Interactive TUI

nsc tui opens a full-screen, keyboard-driven terminal UI over your NetBox — browse, filter, edit, bulk-edit and search across object types without writing a single command. It is generated from the same OpenAPI-derived command model as the CLI, so it works for every resource your NetBox exposes (plugins included) with no per-model wiring.

nsc tui                 # land on the resource picker
nsc tui devices         # jump straight into the devices list

nsc interactive and nsc i are aliases of the same command.

It uses your active profile and auth exactly like the CLI. Textual (the TUI toolkit) is imported lazily, so the normal CLI's startup time is unaffected.

Help is one key away

Press ? on any screen for a full, always-accurate keymap — it is generated from the live bindings, so it can never drift from reality.

The resource picker

With no argument, nsc tui lands on a collapsible tree of resources grouped by category (dcim, ipam, …). It is also reachable anywhere with Ctrl+P.

Key	Action
↑/↓	Move
→ / ←	Open / close a group
Ctrl+E	Expand / collapse all
type	Filter — non-matching groups hide, matching ones auto-expand
Enter	Open the highlighted resource (or the top match while filtering)
Ctrl+F	Global search

Browsing a list

Opening a resource shows a paginated table.

Key	Action
j/k or ↑/↓	Move
g / G	Top / bottom
Enter	Open the record's detail
/	Open the filter builder
r	Refresh
f	Choose columns
v / Space	Toggle multi-select on a row
c	Create a new record
B	Bulk-edit the selected rows
Esc	Back

While the list fetches, a loading wheel shows on the table; the rest of the UI stays responsive.

Filtering

/ opens a filter builder rather than a bare text box, because a NetBox list endpoint exposes hundreds of query parameters.

• Common fields — a curated form of the fields you usually filter on: the free-text search, every choice field as a dropdown, and conventional fields (name, status, role, site, tenant, tag, …).
• Add filter — a search box over every available parameter, including lookups like name__ic or created__gte.
• Foreign keys open the record picker, so you choose a real object (it applies as …_id) instead of guessing a slug.
• Raw line — type key=value key2=value2 directly for power use.
• Active filters show as removable chips.

Key	Action
↓	Move to the next field (from a text field)
Tab / Shift+Tab	Move between fields
Ctrl+S	Apply
Esc	Cancel

Applying re-queries the list. Reopening the builder shows your current filters so you can refine them.

Viewing and editing a record

The detail view is the edit surface — there is no separate "edit window". Move to a field and edit it in place; changes accumulate locally and are sent in one PATCH when you save.

Key	Action
↑/↓	Move between fields
e or Enter	Edit the highlighted field
Enter	(while editing) validate the value into the staging buffer
s	Save all staged changes
o	Open the related resource in the active relationship tab
Tab / Shift+Tab	Switch relationship tab
d	Delete the record (with confirmation)
Esc/b	Back (prompts if you have unsaved edits)

Editing adapts to the field: choice fields validate against their options, booleans toggle, and foreign keys open a searchable record picker. When a field is read-only it says so. Editing never hard-blocks: if a foreign key's target can't be resolved from the schema, you can enter the numeric id directly.

Pressing s shows a diff (field: old → new) and asks you to confirm before anything is sent.

Saving applies immediately

Unlike the CLI's dry-run-then---apply rhythm, the TUI's safety gate is the diff confirmation. Confirming the diff sends the PATCH to NetBox right away. Writes go through the same audited HTTP client as the CLI.

Relationships

The detail view derives relationship tabs straight from the schema: from a device you get Interfaces, Modules, Cables, and so on — any resource whose list endpoint can filter by this one. Switch tabs with Tab and press o to open that related list, pre-filtered to the current record.

Bulk editing

Select rows on a list with v/Space, then press B. Choose which fields to set (each has an include toggle) and one value each. Fields are prepopulated with the value the selected records share, so a small tweak doesn't mean retyping.

Press p to preview — a per-record diff of exactly what will change (records already matching are left untouched). Confirm to apply; a progress bar runs the updates and a summary reports any per-record failures (one bad record never aborts the batch).

Choosing columns

Press f on a list to open the column chooser.

Key	Action
Space	Toggle a column
Shift+↑/↓	Reorder
Enter	Apply
Esc	Cancel

Only top-level fields are offered — a foreign key or choice field is one column (rendered via its display value), not a pile of site.id / site.url rows. Your choice is persisted per resource to ~/.nsc/config.yaml under columns, the same config the CLI reads (and which --columns overrides), so it sticks across launches and is shared between the TUI and the CLI.

Global search

Ctrl+F (from anywhere) opens a search across many object types at once. Type a term, press Enter, and matches stream in grouped by type with a spinner while it runs; selecting a result opens its detail view.

How it works

NetBox has no single global-search REST endpoint, so nsc approximates the web UI by querying a curated set of common, q-capable resources (devices, virtual machines, IP addresses, prefixes, sites, racks, interfaces, VLANs, VRFs, tenants, circuits, …) and merging the results. Niche types aren't searched here — use the resource picker for those.

Loading and errors

Slow fetches show a loading wheel on the results area while the input stays usable. API errors (a bad filter value, a transient network blip) are caught and shown as a one-line message — the TUI never crashes to a traceback, and your current view is preserved.

Keyboard reference

Global keys work on the list and detail screens:

Key	Action
?	Help overlay
Ctrl+P	Resource picker
Ctrl+F	Global search
Esc	Back
q	Quit

The resource picker and other modals (global search, the column chooser, confirm and diff dialogs) are focused overlays: they show their own key hints in-line and do not bubble the global keys above — close them with Esc first.

The footer always shows the keys for the current screen, and ? lists them all. Arrow keys navigate everywhere; the list view also accepts vim-style j/k.