Terminal UI

Terminal UI

prism-tui is Prism's native terminal frontend. It captures a system output and presents the seven audio analyzers in an editable terminal rack without starting the desktop interface.

Interactive mode needs a terminal at least 44 columns by 12 rows. It captures output only: microphone/input capture, Now Playing, rolling WAV capture, and desktop windows are not available in the TUI.

The Default TUI profile places all seven analyzers across three rows. If the terminal cannot fit every configured panel at its usable minimum size, Prism temporarily leaves some panels out of the rendered rack until more space is available; it does not remove them from the saved layout.

Starting and selecting an output

prism-tui [--output <id>] [--profile <name>] [--theme <name>]
prism-tui --list-outputs
prism-tui --help
prism-tui --version

Compatibility aliases are also accepted:

• --device <id> is an alias for --output <id>;
• --list-devices is an alias for --list-outputs;
• -h and -V are the short help and version forms.

Run prism-tui --list-outputs to print device IDs without entering interactive mode. Quote an ID containing spaces. Without --output, Prism opens the default system output.

During a session, press o to choose another output. Use Up/Down and Enter to switch, or r to refresh the list.

Platform capture

• macOS uses CoreAudio system-output capture and requires macOS 14.2 or newer.
• Windows uses the system output capture backend.
• Linux uses PulseAudio monitor capture; PipeWire needs its PulseAudio compatibility service.

The desktop app and TUI can have different selected sources. The TUI does not offer input-device mode.

Navigation

Key	Action
Tab / Shift-Tab	Focus the next or previous visible scope
Enter	Expand the focused scope or restore the rack
1–7	Focus Spectrum, Oscilloscope, Vectorscope, VU, LUFS, Spectrogram, or Waveform
o	Choose the system output
p	Open profiles
s	Open settings
l	Edit rack layout
r	Reset analyzers and integrated loudness
q, Esc, Ctrl-C	Quit

When a dialog is open, Esc normally backs out one level. In the normal rack it quits.

Editing the rack

Press l, then use:

Key	Action
Arrow keys	Select scopes spatially
Shift + arrows	Reorder the selected scope
Ctrl + arrows	Alternate reorder shortcut
Uppercase H, J, K, L	Fallback reorder keys for terminals that do not report modified arrows reliably
[ / ]	Decrease/increase scope width
, / .	Decrease/increase row height
n	Split/add a row, up to three rows
x	Remove the selected scope from the rack
a	Add a removed scope by name
?	Show layout help and fallback keys
Enter	Finish layout editing

The numbered scope keys also act as layout shortcuts. Prism enforces usable minimum panel sizes; a very small terminal may show fewer complete panes until it is enlarged.

Settings

Press s. Choose a settings page with Up/Down and Enter, then select a setting with Up/Down. Use Left/Right or Enter to change the selected value. Backspace resets that setting to its default. Changes are applied and saved immediately.

Appearance and General

Setting	Choices or range	Default	What it changes
Theme	Available Prism .iro themes	Default	Colors used by the terminal dashboard.
Terminal mode	Modern, Compatible, Safe	Modern	Color capability and the maximum effective frame rate.
Input trim	-12.0–+12.0 dB, 0.5 dB steps	0.0 dB	Gain applied before every TUI analyzer. Positive trim can clip the analyzed signal.
Refresh rate	30, 60, 120 FPS	60 FPS	Requested drawing rate. 120 FPS is experimental.

