Terminal.Gui/docfx/docs/config.md

Configuration Management Deep Dive

Terminal.Gui provides a comprehensive configuration system that allows users and developers to customize application behavior and appearance through JSON configuration files. The ConfigurationManager enables persistent settings, themes, and application-specific preferences.

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Getting Started
• Configuration Scopes
• Configuration Locations and Precedence
• Themes and Schemes
• Defining Configuration Properties
• Loading and Applying Configuration
• Events
• What Can Be Configured
• Configuration File Format
• Best Practices

---

Overview

The ConfigurationManager provides:

• Persistent Settings - User preferences stored in JSON files
• Theme System - Named collections of visual settings
• Scheme Management - Color and text style definitions
• Configuration Precedence - Layered configuration from multiple sources
• Runtime Configuration - In-memory configuration without files
• AOT Compatible - Works with Native AOT compilation

Key Features

• JSON-based configuration with schema validation
• Multiple configuration locations (user home, app directory, resources)
• Process-wide settings using static properties
• Built-in themes (Default, Dark, Light, etc.)
• Custom glyphs and Unicode characters
• Event-driven configuration changes

---

Getting Started

Enabling Configuration

ConfigurationManager is disabled by default and must be explicitly enabled:

using Terminal.Gui.Configuration;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Enable configuration with all sources
        ConfigurationManager.Enable(ConfigLocations.All);
        
        Application.Init();
        // ... rest of app
    }
}

Quick Example

// Enable configuration
ConfigurationManager.Enable(ConfigLocations.All);

// Listen for configuration changes
ConfigurationManager.Applied += (sender, e) => 
{
    Console.WriteLine("Configuration applied!");
};

// Switch themes
ThemeManager.Theme = "Dark";
ConfigurationManager.Apply();

---

Configuration Scopes

Terminal.Gui uses three configuration scopes, each serving a different purpose:

1. SettingsScope

System-level settings that affect Terminal.Gui behavior. Only Terminal.Gui library developers can define SettingsScope properties.

[ConfigurationProperty(Scope = typeof(SettingsScope))]
public static bool Force16Colors { get; set; } = false;

Examples:

• Application.QuitKey - Default key to quit applications
• Application.Force16Colors - Force 16-color mode
• Key.Separator - Character separating keys in key combinations

2. ThemeScope

Visual appearance settings that can be themed. Only Terminal.Gui library developers can define ThemeScope properties.

[ConfigurationProperty(Scope = typeof(ThemeScope))]
public static LineStyle DefaultBorderStyle { get; set; } = LineStyle.Single;

Examples:

• Window.DefaultBorderStyle - Default border style for windows
• Dialog.DefaultShadow - Default shadow style for dialogs
• Schemes - Color schemes for the theme

3. AppSettingsScope (Default)

Application-specific settings. Application developers can define AppSettingsScope properties for their apps.

[ConfigurationProperty] // AppSettingsScope is default
public static string MyAppSetting { get; set; } = "default value";

Important:

• App developers cannot define SettingsScope or ThemeScope properties
• AppSettings property names must be globally unique (automatically prefixed with class name)

---

Configuration Locations and Precedence

Configuration is loaded from multiple locations with increasing precedence (higher numbers override lower):

ConfigLocations Enum

ConfigLocations specifies where configuration can be loaded from:

1. ConfigLocations.HardCoded (Lowest Precedence)

   • Default values in code (static property initializers)
   • Always available, even when ConfigurationManager is disabled

2. ConfigLocations.LibraryResources

   • Settings in Terminal.Gui.dll resources (Terminal.Gui.Resources.config.json)
   • Defines default themes and settings for the library

3. ConfigLocations.Runtime

   • Settings in ConfigurationManager.RuntimeConfig string property
   • In-memory configuration without files

4. ConfigLocations.AppResources

   • App-specific resources (MyApp.Resources.config.json or Resources/config.json)
   • Embedded in the application assembly

5. ConfigLocations.AppHome

   • App-specific file in user's home directory (~/.tui/MyApp.config.json)

6. ConfigLocations.AppCurrent

   • App-specific file in current directory (./.tui/MyApp.config.json)

7. ConfigLocations.GlobalHome

   • Global file in user's home directory (~/.tui/config.json)

8. ConfigLocations.GlobalCurrent (Highest Precedence)

   • Global file in current directory (./.tui/config.json)

