sct tui `experimental!`

Keyboard-driven terminal UI for exploring SNOMED CT interactively — no browser required.

Three panels: Hierarchy (top-left), Search / Results (bottom-left), Concept detail (right). Navigate entirely with the keyboard.

Optional feature. sct tui is not included in the default binary. Build with --features tui (see Installation).

Usage

sct tui [--db <PATH>]

Options

Flag	Default	Description
`--db <PATH>`	`./snomed.db` then `$SCT_DB`	SQLite database produced by `sct sqlite`.

Example

# Open the TUI using the database in the current directory
sct tui

# Specify a database path explicitly
sct tui --db /data/snomed.db

# Use an environment variable
SCT_DB=/data/snomed.db sct tui

Layout

┌─────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  HIERARCHY              │                                               │
│                         │           CONCEPT DETAIL                      │
│  ▶ Clinical finding     │                                               │
│    Procedure            │  Heart attack                                 │
│    Body structure       │  SCTID: 22298006                              │
│    ...                  │  FSN:   Myocardial infarction (disorder)      │
│                         │                                               │
├─────────────────────────│  Hierarchy                                    │
│  SEARCH                 │    Clinical finding > Ischemic heart disease  │
│ ┌─────────────────────┐ │                                               │
│ │ heart attack_       │ │  Synonyms                                     │
│ └─────────────────────┘ │    Cardiac infarction                         │
│  RESULTS (12)           │    MI - Myocardial infarction                 │
│                         │    Infarction of heart                        │
│  ▶ Heart attack [22298006]                                              │
│    Acute MI [57054005]  │  Attributes                                   │
│    ...                  │    finding_site: Entire heart [302509004]     │
│                         │    associated_morphology: Infarct [55641003]  │
└─────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Keyboard reference

Key	Action
`/`	Open search input (start typing immediately)
`Enter`	Confirm search / open selected concept
`Esc`	Cancel search input, return to results panel
`Tab`	Cycle focus: Hierarchy → Search/Results → Detail → Hierarchy
`←` / `→`	Move focus left / right
`↑` / `↓`	Move selection up / down in focused panel
`PgUp` / `PgDn`	Scroll detail panel
`b`	Back — return to previously viewed concept
`h`	Jump focus to Hierarchy panel
`q` / `Q`	Quit
`Ctrl-C`	Quit

Workflow

Browse by hierarchy — focus the Hierarchy panel (press h), use ↑↓ to select a hierarchy category, press Enter to load its concepts into the Results list.
Search — press / to open the search input. Type a term and wait (150 ms debounce) or press Enter to search immediately. Results appear in the Results list ranked by FTS5 relevance.
Inspect a concept — use ↑↓ in the Results list, press Enter to load the full concept detail on the right.
Navigate relationships — the detail panel lists parents and attributes with their SCTIDs. Type the SCTID into the search box to jump to any related concept, or use b to navigate back through your history (up to 20 steps).

FTS5 query syntax

The search box accepts plain terms as well as FTS5 expressions:

Input	Behaviour
`diabetes`	Prefix match — finds `diabetes`, `diabetic`, etc.
`heart attack`	Exact phrase match
`"heart attack"`	Explicit phrase match
`diabetes* OR hypertension`	Boolean OR
`finding_site:heart`	Field-scoped search

Installation

sct tui is gated behind the tui Cargo feature to keep the default binary small. It adds ratatui and crossterm as dependencies.

# Build with TUI support
cargo install --path sct --features tui

# Build everything (tui + gui)
cargo install --path sct --features full

Prerequisites

Requires a snomed.db database. Build one with:

sct sqlite --input snomed.ndjson --output snomed.db

sct tui experimental!