Port Sacred Terminal UI To React Using Same Conventions

Skill: Port Sacred Terminal UI to React Using Same Conventions

Also available at https://sacred.computer/llm/skills/port-sacred-terminal-ui-to-react-using-same-conventions/SKILL.md

Take a CLI screen written for Simulacrum — the sacred CLI framework (scripts/cli/templates/*.ts or scripts/python/templates/*.py) — and produce a React component that lives inside components/examples/ (or components/) using only sacred's existing primitives — Window, Card, SimpleTable, ActionButton, RowSpaceBetween, BarLoader, etc.

See components/AGENTS.md for the canonical catalog of every sacred React component (props, theming tokens, CLI primitive equivalent). Read it before picking a component to render.

When to use

Use this skill whenever you have a CLI screen and want a sacred React surface that mirrors it without the canvas-based animation. This is the inverse of port-sacred-terminal-ui-to-typescript-cli and port-sacred-terminal-ui-to-python.

Reference primitives

These are the React components that sacred ships and that the CLI framework maps onto. Read them before writing the port:

Step-by-step

1. Read the CLI screen. Identify each cardTop/cardRow/cardBot block and each buttonRow. Each block becomes one <Card> element.
2. Create the React file. Drop it in components/examples/ if it is a demo, or components/ if it is a reusable surface. Use 'use client' only if you need browser APIs (most ports do not).
3. Map cards to <Card title="...">. Wrap content children in <Card>. Card renders the title bar, the framework only adds borders.
4. Map data tables to <SimpleTable data={[...]} />. First row is the header, subsequent rows are data. SimpleTable is a fluid HTML table with the same column + status contract as the CLI framework's formatRow (ACTIVE/OPEN/APPROVED → bold green, CLOSED/PAID/SUSPENDED → gray). Use align={['left','right',...]} to mirror per-column alignment from the CLI's colSpec. Do not use the heavier DataTable here — its gradient backgrounds are not part of the CLI surface.
5. Map button rows to <RowSpaceBetween>. Left and right buttons go in the slots provided. Use <ActionButton hotkey="ESC">EXIT</ActionButton> so the React buttons match the CLI button row visually.
6. Skip the animation header. Sacred's React UI has its own animation surfaces (CanvasPlatformer, CanvasSnake); do not re-port the CLI's static layout into one of those. The point is layout parity, not animation parity.
7. Inherit theming. Sacred's global.css already drives every --theme-* token from the active light/dark/tint theme. Do not import scripts/cli/colors.json from React — the React side picks up the same ANSI palette through the CSS custom properties (var(--theme-background) etc.).

What NOT to do

• Do not re-implement the box-drawing borders in HTML/CSS — Card already does this.
• Do not copy scripts/cli/lib/* into the React tree. The CLI framework is for terminals; the React tree uses CSS Modules.
• Do not import scripts/cli/colors.json from a React file. The browser palette comes from CSS custom properties — the JSON is the authoritative source for the ANSI palette but it is consumed indirectly through global.css.
• Do not add an <ASCIICanvas> from .workdir/ — sacred has its own animations and porting that canvas duplicates state machines.

Layout expectations

Sacred React components are width-fluid: use them in <ContentFluid> or <Block> containers and let CSS Grid / Flexbox do the work. The CLI framework's "innerW" concept is replaced by browser layout, so you do not need to compute column widths yourself — DataTable and Card handle their own padding.

Smoke test

After writing the component:

npm test     # CLI framework tests still pass (sanity check)
npm run dev  # render the React surface in the browser

Visit the page that renders your component and confirm:

• Card titles match the CLI cardTop titles exactly
• SimpleTable rows match the CLI formatRow outputs (same order, same labels, same status colors)
• Buttons match the CLI button(hotkey, label) pairs
• The screen reads the same in light, dark, and every tinted theme (the global CSS handles this for free)

If anything diverges, trust the CLI screen — it is the source of truth for layout because the CLI framework forces explicit widths and the React side fills in around it.