Precedence Diagram

graph TD
    A[1. Hard-coded Defaults] --> B[2. Library Resources]
    B --> C[3. Runtime Config]
    C --> D[4. App Resources]
    D --> E[5. App Home Directory]
    E --> F[6. App Current Directory]
    F --> G[7. Global Home Directory]
    G --> H[8. Global Current Directory]
    
    style A fill:#f9f9f9
    style H fill:#90EE90

File Locations

Global Settings (config.json):

• Windows: C:\Users\username\.tui\config.json
• macOS/Linux: ~/.tui/config.json or ./.tui/config.json

App-Specific Settings (AppName.config.json):

• Windows: C:\Users\username\.tui\UICatalog.config.json
• macOS/Linux: ~/.tui/UICatalog.config.json or ./.tui/UICatalog.config.json

---

Themes and Schemes

Theme System

A Theme is a named collection of visual settings bundled together. Terminal.Gui includes several built-in themes.

Built-in Themes

• Default - The default Terminal.Gui theme (matches hard-coded defaults)
• Dark - Dark color scheme with heavy borders
• Light - Light color scheme
• TurboPascal 5 - Classic Turbo Pascal IDE colors
• And more - See Terminal.Gui/Resources/config.json for all built-in themes

Using Themes

// Get current theme
ThemeScope currentTheme = ThemeManager.GetCurrentTheme();

// Get all available themes
Dictionary<string, ThemeScope> themes = ThemeManager.GetThemes();

// Get theme names
ImmutableList<string> themeNames = ThemeManager.GetThemeNames();

// Switch themes
ThemeManager.Theme = "Dark";
ConfigurationManager.Apply();

// Listen for theme changes
ThemeManager.ThemeChanged += (sender, e) => 
{
    // Update UI based on new theme
};

Scheme System

A Scheme defines the colors and text styles for a specific UI context (e.g., Dialog, Menu, TopLevel).

See the Scheme Deep Dive for complete details on the scheme system.

Built-in Schemes

Schemes enum defines the standard schemes:

• TopLevel - Top-level application windows
• Base - Default for most views
• Dialog - Dialogs and message boxes
• Menu - Menus and status bars
• Error - Error messages and dialogs

Working with Schemes

// Get all schemes for current theme
Dictionary<string, Scheme> schemes = SchemeManager.GetCurrentSchemes();

// Get specific scheme
Scheme dialogScheme = SchemeManager.GetScheme(Schemes.Dialog);

// Get scheme names
ImmutableList<string> schemeNames = SchemeManager.GetSchemeNames();

// Add custom scheme
SchemeManager.AddScheme("MyScheme", new Scheme
{
    Normal = new Attribute(Color.White, Color.Blue),
    Focus = new Attribute(Color.Black, Color.Cyan)
});

// Listen for scheme changes
SchemeManager.CollectionChanged += (sender, e) => 
{
    // Handle scheme changes
};

Scheme Structure

Each Scheme maps VisualRole to Attribute:

{
  "TopLevel": {
    "Normal": {
      "Foreground": "BrightGreen",
      "Background": "Black",
      "Style": "None"
    },
    "Focus": {
      "Foreground": "White",
      "Background": "Cyan",
      "Style": "Bold"
    },
    "HotNormal": {
      "Foreground": "Yellow",
      "Background": "Black"
    },
    "HotFocus": {
      "Foreground": "Blue",
      "Background": "Cyan",
      "Style": "Underline"
    },
    "Disabled": {
      "Foreground": "DarkGray",
      "Background": "Black",
      "Style": "Faint"
    }
  }
}

---

Defining Configuration Properties

Basic Property Definition

Application developers define settings using the ConfigurationPropertyAttribute:

public class MyApp
{
    [ConfigurationProperty]
    public static string MySetting { get; set; } = "Default Value";
    
    [ConfigurationProperty]
    public static int MaxItems { get; set; } = 100;
}

Requirements:

• Must be public or internal
• Must be static
• Must be a property (not a field)
• Must have a default value

Property Naming

AppSettings properties are automatically prefixed with the class name to ensure global uniqueness:

// Code
public class MyApp
{
    [ConfigurationProperty]
    public static string MySetting { get; set; } = "value";
}

// JSON
{
  "AppSettings": {
    "MyApp.MySetting": "value"
  }
}

Scope Specification

Use the Scope parameter to specify non-default scopes (Terminal.Gui library only):

