---
id: pythondialog
version: "3.5.3"
license: unclear
license_treatment: copyleft
maintenance: abandoned
---

# pythondialog — A Python interface to the UNIX dialog utility and mostly-compatible programs

License: copyleft · Maintenance: abandoned · Downloads: 90.7K/mo

## What it is and what it does

pythondialog wraps the UNIX dialog utility, a command-line tool for generating dialog boxes and simple text-mode interfaces. It lets you build terminal UIs with widgets like message boxes, input fields, menus, and file browsers without writing low-level curses code. The package is a thin Python layer over dialog's command-line interface, so it trades fine-grained control for ease of use and rapid prototyping.

The package is stable and production-ready but abandoned—no releases since 2021-11-26. It has no Python runtime dependencies, only a system requirement for the dialog utility itself. It works with Python 3 or later. If you need sophisticated text-mode interfaces or low-level terminal control, the documentation suggests alternatives for more advanced use cases.

Use it for:

- Build simple terminal menus and prompts for shell scripts or command-line tools without learning curses.
- Create interactive setup wizards or configuration dialogs for terminal-based applications.
- Display status messages, confirmations, or input forms in a text-mode environment.
- Prototype quick terminal UIs for system administration or batch processing scripts.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides a Python interface to the UNIX dialog utility for building text-mode dialog boxes and simple graphical terminal interfaces.

Yes, if you need simple dialog boxes in a terminal application and the dialog utility is available on your target system. The package is stable and has no known vulnerabilities. However, its abandoned status means no bug fixes or new features will arrive; use it only for straightforward dialog-based UIs. If you need active maintenance or sophisticated terminal interfaces, consider other options.

## Install

pip install pythondialog
uv add pythondialog
poetry add pythondialog

## Installing pythondialog

Before you install: Low install friction with no runtime dependencies. However, the package is abandoned—last release was 1722 days ago—and requires the external dialog utility to be installed on the system.

License in practice: Licensed under GNU LGPL (copyleft). Any derivative work or modification must also be distributed under a compatible open-source license.

Quickstart:

pip install pythondialog

import pythondialog

Requires the external dialog utility to be installed on the system; Python 3 or later required.

Verify before relying:

- Whether dialog version 1.3-20210621 or later is readily available in current Linux distributions.
- Current compatibility with Python versions beyond 3.9 (last tested version mentioned in documentation).
- Whether the abandoned status affects real-world usage for stable, simple dialog-based applications.
- Specific widget types and capabilities available through the pythondialog interface.

## Package facts

- License: not declared (copyleft)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: abandoned
- Downloads: 90.7K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

terminal dialog boxes, text-mode UI, unix dialog wrapper, curses dialog interface, terminal user interface, command-line dialog, ncurses dialog, terminal-ui, dialog-wrapper, abandoned

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/pythondialog) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/pythondialog/)