---
title: "TUI"
sidebarTitle: "TUI"
description: "Use Cline's terminal UI (TUI) for interactive coding workflows in your terminal."
---

## What is the TUI?

The TUI is Cline's interactive terminal interface. It is designed for conversational, in-terminal work: ask questions, review plans, approve actions, and iterate quickly.

## Prerequisites

Install the CLI:

```bash
npm install -g cline
```

## Launch the TUI

```bash
# default interactive launch
cline

# explicit TUI mode
cline -i
```

## Core TUI Actions

- `Tab` to toggle Plan/Act
- `Shift+Tab` to toggle auto-approve all
- `Ctrl+C` to abort a running turn; press again to exit
- `Ctrl+D` to exit when the prompt is empty and idle
- `Ctrl+L` to clear the chat view or current conversation
- `/settings`, `/model`, `/account`, `/mcp`, `/compact`, `/undo`, `/clear`, `/history`, `/help`, `/quit`
- `@file` mentions for workspace context

The status area shows the active model, context usage, cost, workspace/branch, git diff stats, Plan/Act state, and whether auto-approve all is enabled.

## When to Use TUI vs Headless

- Use **TUI** when you want collaboration and approvals.
- Use **headless** (`--json`, piped stdin/stdout, CI scripts) for automation.

See: [CLI Headless Mode](/usage/cli-overview#headless-mode)

## Next Steps

- [CLI Overview](/usage/cli-overview)
- [CLI Reference](/cli/cli-reference)