React Ink

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Building terminal user interfaces with React Ink - interactive CLI apps
• Terminal dashboards
• Progress displays
• Keyboard-driven TUI components

Example prompts

• “/react-ink”

Requirements

• Node.js

Workflow steps

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

1. 1Raw text inside silently breaks rendering - Placing a string directly inside without wrapping it in causes a runtime error. Unlike web…
2. 2useInput does nothing without raw mode on stdin - If stdin is not in raw mode (e.g., piped input in CI, non-TTY environments), useInput…
3. 3Ink v6 is ESM-only and breaks CommonJS imports - Importing Ink with require('ink') throws require() of ES Module. You must use import…
4. 4items must have stable keys or they re-render - The component renders each item exactly once and never updates it. If you pass items…
5. 5The app stays alive as long as stdin listeners or timers exist - Ink's render() keeps the process running while there are pending timers…

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit f769ae7. 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:

  • npx
  • npm

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

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use npx and npm, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

  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.

Context cost

React Ink loads about 3.1k tokens when it runs, and up to ~11k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 96 tokens; SKILL.md has 988 words of instructions outside code blocks.

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

~96

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

~3.1k

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

~11k

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 pass-agent/loomkin at commit f769ae7, republished under its MIT licence (© pass-agent). 988 words, ~3,082 tokens.

name

react-ink

description

Use this skill when building terminal user interfaces with React Ink - interactive CLI apps, terminal dashboards, progress displays, or keyboard-driven TUI components. Triggers on React Ink, Ink components, terminal UI with React, useInput, useFocus, Box/Text layout, create-ink-app, and any task requiring rich interactive terminal interfaces built with React and Flexbox.

version

0.1.0

category

engineering

tags

react, cli, terminal, tui, components, interactive

recommended_skills

cli-design, frontend-developer, clean-code

platforms

claude-code, gemini-cli, openai-codex, mcp

license

MIT

npm install ink react

npx create-ink-app my-cli
npx create-ink-app my-cli --typescript

import React, {useState, useEffect} from 'react';
import {render, Text} from 'ink';

function Counter() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

  useEffect(() => {
    const timer = setInterval(() => {
      setCount(prev => prev + 1);
    }, 100);
    return () => clearInterval(timer);
  }, []);

  return <Text color="green">{count} tests passed</Text>;
}

render(<Counter />);

import {render, useApp, useInput, Text} from 'ink';

function App() {
  const {exit} = useApp();
  useInput((input, key) => {
    if (input === 'q') exit();
  });
  return <Text>Press q to quit</Text>;
}

const instance = render(<App />);
await instance.waitUntilExit();
console.log('Goodbye!');

import {Box, Text} from 'ink';

function Dashboard() {
  return (
    <Box flexDirection="column" padding={1}>
      <Box borderStyle="round" borderColor="blue" paddingX={1}>
        <Text bold>Header</Text>
      </Box>
      <Box gap={2}>
        <Box flexDirection="column" width="50%">
          <Text color="green">Left panel</Text>
        </Box>
        <Box flexDirection="column" width="50%">
          <Text color="yellow">Right panel</Text>
        </Box>
      </Box>
    </Box>
  );
}

import {useState} from 'react';
import {useInput, Text, Box} from 'ink';

function Movement() {
  const [x, setX] = useState(0);
  const [y, setY] = useState(0);

  useInput((_input, key) => {
    if (key.leftArrow) setX(prev => Math.max(0, prev - 1));
    if (key.rightArrow) setX(prev => Math.min(20, prev + 1));
    if (key.upArrow) setY(prev => Math.max(0, prev - 1));
    if (key.downArrow) setY(prev => Math.min(10, prev + 1));
  });

  return (
    <Box flexDirection="column">
      <Text>Position: {x}, {y}</Text>
      <Text>Use arrow keys to move</Text>
    </Box>
  );
}

import {Box, Text, useFocus} from 'ink';

function Item({label}: {label: string}) {
  const {isFocused} = useFocus();
  return (
    <Text color={isFocused ? 'blue' : undefined}>
      {isFocused ? '>' : ' '} {label}
    </Text>
  );
}

function SelectList() {
  return (
    <Box flexDirection="column">
      <Item label="Option A" />
      <Item label="Option B" />
      <Item label="Option C" />
    </Box>
  );
}

import {useState, useEffect} from 'react';
import {render, Static, Box, Text} from 'ink';

function BuildOutput() {
  const [logs, setLogs] = useState<string[]>([]);
  const [current, setCurrent] = useState('Starting...');

  useEffect(() => {
    // Add completed logs and update current status
    const timer = setInterval(() => {
      setLogs(prev => [...prev, current]);
      setCurrent(`Building step ${prev.length + 1}...`);
    }, 500);
    return () => clearInterval(timer);
  }, []);

  return (
    <Box flexDirection="column">
      <Static items={logs}>
        {(log, i) => <Text key={i} color="green">✓ {log}</Text>}
      </Static>
      <Text color="yellow">⟳ {current}</Text>
    </Box>
  );
}

import React, {Suspense} from 'react';
import {render, Text} from 'ink';

let data: string | undefined;
let promise: Promise<void> | undefined;

function fetchData() {
  if (data) return data;
  if (!promise) {
    promise = new Promise(resolve => {
      setTimeout(() => { data = 'Loaded!'; resolve(); }, 1000);
    });
  }
  throw promise;
}

function DataView() {
  const result = fetchData();
  return <Text color="green">{result}</Text>;
}

render(
  <Suspense fallback={<Text color="yellow">Loading...</Text>}>
    <DataView />
  </Suspense>
);

import {useWindowSize, Box, Text} from 'ink';

function ResponsiveLayout() {
  const {columns, rows} = useWindowSize();
  return (
    <Box flexDirection="column">
      <Text>Terminal: {columns}x{rows}</Text>
      <Box width={columns > 80 ? '50%' : '100%'}>
        <Text>Content adapts to terminal size</Text>
      </Box>
    </Box>
  );
}

npx skills add AbsolutelySkilled/AbsolutelySkilled --skill skill-suggestor

© pass-agent, 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 7 other files (references) in apps/cli/.agents/skills/react-ink of pass-agent/loomkin.

• SKILL.md
• README.md
• evals.json
• references/components-api.md
• references/ecosystem.md
• references/hooks-api.md
• references/patterns.md
• sources.yaml

Open the folder on GitHubat commit f769ae7

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in pass-agent/loomkin, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

• NeverSight/learn-skills.devdata/skills-md/absolutelyskilled/absolutelyskilled/react-ink