How to Choose a Backend

Tldr

Choose Crossterm for most tasks.

Ratatui interfaces with the terminal emulator through its “backends”. These are powerful libraries that grant ratatui the ability to capture keypresses, maneuver the cursor, style the text with colors and other features. As of now, ratatui supports three backends:

Selecting a backend does influence your project’s structure, but the core functionalities remain consistent across all options. Here’s a flowchart that can help you make your decision.

graph TD;
    Q1[Is the TUI only for Wezterm users?]
    Q2[Is Windows compatibility important?]
    Q3[Are you familiar with Crossterm?]
    Q4[Are you familiar with Termion?]
    Crossterm
    Termwiz
    Termion

    Q1 -->|Yes| Termwiz
    Q1 -->|No| Q2
    Q2 -->|Yes| Crossterm
    Q2 -->|No| Q3
    Q3 -->|Yes| Crossterm
    Q3 -->|No| Q4
    Q4 -->|Yes| Termion
    Q4 -->|No| Crossterm

Though we try to make sure that all backends are fully-supported, the most commonly-used backend is Crossterm. If you have no particular reason to use Termion or Termwiz, you will find it easiest to learn Crossterm simply due to its popularity.

Ratatui Book

How to Choose a Backend