Kui – CLIs With a Graphical Twist - Nick Mitchell, IBM
Channel: CNCF [Cloud Native Computing Foundation]
Date: 30/10/2021

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Kui – CLIs With a Graphical Twist- Nick Mitchell, IBM

The kubectl CLI is the "daily driver" for many Kubernetes users. Like other CLIs, kubectl is fast to use, allows succinct expressiveness, and is an ideal way to facilitate sharing, learning, and automation. However, ASCII art only takes us so far. The browser-based consoles offered by cloud vendors allow easier navigation via point and click, and reflect common developer workflows visually. Yet, given the general preference for kubectl, it seems that these benefits are overshadowed by the monumental power of a CLI. We will discus the open source project Kui (https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kui), a sub-project of the Kubernetes SIG-CLI. Kui selectively enriches kubectl without masking its expressive power. For example, "kubectl get pods" responds with a table of clickable resources. There is no need to copy and paste, or to remember which command is needed to drill down from one view to another. Kui's core framework enables visual enhancement of any CLI. Thus, we also provide starting points for those interested in using the platform to enhance their favorite CLI. We hope that this is a start of opening the world of CLIs to the imagination of designers.