Terminal interface (Textual / curses)

Inspect containers, measurements and the journal through the explicit tui command. This interface is read-only; cron and other commands remain noninteractive.

Textual interface

python -m pip install 'monit-docker[textual]'
monit-docker tui --ui textual

Use the sidebar to switch between containers and journal, / to search, and the detail panel to inspect the selected row. The interface remains read-only. The following legacy keyboard reference applies to the curses interface.

The Textual console uses a steel-blue palette with DWho 0.3.66 or newer. Status labels retain their shared colors: blue for accepted requests, violet for work in progress, green for success, amber for warnings or uncertainty, and red for failures.

Start the interface

monit-docker tui
monit-docker --name 'web-*' tui --refresh 30
monit-docker -c /etc/monit-docker/monit-docker.yml \
  --audit-file /var/lib/monit-docker/audit/events.jsonl tui

Global options precede tui. No HTTP server is required. Refresh ranges from 5 to 3600 seconds, defaulting to 30 seconds after each collection. Optional checks retain their prerequisites. Docker socket access retains its usual privileges.

Navigate and quit

Use arrows to select, Enter for details, Tab to switch containers/journal, and q or Escape to return/quit. c and j select each view directly. Details are a snapshot; return to the list for fresh data. Resizing is supported; labels remain English.

The journal needs an explicit --audit-file path or its environment variable. Only a bounded recent page is displayed. Use audit-export for complete history. The interface executes no rules or manual actions.

CLI and automation

Terminal detection never starts curses automatically. Only tui imports it. Without a TTY, TERM or curses support, it exits 2 before constructing a Docker client. Ctrl-C exits 130; SIGHUP and SIGTERM restore the terminal and exit 129 and 143. SIGKILL cannot run cleanup.

Screenshots and acceptance

These captures use the actual Textual interface with synthetic data. Click a capture to open the gallery. Use the arrow keys to browse and Escape to close.

Docker/PTY tests cover navigation, resizing, journal, quit and terminal restoration. Real SSH acceptance of 1.0.0 passed on 28 September 2026: normal quit, Ctrl-C, piped refusal and unchanged protected containers. Abrupt network loss and prolonged interactive sessions are not certified. See the roadmap.