blessed
Easy, practical library for making terminal apps, by providing an elegant, well-documented interface for Terminals.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. Blessed is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, low install friction, permissive licensing, and a stable API. Install it if you're building any terminal UI, need cross-platform keyboard handling, or want to avoid curses complexity.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Low install friction with only two runtime dependencies (wcwidth and jinxed).
- The package is actively maintained with a recent release and production-stable status.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license permits free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.
last release 2026-08-07 (7 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-07 · 1,492 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 14,582,716 downloads/mo, #1,224 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install blessed
from blessed import Terminal
term = Terminal()
print(term.bold('Hello') + ' ' + term.underline('world'))
with term.cbreak():
inp = term.inkey()What it is and what it does
Blessed is a terminal UI library that abstracts away the complexity of low-level curses programming. Instead of juggling terminfo calls, terminal detection, and escape sequences, you import Terminal and call methods like term.bold(), term.color_rgb(), term.inkey(), and term.location() to style text, read keyboard input, and position the cursor. It handles the messy details: detecting whether output is piped to a file (and stripping sequences accordingly), managing terminal capabilities across different systems, and safely entering modes like fullscreen or raw input through context managers.
The package is designed for developers building CLI tools, terminal games, or text-based dashboards who want cross-platform compatibility without wrestling with curses. It works on Windows, Mac, Linux, and BSD, supports Python 3.8+, and includes features like 24-bit color, unicode keyboard handling, terminal-aware text wrapping, and cursor location queries. The API is intentionally minimal—Terminal is the only class you typically need to import.
Use it for
- Build colorful, styled CLI applications with text formatting and colors without curses boilerplate.
- Create interactive terminal games or fullscreen applications that respond to keyboard input and terminal size changes.
- Add keyboard-driven menus or prompts to command-line tools with safe input handling and cursor control.
- Develop terminal dashboards that position and update text at specific screen locations.
- Write terminal utilities that gracefully degrade when output is piped to files or other commands.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
Blessed is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, low install friction, permissive licensing, and a stable API. Install it if you're building any terminal UI, need cross-platform keyboard handling, or want to avoid curses complexity.
Install
blessed on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with only two runtime dependencies (wcwidth and jinxed). The package is actively maintained with a recent release and production-stable status.
License in practice
MIT license permits free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions—suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.
Quickstart
pip install blessed
from blessed import Terminal
term = Terminal()
print(term.bold('Hello') + ' ' + term.underline('world'))
with term.cbreak():
inp = term.inkey()Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.8 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 2 packageswcwidthjinxed |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 7 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 14,582,716 / month, #1,224 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableEnvironment :: ConsoleEnvironment :: Console :: CursesIntended Audience :: DevelopersNatural Language :: EnglishOperating System :: Microsoft :: WindowsOperating System :: POSIXProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Topic :: Software Development :: LibrariesTopic :: Software Development :: User InterfacesTopic :: TerminalsTyping :: Typed |
Evidence: blessed-1.48.0-py3-none-any.whl
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See also blessings · jinxed · pythondialog · pick · windows-curses · colored · python-yakh · wcwidth · style · colorful