Scope settings

Page and setting	Choices or range	Default	What it changes
Spectrum — Peak readout	On/Off	On	Shows the strongest stable frequency in the panel title.
Spectrum — Display tilt	-2.0–8.0 dB/oct, 0.1 steps	2.0 dB/oct	Visually offsets the spectrum around 1 kHz; it does not apply EQ.
Oscilloscope — Pitch lock	On/Off	On	Stabilizes a periodic waveform around its detected fundamental.
Oscilloscope — Frequency readout	On/Off	On	Shows the detected fundamental while Pitch lock is enabled.
Oscilloscope — Trace weight	1, 2, 3	2	Changes terminal trace thickness.
Vectorscope — Display mode	Lissajous, Polar +, Polar ±, Linear +, Linear ±	Lissajous	Chooses the stereo projection. + is folded/unipolar; ± is bipolar.
Vectorscope — Guides	On/Off	On	Shows the current projection's axes and reference contours.
Vectorscope — Point detail	Balanced, Detailed, Maximum	Detailed	Changes point density versus terminal rendering cost.
VU meter — Display mode	Bar, Needle	Bar	Chooses the level presentation.
VU meter — Bar orientation	Horizontal, Vertical	Horizontal	Applies when Bar mode is selected.
VU meter — Needle channels	Stereo, Combined	Stereo	Applies when Needle mode is selected. Combined uses a power-averaged reading.
VU meter — 0 VU reference	-30–0 dBFS, 1 dB steps	-14 dBFS	Calibrates the point represented by 0 VU.
LUFS meter — Loudness readout	Momentary, Short term, Integrated	Short term	Chooses the window that drives the primary bar and badge.
Spectrogram — Color	Heat, Mono	Heat	Uses an intensity palette or a single-theme-color display.
Spectrogram — Clarity	Classic, Sharp, Sharper	Sharper	Trades traditional FFT history for progressively more frequency-reassigned detail.
Spectrogram — Frequency scale	Log, Mel, Linear	Log	Changes frequency spacing.
Spectrogram — Orientation	Horizontal, Vertical	Horizontal	Chooses the direction in which time scrolls.
Spectrogram — Scroll speed	0.5–4.0×, 0.5 steps	2.0×	Changes time-history movement.
Spectrogram — Contrast	0.5–2.0×, 0.1 steps	1.0×	Shapes visible intensity without changing analyzer input.
Spectrogram — Display tilt	-2.0–8.0 dB/oct, 0.5 steps	4.0 dB/oct	Offsets frequency intensity around 1 kHz.
Waveform — Channels	Mono, Stereo	Mono	Combines the display or uses separate channel lanes.
Waveform — Scroll speed	1–8×	1×	Changes rolling time resolution.
Waveform — Multiband color	On/Off	Off	Colors each envelope column by its dominant band.

Oscilloscope Frequency readout requires Pitch lock. Turning Pitch lock off also turns its frequency readout off.

TUI Spectrogram clarity offers Classic, Sharp, and Sharper. Vectorscope detail offers Balanced, Detailed, and Maximum; higher density costs more terminal drawing work.

Terminal modes and refresh rate

Mode	Color and frame behavior
Modern	Truecolor output and the requested refresh rate
Compatible	256-color output, capped at 60 FPS
Safe	ANSI color output, capped at 30 FPS

Refresh choices are 30, 60, and 120 FPS. 120 FPS is experimental and depends heavily on the terminal emulator, display, and machine. Choosing 120 while Compatible or Safe is active retains the preference but the effective rate remains capped by the mode.

TUI profiles

Press p to load, save, or overwrite terminal setups. TUI profiles include the rack, theme, input trim, and analyzer settings. Terminal mode and refresh rate remain local preferences and are preserved when a profile is applied.

Inside the profile browser:

• Up/Down selects a profile and Enter loads it;
• n saves the current setup as a new profile;
• w overwrites the active profile after confirmation;
• r renames the selected user profile;
• d deletes the selected user profile after confirmation;
• Esc returns to the rack.

The Default TUI profile cannot be renamed or deleted. When loading another profile with unsaved changes, choose w to save the active profile then load, n to save as a new profile then load, or d to discard the changes and load.

Overwrite and delete each require a confirmation in the terminal. Deleting a .prsmt profile cannot be undone from Prism; it does not delete themes, desktop profiles, or captured audio.

Use --profile <name> to begin this session with a saved profile by name or ID. The command-line selection does not replace the persistently active profile. TUI profiles are separate from desktop .prsm files.

TUI profile files use the .prsmt extension and live in a tui-profiles folder beside tui.conf:

Platform	Profile folder
Windows	%APPDATA%\Prism\tui-profiles
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Prism/tui-profiles
Linux	$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/prism/tui-profiles, or ~/.config/prism/tui-profiles

Use --theme <name> to begin this session with a Prism .iro theme by name or ID. The command-line override does not by itself replace the saved preference. The TUI shares Documents/Prism Themes with the desktop app.

Saved settings locations

The TUI stores local settings in:

Platform	Path
Windows	%APPDATA%\Prism\tui.conf
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Prism/tui.conf
Linux	$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/prism/tui.conf, or ~/.config/prism/tui.conf

If a configuration is damaged, preserve a copy for a bug report before moving it aside and allowing Prism to create defaults.

Installation notes

• The macOS PKG links prism-tui into /usr/local/bin.
• The Windows installer adds Prism's TUI resource directory to the machine PATH.
• Linux DEB and RPM packages link it into /usr/bin.
• ZIP, Windows portable, and Linux tar.gz packages do not modify PATH automatically.
• Linux AppImage does not include prism-tui.

Open a new terminal after an installer changes PATH.

Exit codes

• 0 — successful help, version, device listing, or interactive exit;
• 2 — command-line usage error;
• 1 — capture or runtime failure.

If prism-tui reports that interactive mode requires a terminal, run it directly in a terminal rather than piping its normal interface. --list-outputs, --help, and --version do not require an interactive TTY.