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Amp's TUI, observed

  • Date: 15 October 2026.
  • Version watched: the Amp CLI 0.0.1792008042-gef0030 (released 14 October 2026), on the owner’s Mac.
  • Purpose: the reference for the launcher redesign (decision 0009, UX).

This note is clean-room. It describes what Amp’s terminal UI looks like and how it behaves, in our own words. No Amp code, prompts, logos, fonts or screenshots are in this repo. The captured screens, cell dumps, images and video frames stay in docs/research/private/ (git-ignored).

How we looked

  1. The real CLI, in a terminal.
    • We ran amp and amp threads continue in a pseudo-terminal behind a terminal emulator. The emulator reported the owner’s Ghostty colours when Amp asked for them (OSC 4, 10 and 11).
    • At each step we saved the screen with every cell’s text, colour and attributes. So the colours below are the exact SGR values Amp sends, not guesses from pixels.
    • We opened the welcome screen, the command palette (empty and filtered), the thread picker and its empty state, the shortcuts, the mode dial, the Ctrl+C chord, and the error exit with an unreachable server.
    • We sent no prompt, so no model ran and no thread was created.
  2. The public material.
    • We read the docs and news posts listed at the end.
    • We sampled pixels from the official screenshots, after converting the ones that carry a monitor colour profile to sRGB, and from frames of the official demo videos (about ±15 per channel).
    • X did not load (HTTP 451), so nothing here comes from it.

1. Layout

  • The whole screen. Amp takes the alternate screen. The transcript fills the top; one rounded prompt box spans the full width at the bottom, with no outer margin.

  • Notched frames. Every box is a rounded frame (╭╮╰╯─│) with text set into its border:

    • the title at the top left: ╭─ Command Palette ───╮;
    • a fact at the top right: ── medium ─╮ (the mode), or the cost and the mode;
    • hints or a location at the bottom right: ──── Esc close ─╯, or ── ~/code/app (main) ─╯;
    • a status at the bottom left of the prompt box: ╰ ≋ Connecting ───.
    • Each label has one space on each side, and one ─ before the corner.

  • Padding. One column inside each side border. Form dialogs add a blank row at the top and the bottom.

  • The welcome screen.

    • A dotted orb, about 34 columns by 18 rows, on the left. Three to eight columns to its right is a block of text, centred on the orb’s height.
    • The text is “Welcome to Amp” (bold, in the mode colour, “Amp” brighter), then one hint line: ctrl+o for commands · ? for shortcuts.
    • The prompt box sits under it all. In a narrow terminal the orb shrinks.

  • Dialogs.

    • Dialogs are centred on the whole screen, and everything behind them is dimmed.
    • The command palette is 80 columns wide once the terminal has room for it, and the terminal width less 4 before that. The thread picker is the terminal width less 4.
    • Dialogs queue: they never stack.

  • The command palette. Inside the frame, top to bottom:

    • a blank row;
    • > and a block cursor;
    • a blank row;
    • the rows.

    Each row is three columns:

    • the category, faint and right-aligned (thread, amp, debug);
    • two spaces, then the command in bold (switch, new in orb);
    • the key, right-aligned in bold blue (Ctrl+X o, Ctrl+C Ctrl+C).

    The palette has no hints in its bottom border.

  • The thread picker. The same frame, filter line and blank row. When empty it shows a faint “No Threads”, a blank row, and a hint line. A small “Thread Preview” box sits inside the picker. The bottom border carries the hints: Opt+W/Ctrl+T filter by workspace · Opt+A show archived · Esc close.

  • Docked popups.

    • The mode dial is a 58-column box at the bottom right, just above the prompt box.
    • The Ctrl+C chord opens a 24-column box in the same place. Its title is Ctrl+C then, and its two rows are Ctrl+C Quit and Esc cancel.

  • Shortcuts. ? shows them inside the prompt box itself: two columns of key and words, then a ─ rule, then the input. No dialog opens.

  • Errors at start-up. When Amp cannot start, it leaves the alternate screen and prints into the shell:

    • a bold red Error: and the message;
    • a blank line;
    • the next step, in blue.

2. Palette

Almost every colour Amp sends is a terminal palette slot or the terminal’s default colour. So Amp takes on the user’s theme. Neo (May 2026) removed custom themes, and screenshots in Gruvbox and in a One Dark–like theme show the same slots in different colours. Fixed RGB appears only in the mode colours and the gradients drawn from them.