// SettingsScope - Library-wide settings
[ConfigurationProperty(Scope = typeof(SettingsScope))]
public static bool Force16Colors { get; set; } = false;

// ThemeScope - Visual settings
[ConfigurationProperty(Scope = typeof(ThemeScope))]
public static LineStyle DefaultBorderStyle { get; set; } = LineStyle.Single;

// AppSettingsScope - Application settings (default)
[ConfigurationProperty] // or explicitly: Scope = typeof(AppSettingsScope)
public static string MyAppSetting { get; set; } = "default";

Omit Class Name (Advanced)

For library developers only, use OmitClassName = true for cleaner JSON:

[ConfigurationProperty(Scope = typeof(ThemeScope), OmitClassName = true)]
public static Dictionary<string, Scheme> Schemes { get; set; } = new();

---

Loading and Applying Configuration

Enable with Load and Apply

The simplest approach - enable and load in one call:

ConfigurationManager.Enable(ConfigLocations.All);

This:

1. Enables ConfigurationManager
2. Loads configuration from all locations
3. Applies settings to the application

Granular Control

For more control, use Load and Apply separately:

// Enable without loading
ConfigurationManager.Enable(ConfigLocations.None);

// Load from specific locations
ConfigurationManager.Load(ConfigLocations.GlobalHome | ConfigLocations.AppResources);

// Apply settings
ConfigurationManager.Apply();

Runtime Configuration

Set configuration directly in code without files:

ConfigurationManager.RuntimeConfig = @"
{
  ""Application.QuitKey"": ""Ctrl+Q"",
  ""Application.Force16Colors"": true
}";

ConfigurationManager.Enable(ConfigLocations.Runtime);

Reset to Defaults

Reset all settings to hard-coded defaults:

ConfigurationManager.ResetToHardCodedDefaults();

---

Events

The ConfigurationManager provides events to track configuration changes:

Applied Event

Raised after configuration is applied to the application:

ConfigurationManager.Applied += (sender, e) => 
{
    // Configuration has been applied
    // Update UI or refresh views
};

ThemeChanged Event

Raised when the active theme changes:

ThemeManager.ThemeChanged += (sender, e) => 
{
    // Theme has changed
    // Refresh all views to use new theme
    // From within a View, use: App?.Current?.SetNeedsDraw();
    // Or access via IApplication instance: app.Current?.SetNeedsDraw();
};

CollectionChanged Event

Raised when schemes collection changes:

SchemeManager.CollectionChanged += (sender, e) => 
{
    // Schemes have changed
};

---

What Can Be Configured

Application Settings

System-wide settings from SettingsScope:

{
  "Application.QuitKey": "Esc",
  "Application.Force16Colors": false,
  "Application.IsMouseDisabled": false,
  "Application.ArrangeKey": "Ctrl+F5",
  "Application.NextTabKey": "Tab",
  "Application.PrevTabKey": "Shift+Tab",
  "Application.NextTabGroupKey": "F6",
  "Application.PrevTabGroupKey": "Shift+F6",
  "Key.Separator": "+"
}

View-Specific Settings

Settings for individual View types from ThemeScope:

{
  "Window.DefaultBorderStyle": "Single",
  "Window.DefaultShadow": "None",
  "Dialog.DefaultBorderStyle": "Heavy",
  "Dialog.DefaultShadow": "Transparent",
  "Dialog.DefaultButtonAlignment": "End",
  "FrameView.DefaultBorderStyle": "Rounded",
  "Button.DefaultShadow": "None",
  "PopoverMenu.DefaultKey": "Shift+F10",
  "FileDialog.MaxSearchResults": 10000
}

Glyphs

Customize the Unicode characters used for drawing:

{
  "Glyphs.RightArrow": "►",
  "Glyphs.LeftArrow": "U+25C4",
  "Glyphs.DownArrow": "\\u25BC",
  "Glyphs.UpArrow": 965010,
  "Glyphs.LeftBracket": "[",
  "Glyphs.RightBracket": "]",
  "Glyphs.Checked": "☑",
  "Glyphs.UnChecked": "☐",
  "Glyphs.Selected": "◉",
  "Glyphs.UnSelected": "○"
}

Glyphs can be specified as:

• Unicode character: "►"
• U+ format: "U+25C4"
• UTF-16 format: "\\u25BC"
• Decimal codepoint: 965010

Discovering Configuration Properties

To find all available configuration properties:

// Get hard-coded configuration
SettingsScope hardCoded = ConfigurationManager.GetHardCodedConfig();

// Iterate through all properties
foreach (var property in hardCoded)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"{property.Key} = {property.Value}");
}

Or search the source code for [ConfigurationProperty] attributes.

