Show HN: Gridland: make terminal apps that also run in the browser

Hi everyone,

Gridland is a runtime + ShadCN UI registry that makes it possible to build terminal apps that run in the browser as well as the native terminal. This is useful for demoing TUIs so that users know what they're getting before they are invested enough to install them. And, tbh, it's also just super fun!

Gridland is the successor to Ink Web (ink-web.dev) which is the same concept, but using Ink + xterm.js. After building Ink Web, we continued experimenting and found that using OpenTUI and a canvas renderer performed better with less flickering and nearly instant load times.

We're excited to continue iterating on this. I expect a lot of criticism from the "why does this need to exist" angle, and tbh, it probably doesn't - it's really mostly just for fun, but we still think the demo use case mentioned previously has potential.

- Chris + Jess

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oDot an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Very nice

Could I use OpenTUI Core with this?

I'd like to replace the hero at https://blisswriter.app with the actual app

	▲	rothific 38 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		You should be able to. We forked OpenTUI in order to avoid having to shim a bunch of native stuff. I'd like to make it compatible - email me at hi@cjroth.com if you find a way or want any help making it work

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kamens 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I love this. It needs to exist because it's fun.

	▲	rothific 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Thank you! I'm glad you think so. It's all about fun.

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theturtletalks an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Can I replace xterm.js with this?

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rothific an hour ago | parent [-]

Yes (if you're also down to use React)

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theturtletalks an hour ago | parent [-]

Cool I’ll try it out. I recently replaced xterm with Ghostty-web for my terminal in the browser app, but this looks even better. I’m using Next.js and I see you have an example.

	▲	rothific an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Nice! I made a proof-of-concept of using Ink + Ghostty Web a few months back - we didn't end up merging it, but it's still an interesting thing that's possible. I think Ghostty Web is also has tons of potential. https://github.com/cjroth/ink-web/pull/1