ElementWhat Amp sendsOwner’s Ghostty themeAmp’s own screenshots (Gruvbox)
Textdefault foreground#BFBDB6#EADBB2
Backgrounddefault background#0B0E14#1E2021
Secondary text: hint words, categories, paths, empty statesfaint (SGR 2)about #656565, half way to the background#867E6A, the same half way
Bordersdefault foreground#BFBDB6#EADBB2
Titles in bordersslot 3, bold#F9AF4F#D79A20
Selection barbackground slot 3, text slot 0, the command bold#F9AF4F behind #1E232B#D79A20 behind #1E2021
Keysslot 4; bold in lists and popups, plain in borders#53BDFA#468588
Keys in an empty stateslot 4, faint#2F6587 (half way)not seen
“Error:”slot 1, bold#EA6C73not seen
The next step after an errorslot 4#53BDFAnot seen
Done (✓), user messagesslot 2#7FD962#99971A
Text cursorreverse video#BFBDB6 block#EADBB2 block
Mode coloursfixed RGBlow #FFD700, medium #3DFFA6, high #3DD4FF, ultra #D8B3FF, plugins #14B8A6the same
Welcome title, medium modefixed RGB, bold#97B537 to #B1CF3Ethe same idea, in each mode’s colours
Orb, medium modefixed RGB gradient, lit from the top left#C2E042 to #0A2A12#66F6A7 to #0A0666 in deep mode
Backdrop behind a dialogfaint on every cell, bold removedhalf way to the backgroundmeasured half way

Ghostty draws faint text at half opacity, so a faint colour lands half way between the colour and the background. That is what both lanes measured.

3. Glyphs

GlyphUse
╭╮╰╯─│Every frame. Heavier lines are not used.
·Between hints and between facts
>The filter or prompt line
∼ ≈ ≋The spinner before a status, a small wave
⠁…⡀ brailleThe spinner on a running tool row, and in the window title
✓ green, ✕ or × red, ⋯Done, failed, queued or waiting
▸ ▾Expand and collapse
• ·The dial’s track: lit up to the chosen mode, unlit after it
…Truncation, at the end of text or in the middle of a path (private/tmp/…/amp-cwd/demo-project)
←→ ↑↓Arrow keys in hints
● • · : .The orb, one glyph per cell

4. Text weights

  • Bold: titles, command names, the chosen mode, key names in the welcome hints, keys in lists and popups.
  • Faint: hint words, categories, the local path in the prompt border, descriptions, empty-state text, and the then in the chord popup.
  • Plain: borders, body text, keys in a border.
  • Italic: the user’s own messages, and asides such as “(exit code: 127)”.
  • Underline: links.

5. Spacing

  • One column of padding inside every frame.
  • In the palette: a blank row above the filter line and one below it, and two spaces between the category and the command.
  • In the welcome text: the title, then the hint line straight under it in the version we watched. Older images show two blank rows between them.
  • One blank row between blocks of the transcript.
  • The shortcuts grid uses two columns, with the second about half way across.

6. Key flow

  • Ctrl+O opens the palette. Typing filters it; ↑↓ move; Enter runs; Esc closes. Commands that cannot run stay listed as “(unavailable)”, in faint bold.
  • ? shows or hides the shortcuts.
  • Ctrl+C opens the chord popup. A second Ctrl+C quits, and Esc cancels. Ctrl+C Ctrl+N and Ctrl+C Ctrl+E are other chords on the same key.
  • Esc closes a picker. If the picker was opened from the palette, Esc goes back to the palette.
  • Pickers: ↑↓ move and Enter picks. Filter-as-you-type works when typing is the main job. Modifier keys (Opt+W, Opt+A) do the other jobs.
  • The dial: ←→ turn it, Tab shows the list, Esc closes.
  • Ctrl+X is a leader key, as in Ctrl+X o.
  • Rebinding: every key can be changed in the settings.

7. Empty, loading and error states

  • Empty list: a faint one-line statement (“No Threads”), a blank row, then a faint hint whose key is in the key colour.
  • Loading: the spinner and a faint status in the prompt border (“Connecting”, “Streaming”). Status changes cross-fade.
  • Unavailable command: listed, in faint bold, with “(unavailable)”.
  • Errors: a bold red Error: and the message, then the next step in blue. In the transcript, a failed step shows a red × and its exit code in red.
  • Success: a ✓ in green before the text.
  • Not seen anywhere: an offline screen, the “?” panel in a public image, and a populated thread picker. This account had no threads.

8. What the launcher takes, and what it leaves

TakesLeaves, and why
The notched frame: title top left, a fact top right, hints bottom rightThe prompt box: the launcher has nothing to type except a filter
Slot-based colour: yellow titles, blue keys, faint secondary text, borders in the text colourThe mode colours: we have one brand gradient of our own
The selection bar: yellow behind black, bold keptThe orb: we keep our own mark, in the same place beside the welcome text
The palette layout, “(unavailable)”, no hintsThe preview inside the picker: our preview opens on Space and closes again
Shortcuts shown inside the list’s own boxToasts at the top right: our notices are short lines under the list, like Amp’s transcript lines
The Ctrl+C chord popup at the bottom rightThe leader key: the launcher’s keys are single letters
Error: in bold red, then the next step in blue
The welcome layout: mark on the left, title and one hint line beside it
The wave spinner and ✓ ✕

Sources

Read on 14 and 15 October 2026.