C# and .NET examples · Terminal interfaces

Spectre.Console: Rich Terminal Interfaces in C#

A .NET 8 console application demonstrating how to build a rich terminal UI in C# with the Spectre.Console library. The app simulates an interactive data collection workflow with live panels, multi-task progress bars, and a selection prompt — all with coloured text and animated UI elements.

In this guide: Get started · Walk through the example · Understand the details · Check the limits

✨ Features

  • Live panel — updates in-place through four stages: Connecting, Fetching Data, Processing, and Complete
  • Multi-task progress bar — three simulated task displays (Fetching User Data, Downloading Reports, Analyzing Logs) with percentage, spinner, and remaining-time columns
  • Selection prompt — asks whether to restart the workflow or exit
  • Continuous loop — the entire workflow repeats until the user selects “No”

🚀 Quick start

Build and Run

cd SpectreDemo
dotnet run

📦 Prerequisites and installation

Requirements

NuGet Packages

Package Version
Spectre.Console 0.49.1
Spectre.Console.Cli 0.49.1

💡 Usage

Workflow

  1. Live panel cycles through four status messages with brief delays
  2. Progress bar advances three tasks to completion (each at a different increment rate)
  3. User is prompted to restart or exit

Spectre.Console APIs Used

API Used for
AnsiConsole.Live with Panel and UpdateTarget Updating a panel in place
AnsiConsole.Progress with AddTask and Increment Several progress bars advancing together
SelectionPrompt<string> with AddChoices The restart / exit prompt
Markup such as [green]...[/] Coloured and styled text

Spectre.Console.Cli is referenced in the project file but not used by Program.cs.

🏗️ Architecture

Project Structure

SpectreDemo/
├── Program.cs          # Full application — live panel, progress bar, selection prompt
├── SpectreDemo.csproj
└── SpectreDemo.sln

🧪 Development and testing

In an interactive terminal, check the four panel stages, completion of all three progress bars and both restart choices. The source and package references were checked; terminal interaction was not executed in this review.

🛠️ Troubleshooting and limitations

The progress bars are advanced by one synchronous loop with Thread.Sleep. They represent simulated jobs, not parallel downloads or analysis. Use an interactive terminal for the selection prompt; redirected output may not render live updates or accept selections.

🔗 Related documentation

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