Rich

Rich

Use when CLI needs better structure, readability, feedback.

Boundary

Use for terminal presentation and interaction design.

• pair with python when implementing CLI in Python
• keep logging policy, valid, domain behavior outside this skill
• use for how output rendered, not what system means

Reference Map

• references/console.md -- console setup, panels, tables, rules, markup, output boundaries
• references/progress.md -- status, progress bars, live updates, final summaries
• references/logging.md -- RichHandler, tracebacks, stderr, failure presentation

Assets

• assets/main.py -- runnable CLI example with table, status, progress, error output

Output Boundaries

• use Console for user-facing output
• use logging for operational events
• keep stdout clean when output may be piped or parsed
• send human-readable errors to console configured with stderr=True
• do not mix print() with Rich output

Console Setup

from rich.console import Console

console = Console()
error_console = Console(stderr=True)

Keep near CLI entrypoint, not scattered ad hoc console instances.

Common Primitives

Tables

Use Table for compact comparison, status, inventory output.

• keep column names short
• align numbers and durations consistently
• avoid overly wide tables that wrap unpredictably

Panels and Rules

Use Panel and Rule to separate sections only when it improves scanning.

• prefer one or two strong separators over heavy framing everywhere
• do not turn every message into panel

Status and Progress

• use track() for single simple loop
• use Progress() when multiple tasks or richer status needed
• keep task labels short and specific
• progress should describe meaningful work, not every tiny function call

Syntax and JSON

• use Syntax when showing code snippets
• use JSON when pretty-printing structured payloads for humans
• avoid syntax highlighting for machine-oriented logs or giant payload dumps

Logging and Tracebacks

Use RichHandler when logs part of interactive CLI experience.

from rich.logging import RichHandler

logging.basicConfig(
    level="INFO",
    format="%(message)s",
    handlers=[RichHandler(rich_tracebacks=True)],
)

• keep log messages concise
• prefer structured fields in logs; use Rich for rendering, not hiding detail
• enable rich tracebacks for local CLI tools and developer workflows

Live Output

Use Live when screen should update in place:

• dashboards
• job runners
• multi-step setup flows
• streaming status views

Prefer Live only when evolving state matters. Static output usually easier to debug and copy.

Markup Guardrails

• prefer Rich markup over raw ANSI escapes
• escape or disable markup for untrusted user content
• keep styles purposeful; too much color hurts readability
• use color to signal meaning, not decoration

Good CLI Defaults

• success output short and calm
• failures explicit and actionable
• progress output transient where possible
• final summaries compact
• important identifiers copyable without stripping decorations