AWX-TUI: A Terminal User Interface for AWX — Install and Getting Started Guide

Introduction

The Ansible community has a new tool: AWX-TUI, a terminal user interface for managing AWX instances directly from your terminal. Built with Python and the Textual framework, it brings multi-instance support, real-time dashboards, and job management to your command line.

Announced by Andrew Potozniak from the Ansible engineering team at Red Hat, awx-tui has quickly gained community attention with its polished interface and practical feature set.

See also: AWX Behind Reverse Proxy: Nginx, Traefik, Caddy & Apache Setup Guide

What is AWX-TUI?

AWX-TUI is a text-based user interface that connects to your AWX API and provides:

• Multi-instance management — Connect to and switch between multiple AWX instances
• Real-time dashboards — Classic and sleek dashboard views showing job status
• Job management — View historic and active jobs, launch templates, view logs
• Project management — Browse, create, and sync projects
• Inventory browsing — View and manage inventories
• Job template operations — Create, edit, and launch job templates
• API explorer — Advanced API mode for direct AWX API interaction
• Debug console — Built-in debugging tools

Requirements

• Python 3.12+
• AWX 21.x+
• Linux, macOS, or WSL2 on Windows
• Recommended terminal size: 188×40 (188 columns × 40 rows)

Installation

Clone and Set Up

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ansible-community/awx-tui
cd awx-tui

# Create virtual environment
python -m venv ~/.venv-awx-tui
source ~/.venv-awx-tui/bin/activate

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

Run AWX-TUI

python -m awx_tui.main

Configuration

Option 1: Environment Variables

export AWX_HOST=https://awx.example.com
export AWX_TOKEN=your-api-token-here
export AWX_VERIFY_SSL=true
python -m awx_tui.main

Option 2: Command-Line Arguments

python -m awx_tui.main --host https://awx.example.com --token your-token

Option 3: Configuration File

cp ./config.yaml.example ~/.config/awx-tui/config.yaml

Edit the configuration file with your AWX instance details. This method supports multiple instances.

See also: Create Ansible AWX Superuser in Docker: Admin Account Setup (Guide)

Key Features

Multi-Instance Support

AWX-TUI can manage multiple AWX instances simultaneously. Configure each instance in your config.yaml and switch between them from the interface.

Dashboard Views

Two dashboard styles are available:

• Classic — Traditional overview with job counts and status
• Sleek — Modern, compact view with key metrics

Job Management

• View historical job runs with status and timestamps
• Monitor active/running jobs in real-time
• Launch jobs directly from templates
• View job logs and events

Create Mode

Create resources directly from the TUI:

• Job templates
• Projects
• Preview API payloads before submission

How AWX-TUI Was Built

AWX-TUI was "substantially coded by Large Language Models (LLMs) with human review," as noted in the repository. The vibe-coding team includes Andrew Potozniak, John Mitchell, John Barker, and Daniel Brennand — all from Red Hat's Ansible engineering team.

The project uses AI Attribution to transparently credit AI involvement in the codebase.

AWX-TUI vs AWX Web UI vs awxkit

When to Use AWX-TUI

AWX-TUI is ideal when:

• You work primarily in the terminal (SSH sessions, tmux)
• You manage multiple AWX instances and want a unified view
• You need quick job status checks without opening a browser
• You're on a remote server without GUI access

Community and Contributing

AWX-TUI follows the Ansible Code of Conduct. You can:

• Report issues on GitHub
• Discuss on the Ansible Forum
• Contribute code following the project guidelines

Conclusion

AWX-TUI fills a gap in the AWX ecosystem by providing a rich terminal interface for automation engineers who live in the command line. Its multi-instance support, real-time dashboards, and creation capabilities make it a valuable addition to any AWX administrator's toolkit. Install it today and bring your AWX management into the terminal.

See also: Install Ansible AWX Operator for Kubernetes (K8s) and OpenShift (OCP) - Ansible AWX

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