Terminal UI (TUI)¶

Rift includes an interactive terminal user interface (rift-tui) for managing imposters and stubs without writing any code or API calls.

Quick Start¶

# Build the TUI
cargo build --release --bin rift-tui

# Run (connects to localhost:2525 by default)
./target/release/rift-tui

# Connect to a different admin URL
./target/release/rift-tui --admin-url http://localhost:2525

Features¶

Imposter Management - View, create, edit, and delete imposters
Stub Editor - JSON editor with syntax highlighting and validation
Search & Filter - Find imposters and stubs quickly
Import/Export - Load and save imposter configurations
Curl Generation - Generate curl commands for testing stubs
Metrics Dashboard - View request counts and statistics
Vim-style Navigation - Navigate with j/k keys

CLI Options¶

rift-tui [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -a, --admin-url <ADMIN_URL>    Admin API URL [env: RIFT_ADMIN_URL] [default: http://localhost:2525]
  -r, --refresh-ms <REFRESH_MS>  Refresh interval in milliseconds [default: 1000]
  -h, --help                     Print help
  -V, --version                  Print version

Keyboard Shortcuts¶

Key	Action
`j` / `↓`	Move down
`k` / `↑`	Move up
`Enter`	Select / Drill down
`Esc`	Go back / Close overlay
`Tab`	Switch focus between panes
`r`	Refresh data
`/`	Search / Filter
`T`	Cycle theme (Default / Dark / Light / Nord / Dracula)
`L`	Show recent errors and warnings
`?`	Toggle help
`q`	Quit (from main view); go back elsewhere

Imposter List¶

Key	Action
`n`	Create new imposter
`p`	Create proxy imposter
`d`	Delete selected imposter
`t`	Toggle enable/disable
`m`	View metrics dashboard
`C`	View server config (`GET /config`)
`i`	Import from file
`I`	Import from folder
`e`	Export all to file
`E`	Export to folder, one `<port>.json` per imposter (usable as a `--datadir`)

Imposter Detail¶

Key	Action
`a`	Add new stub
`e`	Edit selected stub
`d`	Delete selected stub
`D`	Duplicate selected stub
`[` / `]`	Move selected stub up / down
`y`	Copy stub as curl command
`t`	Toggle imposter enable/disable
`c`	Clear recorded requests
`C`	Clear proxy recordings
`x`	Export stubs only
`X`	Export full config
`A`	Apply recorded stubs

Stub Detail¶

Key	Action
`e`	Edit stub
`d`	Delete stub
`D`	Duplicate stub
`y`	Copy as curl command

JSON Editor¶

Key	Action
`Ctrl+S`	Save changes
`Ctrl+F`	Format JSON
`Ctrl+L`	Show full lint results
`Ctrl+A`	Select all
`Ctrl+C`	Copy selection
`Ctrl+X`	Cut selection
`Ctrl+V`	Paste
`Ctrl+K`	Delete line
`Ctrl+U`	Clear line before cursor
`Shift+Arrows`	Extend selection
`Ctrl+←/→`	Move by word
`Esc`	Cancel editing

Search Mode¶

Key	Action
`Enter`	Confirm search
`Esc`	Cancel search
`Ctrl+U`	Clear search query
`Ctrl+V`	Paste into search

Export Overlay¶

Key	Action
`s`	Save to file
`c`	Copy to clipboard
`j` / `k`, `↑` / `↓`, `PgUp` / `PgDn`	Scroll
`Esc`	Close

Creating Imposters¶

Regular Imposter¶

Press n to create a new imposter:

Port (optional) - Leave empty for auto-assign
Name (optional) - Display name for the imposter
Protocol - http (default) or https

Proxy Imposter¶

Press p to create a proxy imposter for recording:

Target URL (required) - Backend URL to proxy to
Port (optional) - Leave empty for auto-assign
Name (optional) - Display name
Proxy Mode:
- proxyOnce - Record first response, replay subsequent
- proxyAlways - Always forward, keep recording
- proxyTransparent - Always forward, no recording

Editing Stubs¶

The JSON editor provides:

Syntax highlighting for JSON
Validation - Errors shown before saving
Auto-format - Press Ctrl+F to format JSON
Selection support - Select with Shift+arrows, copy/paste

Example stub:

{
  "predicates": [
    {
      "equals": {
        "method": "GET",
        "path": "/api/users"
      }
    }
  ],
  "responses": [
    {
      "is": {
        "statusCode": 200,
        "headers": {
          "Content-Type": "application/json"
        },
        "body": {
          "users": []
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Search & Filter¶

Press / to activate search mode:

Type to filter imposters/stubs
Matching items stay highlighted
Non-matching items are dimmed
Press Enter to confirm and select first match
Press Esc to clear search

Search matches against:

Imposter port, name and protocol
Stub scenario name
Stub predicates (path, method)
Response content

Curl Generation¶

Press y on any stub to generate a curl command:

curl -s \
  -X POST \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"userId": 123}' \
  'http://localhost:4545/api/users'

The command is copied to clipboard and can be pasted directly into a terminal.

The generator handles:

Path extraction from predicates
Method detection (GET, POST, etc.)
Header extraction
Body generation from JSONPath predicates
Query parameter building

Import/Export¶

Import¶

Action	Key	Description
Import file	`i`	Load single imposter JSON
Import folder	`I`	Load all JSON files from folder

Export¶

Action	Key	Description
Export all	`e`	Save all imposters to single file
Export folder	`E`	Save each imposter to `<port>.json` in a folder
Export stubs	`x`	Export stubs without proxy responses
Export full	`X`	Export complete imposter config

Metrics Dashboard¶

Press m to view the metrics dashboard:

Total request count across all imposters
Per-imposter request counts
Visual bar charts showing relative traffic
Auto-refresh at the --refresh-ms interval (default every second)

Tips¶

Use search (/) to quickly find imposters in large configurations
Generate curls (y) to test stubs from terminal
Create proxy imposters (p) to record real API traffic
Apply recordings (A) to convert proxy responses to static stubs
Format JSON (Ctrl+F) before saving to catch syntax errors