️ Phoenix TUI Roadmap - Your Input Wanted!

[kolkov]

We're building Phoenix TUI Framework to be the #1 terminal UI library for Go by 2026. But we need your input to prioritize what matters most to the community!

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📍 Where We Are Now (v0.1.0-beta.2)

Completed (80% - Week 16/20): 🎉

Core Libraries (100% Complete!)

• ✅ Core: Terminal primitives + perfect Unicode/Emoji support
• ✅ Style: CSS-like styling (90%+ coverage)
• ✅ TEA: Elm Architecture implementation (95.7% coverage)
• ✅ Layout: Flexbox + Box Model (97.9% coverage)
• ✅ Render: High-performance renderer (29,000 FPS!)
• ✅ Mouse: Mouse support (clicks, drags, wheel)
• ✅ Clipboard: Cross-platform clipboard operations
• ✅ Terminal: Platform detection & capabilities
• ✅ Testing: Mock/Null terminals for tests

Components (7/7 Complete!)

• ✅ Input: Single-line text input
• ✅ TextArea: Multi-line editor with cursor control (NEW in beta.2!)
• ✅ List: Scrollable item list with filtering
• ✅ Viewport: Scrollable content area
• ✅ Table: Data table with sorting
• ✅ Modal: Dialog boxes and confirmations
• ✅ Progress: Progress bars & spinners

Average Test Coverage: 94.5% 🏆

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🎯 Coming Soon - v0.1.0 Final (Next 4 weeks)

Week 17-18: Migration & Compatibility

• 🚧 Migration tools from Bubbletea/Charm
  • Compatibility layer for gradual migration
  • Automated migration assistant
  • Side-by-side comparison examples
• 🚧 GoSh Integration (first production app!)
  • Migrate GoSh shell to Phoenix
  • Real-world testing & feedback
  • Performance benchmarks

Week 19-20: Polish & v0.1.0 Release

• 🚧 Community feedback integration
• 🚧 API stabilization (freeze API for v1.0.0 path)
• 🚧 Production-ready certification
• 🚧 Migration guides & tutorials
• 🚧 v0.1.0 RELEASE! 🎉

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💡 Future Ideas (v0.2.0+) - VOTE HERE!

We have many ideas but limited time. What would YOU use most?

🎨 Theme System

• Presets (Nord, Dracula, Solarized, Catppuccin, etc.)
• Custom theme builder
• Runtime theme switching
• Color scheme generation
• Theme inheritance

Use case: Apps with customizable appearance
Effort: Medium (2 weeks)

👍 React with 👍 if you want this!

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🎬 Animation Framework

• Smooth transitions (fade, slide, zoom)
• Easing functions (ease-in, ease-out, cubic-bezier)
• Keyframe animations
• Spring physics
• Performance-optimized (60 FPS target)

Use case: Modern, polished TUI apps (like Warp, Fig)
Effort: High (3-4 weeks)

👍 React with 🎬 if you want this!

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📐 Grid Layout

• CSS Grid-like system
• Template areas (grid-template-areas)
• Responsive breakpoints
• Auto-placement & flow
• Named grid lines

Use case: Dashboard-style UIs, complex layouts
Effort: Medium (2 weeks)

👍 React with 📐 if you want this!

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🧩 More Components

Vote for which components you need most:

• Form (validation, multi-field, submission) 👍
• Tree (hierarchical data, expand/collapse) 🌲
• Menu (dropdowns, context menus, nested) 🍔
• Tabs (multi-panel views, closeable tabs) 📑
• File Picker (browse directories, filters, preview) 📁
• Calendar/Date Picker (date selection, ranges) 📅
• Chart (line, bar, pie, sparklines) 📊
• Notification/Toast (temporary messages) 🔔
• Toolbar (command palette, shortcuts) 🔧
• Breadcrumb (navigation trail) 🍞

React with emoji next to component name!

