClick((sender, e, win) => windowSystem.Shutdown())
    .Build());

windowSystem.AddWindow(window);
windowSystem.Run();

var grid = Controls.Grid()
    .Columns(GridLength.Cells(20), GridLength.Star(1))   // fixed sidebar + fill
    .Rows(GridLength.Auto(), GridLength.Star(1))         // toolbar + body
    .RowGap(1)
    .Place(Controls.Markup("[bold]Dashboard[/]").Build(), 0, 0, colSpan: 2)
    .Place(sidebarList, 1, 0)
    .Place(dataTable, 1, 1)
    .Build();

window.AddControl(grid);

© managedcode, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 8 other files (references) in catalog/Frameworks/SharpConsoleUI/skills/sharpconsoleui of managedcode/dotnet-skills.

• SKILL.md
• manifest.json
• references/app-patterns.md
• references/architecture.md
• references/controls.md
• references/features.md
• references/markup.md
• references/recipes.md
• references/system.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 535dd55