A fast, terminal-based Minecraft launcher written in Go.

• Instances: Create vanilla or Fabric instances, pick Minecraft versions, and launch online (Microsoft account) or offline.
• Fabric: Loader resolution merges Mojang metadata with Fabric’s profile (meta.fabricmc.net), caches merged profiles, and keeps the classpath consistent when you change game version or loader.
• Modrinth (Fabric): From the home screen, open an in-terminal mod browser: search Modrinth , install mods into the instance with required dependencies resolved and downloaded automatically, remove jars, and see what was installed via mctui. Optional starter bundle (Fabric API, Mod Menu, Sodium, Lithium) when creating a Fabric instance.
• Microsoft authentication: Device code flow; sessions are refreshed in the background so you stay signed in instead of re-authenticating every day. Online launch verifies your Minecraft session; the home screen shows session status, and you can still play offline when supported.
• Settings: In-app settings screen (s): Java path, JVM arguments, show-snapshots toggle, Microsoft client ID, and live theme switching.
• Launch screen: Progress while downloading and starting the game; press **v** to cycle game log verbosity (errors / warnings / all). The choice is saved in config (launchLogVerbosity).
• TUI: Keyboard-first workflow, mouse wheel where it helps, and a clear layout across home, wizard, launch, and mods.

The easiest option:

brew install aayushdutt/tap/mctui

Upgrade later with brew upgrade mctui. Homebrew handles the macOS Gatekeeper step for you (the binary is unsigned). Then start it from a terminal: mctui.

You do not need Go installed to run a prebuilt binary.

1. Open Releases on GitHub.
2. Pick the latest release and download the asset for your OS under Assets:

• Windows (64-bit): .zip containing mctui.exe
• macOS Apple Silicon: Darwin_arm64 .tar.gz
• macOS Intel: Darwin_x86_64 .tar.gz
• Linux (64-bit): Linux_x86_64 .tar.gz

3. Extract the archive to a folder of your choice.
4. Open a terminal (Command Prompt, PowerShell, Terminal, etc.), change into that folder (cd), and run:

• macOS / Linux: chmod +x mctui once, then ./mctui
• Windows: .\mctui.exe

5. Always start mctui from a terminal so the full interface works. Double-clicking the binary often does not show the TUI correctly.

If you have Go installed, you can install the latest tagged release without downloading a release archive:

go install github.com/aayushdutt/mctui@latest

Then run mctui. If you get “command not found”, add Go’s bin to your PATH: export PATH="$PATH:$(go env GOPATH)/bin" (one-off), or add that line to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc and open a new terminal — then run mctui again.

# Run directly
go run .

# Or build and run
make build
./mctui

make test                 # whole suite (unit + integration + e2e)

See the Makefile for more (lint, cross-builds via build-all, coverage, and dev helpers).

mctui/
├── main.go
├── internal/
│   ├── app/          # Root app model, navigation
│   ├── ui/           # Screens (home, wizard, launch, mods, auth, …)
│   ├── core/         # Instances, accounts
│   ├── launch/       # Download, Java, game process, log verbosity
│   ├── loader/       # Version resolution (vanilla + Fabric merge)
│   ├── mods/         # Modrinth search/install, catalog, starter mods
│   ├── api/          # Mojang, Modrinth, Microsoft / Minecraft auth
│   └── config/       # Paths and settings
└── Makefile

On the launch screen, **v** cycles log verbosity. On the mods screen, use **Tab** to move between installed list, search, and results; **Esc** returns home.

Data lives under ~/.local/share/mctui (Linux/macOS) or %APPDATA%\mctui (Windows).

Config (same data directory) can include **launchLogVerbosity**: error (default), warn, or all.

mctui ships with several built-in themes. Set the **theme** key in config.json (in the data directory above), e.g.:

{ "theme": "gruvbox" }

You can also switch themes live in the in-app Settings screen — the theme selector previews each theme as you move through the list.

Themes recolor foregrounds, accents, and borders and inherit your terminal's background. auto keeps text readable on either a light or dark terminal automatically. The named dark-family themes are designed for dark terminals; choose light (or auto) if you run a light-background terminal.

MIT