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🔧 Developer Tools

• TUI Builder (visual component editor, drag & drop)
• Live reload (hot-reloading during development)
• Debug mode (inspect component tree, measure performance, event log)
• Testing utilities (screenshot testing, interaction recording)
• Performance profiler (render time, memory usage)

Use case: Faster development, easier debugging
Effort: High (4 weeks)

👍 React with 🔧 if you want this!

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🌐 Web Backend

Render Phoenix TUI apps in browser (WASM/WebSocket)?

Use case: Deploy TUI apps as web apps, remote access
Effort: Very High (6+ weeks)
Note: Experimental - may impact API design

👍 React with 🌐 if you want this!

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🚀 Performance Enhancements

• Incremental rendering (render only changed parts)
• Virtual scrolling for huge lists (millions of items)
• GPU acceleration (experimental, terminal permitting)
• Memory profiling tools
• Render batching & debouncing

Use case: Apps with massive datasets (logs, tables)
Effort: Medium-High (3 weeks)

👍 React with 🚀 if you want this!

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🌍 Internationalization (i18n)

• Multi-language support
• RTL (Right-to-Left) text
• Unicode normalization
• Locale-aware formatting (dates, numbers)

Use case: Apps for international users
Effort: Medium (2-3 weeks)

👍 React with 🌍 if you want this!

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🎮 Game/Interactive Features

• Sprite rendering
• Collision detection
• Game loop utilities
• Scene management

Use case: Terminal games, interactive demos
Effort: Medium (2 weeks)

👍 React with 🎮 if you want this!

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🗣️ Your Ideas

What's missing from this roadmap?

Comment below with:

1. Feature name - What do you want?
2. Use case - Why do you need it? What will you build with it?
3. Priority - How critical is it? (Nice to have / Important / Blocker)
4. Workaround - Do you have a current solution? How painful is it?

Example:

Feature: WebSocket support in TEA
Use case: Building real-time collaborative TUI apps (chat, multiplayer games)
Priority: Important - no good workaround exists
Workaround: Manual goroutine management (error-prone, breaks Elm pattern)

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📊 How We'll Prioritize

We'll use this input to decide what goes into v0.2.0 (and beyond):

1. Community votes (👍 reaction count)
2. Use case strength (how many users benefit, how critical)
3. Alignment with vision (does it fit Phoenix philosophy?)
4. Implementation effort (bang for buck, dependencies)
5. Maintainability (long-term support cost)

Decision timeline: Results published on 2025-11-03 (2 weeks)!

We'll create a follow-up discussion with:

• Chosen features for v0.2.0
• Rationale for each decision
• Updated roadmap timeline

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🎯 Our North Star

Phoenix aims to be:

• ✅ 10x faster than Charm ecosystem (✅ achieved: 29,000 FPS vs ~450 FPS)
• ✅ 100% Unicode correct (no emoji bugs) (✅ achieved: perfect CJK/emoji)
• ✅ Type-safe (compile-time guarantees) (✅ achieved: generics + fluent API)
• ✅ Testable (90%+ coverage standard) (✅ achieved: 94.5% average)
• 🚧 Stable API (v1.0.0 = backwards compatibility) (target: 6-12 months after v0.1.0)

Your feedback helps us prioritize the right features on the path to v1.0.0! 🚀

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🏆 Success Metrics for v1.0.0

We'll know we're ready for v1.0.0 when:

• ✅ 1000+ stars on GitHub
• ✅ 10+ production apps using Phoenix
• ✅ 6+ months of API stability (no breaking changes)
• ✅ Comprehensive migration guide from Bubbletea
• ✅ All core features complete
• ✅ Community consensus on API design

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🔗 Related

• Architecture Docs
• Master Plan
• API Design Principles
• Current Roadmap
• v0.1.0-beta.2 Release Notes

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Let's build the future of TUI together! 💪

Drop your thoughts below 👇