windows-curses

What it is and what it does

Windows-curses bridges a gap in Python's standard library: the curses module, which provides low-level terminal control for building text-based user interfaces, is not available on Windows by default. This package wraps PDCurses (a cross-platform curses implementation) and provides pre-built wheels for Windows, allowing developers to write terminal UI code that works across Windows, Linux, and macOS without platform-specific branches.

The package includes a pragmatic enhancement: starting from version 2.0, it automatically handles terminal resizing by calling resize_term(0, 0) when KEY_RESIZE is received, mimicking the behavior of ncurses on Unix systems. PDCurses is compiled with wide character support, so get_wch() is available and UTF-8 is enforced as the encoding.

Use it for:

• Build cross-platform terminal UIs (dashboards, menus, forms) that work on Windows without code changes.
• Port existing ncurses-based Python applications from Unix to Windows with minimal modification.
• Create Windows console applications that need fine-grained control over cursor position, colors, and text attributes.
• Develop interactive command-line tools that rely on the standard curses API across all platforms.
• Handle terminal resizing events in Windows terminal applications without manual SIGWINCH-style workarounds.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Provides the standard Python curses module on Windows by wrapping PDCurses, enabling terminal UI development that would otherwise require platform-specific workarounds.

Yes, if you need curses on Windows. It is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and solves a real gap in Python's Windows support. The medium install friction (platform-specific wheels) is a one-time cost. If you are building cross-platform terminal UIs or porting Unix code to Windows, this is the standard solution.

Install

windows-curses on PyPI

pip install windows-curses

uv add windows-curses

poetry add windows-curses

Installing windows-curses

Before you install

Medium install friction due to platform-specific wheel requirements across multiple Python versions (3.6–3.14, both 32- and 64-bit). Package is actively maintained with recent commits and no known vulnerabilities.

License in practice

Licensed under PSF2 (Python Software Foundation License), a permissive license that allows free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install windows-curses

import curses

def main(stdscr):
    stdscr.addstr('Hello, Windows!')
    stdscr.refresh()
    stdscr.getch()

curses.wrapper(main)

Windows-only; requires a compatible Python version (3.6–3.14) and appropriate architecture (32- or 64-bit) matching your installation.

Verify before relying

• Whether the automatic resize_term(0, 0) hack in version 2.0+ works reliably with all terminal emulators on Windows.
• Performance characteristics compared to native ncurses on Unix-like systems when ported code runs on Windows.
• Compatibility with third-party curses libraries or wrappers beyond standard Python curses API.

Package facts

Evidence: windows_curses-2.4.2-cp310-cp310-win32.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp311-cp311-win32.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp311-cp311-win_amd64.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp312-cp312-win32.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp312-cp312-win_amd64.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp313-cp313-win32.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp313-cp313-win_amd64.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp314-cp314-win32.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp314-cp314-win_amd64.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp36-cp36m-win32.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp36-cp36m-win_amd64.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp37-cp37m-win32.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp37-cp37m-win_amd64.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp38-cp38-win32.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp39-cp39-win32.whl; windows_curses-2.4.2-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl

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