The TUI
By the end of this page you will know how to open the interface, how its screens relate to each other, and the handful of keys that work on every one of them.
Launching it#
$ osmiumosmium tui does exactly the same thing.
Two shortcuts open it straight onto one server's Manage Servers screen rather than on Home:
$ osmium -s survival # a registered server, by name
$ cd ~/minecraft/survival && osmiumRunning Osmium inside a folder that has an osmium.json opens on that server. If the folder is a server Osmium has never seen, it is registered on the spot, so opening it once is enough for it to stay in the list.
The interface needs a terminal with UTF-8 and 256 colours, at least 60 columns by 18 rows.
The screen model#
There are five screens. Home is the hub; the other four are reached from its menu, and esc goes back to it.
| Screen | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Home | The menu, and which servers are up right now |
| Create Server | The wizard that builds a new server |
| Manage Servers | The list, the actions and the console, on one screen |
| Migrate Server | Moving a server to another loader or Minecraft version |
| Settings | Theme, default server folder, default memory, and version information |
Manage Servers is where most of the work happens. It is made of three panes — Servers, Actions and Activity — and the keys that work depend on which of the three holds focus.
Keys that work everywhere#
| Key | Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
tab |
Switch pane | Moves focus to the next pane on screens that have panes |
esc |
Back, or home | Cancels what you are typing first, if anything |
? |
Toggle help | Lists the keys for the pane in front of you right now, not a fixed list |
ctrl+c |
Quit | Leaves running servers running |
| mouse | Click, wheel | Click to focus a pane, click a row to select it, click again to open it |
The help overlay is worth leaning on: it asks the active screen, which asks whatever holds focus, so what it lists is always the keys of the thing you are looking at.
The mouse works throughout. Dragging selects text from one pane rather than across the whole frame, and the wheel scrolls whatever is under the pointer.
Next#
Home — the front page and its menu.