---

Themes and Schemes

Theme Structure

A theme is a named collection bundling visual settings and schemes:

{
  "Themes": [
    {
      "Dark": {
        "Dialog.DefaultBorderStyle": "Heavy",
        "Dialog.DefaultShadow": "Transparent",
        "Window.DefaultBorderStyle": "Single",
        "Button.DefaultShadow": "Opaque",
        "Schemes": [
          {
            "TopLevel": {
              "Normal": { "Foreground": "BrightGreen", "Background": "Black" },
              "Focus": { "Foreground": "White", "Background": "Cyan" }
            },
            "Dialog": {
              "Normal": { "Foreground": "Black", "Background": "Gray" }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Creating Custom Themes

Custom themes can be defined in configuration files:

{
  "Themes": [
    {
      "MyCustomTheme": {
        "Window.DefaultBorderStyle": "Double",
        "Dialog.DefaultShadow": "Opaque",
        "Schemes": [
          {
            "Base": {
              "Normal": {
                "Foreground": "Cyan",
                "Background": "Black",
                "Style": "Bold"
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Then activate the theme:

ThemeManager.Theme = "MyCustomTheme";
ConfigurationManager.Apply();

Theme Inheritance

Themes only override specified properties. To build on an existing theme:

// Start with default theme
ThemeManager.Theme = "Default";
ConfigurationManager.Apply();

// Apply custom theme (overrides only what's specified)
ThemeManager.Theme = "MyCustomTheme";
ConfigurationManager.Apply();

TextStyle in Schemes

Each Attribute in a scheme now includes TextStyle:

{
  "Normal": {
    "Foreground": "White",
    "Background": "Blue",
    "Style": "Bold, Underline"
  }
}

Available styles (combinable):

• None
• Bold
• Faint
• Italic
• Underline
• Blink
• Reverse
• Strikethrough

---

Configuration File Format

Schema

All configuration files must conform to the JSON schema:

Schema URL: https://gui-cs.github.io/Terminal.Gui/schemas/tui-config-schema.json

Root Structure

{
  "$schema": "https://gui-cs.github.io/Terminal.Gui/schemas/tui-config-schema.json",
  
  // SettingsScope properties
  "Application.QuitKey": "Esc",
  "Application.Force16Colors": false,
  
  // Current theme name
  "Theme": "Dark",
  
  // Theme definitions
  "Themes": [
    {
      "Dark": {
        // ThemeScope properties
        "Window.DefaultBorderStyle": "Single",
        // Schemes
        "Schemes": [ ... ]
      }
    }
  ],
  
  // AppSettings
  "AppSettings": {
    "MyApp.MySetting": "value"
  }
}

Complete Example

See the default configuration file:

[!code-jsonconfig.json]

---

Best Practices

For Application Developers

1. Enable Early

Enable ConfigurationManager at the start of Main(), before Application.Init():

static void Main()
{
    ConfigurationManager.Enable(ConfigLocations.All);
    Application.Init();
    // ...
}

2. Use AppSettings for App Configuration

public class MyApp
{
    [ConfigurationProperty]
    public static bool ShowWelcomeMessage { get; set; } = true;
    
    [ConfigurationProperty]
    public static string DefaultDirectory { get; set; } = "";
}

3. Ship Default Configuration as Resource

Include a Resources/config.json file in your app:

<ItemGroup>
  <EmbeddedResource Include="Resources\config.json" />
</ItemGroup>

4. Handle Configuration Changes

ConfigurationManager.Applied += (sender, e) => 
{
    // Refresh UI when configuration changes
    RefreshAllViews();
};

For Library Developers

1. Use Appropriate Scopes

• SettingsScope - For system-wide behavior
• ThemeScope - For visual appearance that should be themeable
• Don't use AppSettingsScope in library code

2. Provide Meaningful Defaults

[ConfigurationProperty(Scope = typeof(ThemeScope))]
public static LineStyle DefaultBorderStyle { get; set; } = LineStyle.Single;

3. Document Configuration Properties

/// <summary>
///     Gets or sets the default border style for all Windows.
/// </summary>
[ConfigurationProperty(Scope = typeof(ThemeScope))]
public static LineStyle DefaultBorderStyle { get; set; } = LineStyle.Single;

Process-Wide Settings

Important

Configuration settings are applied at the process level.

