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Spring TUI — Spring Initializr in Your Terminal

Scaffold Spring Boot projects without leaving your terminal.
No browser. No mouse. Just java -jar and go.

Spring TUI Metadata Screen Spring TUI Dependencies Screen

What is this?

Spring TUI is a terminal UI for generating Spring Boot projects — built entirely in Java.
It talks directly to start.spring.io, lets you pick dependencies from a live list, extracts the project to your chosen directory, and opens it in your IDE automatically.

Think of it as start.spring.io — but for people who live in the terminal.

Features

  • Live metadata — boot versions and dependencies fetched directly from start.spring.io at startup
  • Grouped dependency picker — browse by category (Web, SQL, Security, Messaging...) with live search
  • Smart IDE detection — finds IntelliJ, VS Code, Eclipse across Windows, WSL, Linux, and Mac
  • WSL aware — detects IDEs on both the Windows side AND inside WSL simultaneously
  • Dual environment support — save project to WSL or Windows filesystem, open in either IDE
  • Auto path conversion — handles C:\... ↔ /mnt/c/... conversion automatically
  • Zero config — single JAR, no installation, no setup

Prerequisites

  • Java 21+
  • Internet connection (to reach start.spring.io)

That's it.

Quick Start

Download

Head to the Releases page and download the latest tui.jar.

Run

java -jar tui.jar

The TUI launches immediately in your terminal.

How it works

Launch JAR
    ↓
Fetches live metadata from start.spring.io
Detects installed IDEs simultaneously
    ↓
Screen 1 — Fill project metadata
           (Group ID, Artifact ID, Java version, Build tool...)
    ↓
Screen 2 — Pick dependencies
           (Grouped by category, live search, multi-select)
    ↓
Screen 3 — Choose output directory
           (WSL or Windows path if on WSL)
    ↓
Screen 4 — Generating...
           (Downloads zip, extracts project)
    ↓
Screen 5 — Open in IDE
           (Pick from detected IDEs, grouped by environment)

Navigation

Key Action
Tab Move between fields
Arrow keys Navigate lists and radio buttons
Space Toggle checkbox
Enter Activate button
← → Change radio selection

IDE Detection

Spring TUI scans for IDEs across all environments automatically:

IDE Windows WSL Linux Mac
IntelliJ IDEA ✅ Registry + PATH ✅ PATH + RemoteDev ✅ PATH + known paths ✅ /Applications
VS Code ✅ Registry + PATH ✅ PATH + WSL Server ✅ PATH + known paths ✅ /Applications
Eclipse ✅ PATH ✅ PATH ✅ PATH + known paths ✅ /Applications
VSCodium ✅ PATH ✅ PATH ✅ PATH ✅ /Applications

WSL specifics

If you're on WSL, the IDE selection screen groups results by environment:

WINDOWS
  ( ) IntelliJ IDEA   C:\Program Files\JetBrains\...
  ( ) VS Code         D:\vscode\Microsoft VS Code\...

WSL (Linux)
  (•) VS Code (WSL Server)   ~/.vscode-server/bin/.../code

Path conversion between WSL and Windows is handled automatically.

Building from source

git clone https://github.com/HimanshuKushwahadev27/Terminal_User_Interface.git
cd Terminal_User_Interface

mvn clean package

java -jar target/tui-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar

Requirements

  • Java 21+
  • Maven 3.9+

Project Structure

src/main/java/com/emi/tui/
├── Main.java                     Entry point
├── TuiApp.java                   Main orchestrator — screen flow
├── model/
│   ├── ProjectConfig.java        Shared state across all screens
│   ├── InitializrMetadata.java   Maps start.spring.io JSON response
│   ├── DetectedIde.java          Represents a found IDE
│   └── Environment.java          WINDOWS / WSL / LINUX / MAC
├── service/
│   ├── InitializrClient.java     HTTP calls to start.spring.io
│   ├── ZipExtractor.java         Extracts project zip to disk
│   └── IdeDetector.java          Multi-signal IDE scanner
├── screens/
│   ├── MetaDataScreen.java       Project metadata form
│   ├── DependencyScreen.java     Two-panel dependency picker
│   ├── OutputDirScreen.java      Output directory selection
│   ├── GeneratingScreen.java     Progress screen + extraction
│   └── IdeSelectionScreen.java   IDE picker grouped by environment
└── util/
    ├── OsUtils.java              OS + WSL detection
    ├── PathBridge.java           Windows ↔ WSL path conversion
    └── ProcessUtils.java         Shell command runner

Tech Stack

Component Technology
Language Java 21
TUI framework Lanterna 3.1.2
HTTP client OkHttp 4.12.0
JSON parsing Jackson 2.17.0
Build Maven + Shade plugin
Packaging Fat JAR (single file)

Known Limitations

  • Requires Java 21 on the machine running the TUI
  • Mouse interaction not supported — keyboard navigation only
  • Terminal must support ANSI escape codes (Windows Terminal, iTerm2, GNOME Terminal all work)
  • VS Code integrated terminal may have limited rendering

Roadmap

  • Mouse support
  • Web UI mode (browser-based UI, same Java backend)
  • GraalVM native image (no Java required)
  • Save and restore last-used configuration
  • Offline mode with cached dependency list

Author

Himanshu Kushwaha
GitHub

License

This project is open source

Built for developers who think the terminal is home.