Since configuration properties are static, changes affect all applications in the same process. This is typically not an issue for normal applications, but can affect scenarios with:

• Multiple Terminal.Gui apps in the same process
• Unit tests running in parallel
• Hot reload scenarios

---

Advanced Topics

JSON Error Handling

Control how JSON parsing errors are handled:

{
  "ConfigurationManager.ThrowOnJsonErrors": true
}

• false (default) - Silent failures, errors logged
• true - Throws exceptions on JSON parsing errors

Manually Trigger Updates

Update ConfigurationManager to reflect current static property values:

// Change a setting programmatically
Application.QuitKey = Key.Q.WithCtrl;

// Update ConfigurationManager to reflect the change
ConfigurationManager.UpdateToCurrentValues();

// Save to file (if needed)
string json = ConfigurationManager.Serialize();
File.WriteAllText("my-config.json", json);

Disable ConfigurationManager

Disable and optionally reset to defaults:

// Disable but keep current settings
ConfigurationManager.Disable(resetToHardCodedDefaults: false);

// Disable and reset to hard-coded defaults
ConfigurationManager.Disable(resetToHardCodedDefaults: true);

File System Watching

Watch for configuration file changes:

var watcher = new FileSystemWatcher(
    Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.UserProfile), ".tui"));
watcher.Filter = "*.json";
watcher.Changed += (s, e) => 
{
    ConfigurationManager.Load(ConfigLocations.GlobalHome);
    ConfigurationManager.Apply();
};
watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;

See UICatalog's ConfigurationEditor scenario for a complete example.

---

Examples

Example 1: Simple Theme Switching

using Terminal.Gui;
using Terminal.Gui.Configuration;

ConfigurationManager.Enable(ConfigLocations.All);
Application.Init();

var themeSelector = new ComboBox
{
    X = 1,
    Y = 1,
    Width = 20
};
themeSelector.SetSource(ThemeManager.GetThemeNames());
themeSelector.SelectedItemChanged += (s, e) =>
{
    ThemeManager.Theme = e.Value.ToString();
    ConfigurationManager.Apply();
};

Application.Run(new Window { Title = "Theme Demo" }).Add(themeSelector);
Application.Shutdown();

Example 2: Custom Application Settings

public class MyApp
{
    [ConfigurationProperty]
    public static string LastOpenedFile { get; set; } = "";
    
    [ConfigurationProperty]
    public static int WindowWidth { get; set; } = 80;
    
    [ConfigurationProperty]
    public static int WindowHeight { get; set; } = 25;
}

// Enable and use
ConfigurationManager.Enable(ConfigLocations.All);

// Settings are automatically loaded and applied
var window = new Window
{
    Width = MyApp.WindowWidth,
    Height = MyApp.WindowHeight
};

// Later, save updated settings
MyApp.WindowWidth = 100;
ConfigurationManager.UpdateToCurrentValues();
// Could save to file here

Example 3: Runtime Configuration

ConfigurationManager.RuntimeConfig = @"
{
  ""Application.QuitKey"": ""Ctrl+Q"",
  ""Application.Force16Colors"": true,
  ""Theme"": ""Dark""
}";

ConfigurationManager.Enable(ConfigLocations.Runtime);

// Settings are now applied
// QuitKey is Ctrl+Q
// 16-color mode is forced
// Dark theme is active

---

See Also

• Scheme Deep Dive - Color scheme details
• Drawing Deep Dive - Color and attribute system
• View Deep Dive - View configuration properties
• Theme Schema - JSON schema for validation
• Default Config - Complete default configuration

UICatalog Examples

The UICatalog application demonstrates configuration management:

• Configuration Editor - Interactive editor for configuration files
• Themes - Theme viewer and selector
• File System Watcher - Automatic reload on configuration file changes

API Reference

• ConfigurationManager
• ConfigLocations
• SettingsScope
• ThemeScope
• AppSettingsScope
• ThemeManager
• SchemeManager
• ConfigurationPropertyAttribute