CodeOne45/vex-tui

📊 Vex — Terminal Spreadsheet Editor

A beautiful, fast, and feature-rich terminal-based Excel and CSV editor with vim-style keybindings, live row filtering, instant data profiling, formula support, and chart export.

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✨ Features

🔍 Live Row Filtering

Press f to filter any dataset without leaving the keyboard:

f  →  type expression  →  Enter to apply  •  Esc to clear

• Tab while typing toggles between current column and all columns
• Active filter shown in the title bar as ▾ >1000
• Esc clears the filter instantly — original data is always preserved in memory
• Works on any column of any CSV or Excel file

📊 Data Profile

Press W to get a full column-by-column breakdown of any dataset — like pandas.describe() right in your terminal:

  Col   Type      Non-null  Nulls   Stats
  A     number    1,234     0       Σ 2.4M  avg 1.9K  [0 – 9,999]
  B     text      1,230     4       891 unique  Alice, Bob, Carol…
  C     mixed     800       200     200 nulls, some numbers

• Auto-detects column types: number, text, mixed
• Shows non-null count, null count, unique values for text columns
• Shows Σ / avg / min / max for numeric columns
• Highlights the column currently under your cursor

↕️ Sort Columns

• s — sort current column ascending
• S — sort current column descending
• u — unsort — restore original row order

Sort indicator shown in the column header (A↑) and in the title bar. Numeric and text columns are sorted with the appropriate comparison. When freeze header is enabled, the header row stays pinned during sort.

⌶ Freeze Header Row

Press Ctrl+R to pin the first row permanently at the top while scrolling through large files. The ⌶ indicator appears in the title bar when active. Sort is freeze-header aware — the header row is never moved.

📈 Live Column Statistics

When the cursor is on any numeric column the status bar automatically shows:

Σ 45,230  avg 1,004  min 2  max 9,999  n=45

No selection required — just move your cursor.

📁 CSV — Any Delimiter, Auto-Detected

Vex reads the first line of every CSV file and picks the most likely delimiter from , ; \t | automatically. You can also specify it explicitly:

vex data.csv                   # auto-detect
vex data.csv -d ';'            # semicolon
vex data.tsv -d '\t'           # tab
vex data.csv --delimiter '|'   # pipe

📊 Data Visualization with Chart Export

Select a range with V, then press v to open the chart viewer:

• Bar chart — supports negative values, responsive width, unfilled track
• Line chart — Bresenham algorithm draws actual connecting lines between points
• Sparkline — compact inline overview + bar chart
• Pie chart — proportional breakdown with legend

Press p inside the chart to export a beautiful PNG image via freeze:

p  →  saves data-chart.png next to your file

If freeze is not installed, vex shows the install command. No other terminal spreadsheet lets you share charts as images.

🎨 Ten Beautiful Themes

Press t to switch theme live. All themes are 256-color and truecolor compatible.

Dark Themes:

• Catppuccin Mocha — Soft pastels, perfect for all-day use
• Nord — Cool Arctic blues, minimal and focused
• Rosé Pine — Elegant rose tones, sophisticated
• Tokyo Night — Vibrant cyberpunk aesthetic
• Gruvbox — Warm retro colors, comfortable
• Dracula — Classic high contrast theme

Light Themes:

• Catppuccin Latte — Gentle pastel light theme
• Solarized Light — Balanced contrast
• GitHub Light — Clean and minimal
• One Light — Soft Atom-inspired colors

🎨 Cell Type Coloring

Numbers, formulas, and text are visually distinct — no configuration needed:

• Numbers — accent color, easy to scan down columns
• Formulas — secondary color, instantly recognizable
• Text — default theme color

✏️ Full Editing Capabilities

• Edit cells with values or formulas (i)
• Insert / delete rows and columns
• Copy / paste single cells or multi-cell ranges (Tab-separated from any app)
• Fill down / right for quick data entry
• Apply formulas to entire ranges with automatic reference adjustment
• Modification indicator (●) in the title bar on first edit
• Tab / Shift+Tab in edit mode saves and jumps to the next/previous cell

📐 Powerful Formula Engine

Arithmetic: =A1+B1, =C1*D1/E1, =B2-B1

15+ built-in functions:

Auto-recalculates on every edit. Formula references auto-adjust when applied to a range.

🔍 Powerful Navigation

• Vim-style keybindings (hjkl) and arrow keys
• Jump to cell (Ctrl+G) — supports A100, 500, or 10,5
• Search (/) across cell values and formulas with n/N navigation
• Page Up/Down, Home/End, gg/G
• Multi-sheet support with Tab / Shift+Tab

📋 Data Operations

• Copy cell (c) or entire row (C) to clipboard
• Paste (p) — multi-row/column paste from any app
• Export (e) to CSV or JSON
• Save (Ctrl+S) with format preservation (xlsx / csv)
• Save As (Ctrl+Shift+S) to a new file
• Toggle formula display (Ctrl+F)
• View cell details (Enter) — full value, formula, and type

📑 File Support

• Excel (.xlsx, .xlsm, .xls) — full formula and multi-sheet support
• CSV — auto-delimiter detection, any separator
• Multiple sheets with easy navigation
• Safe saving — file format preserved on save

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🚀 Installation

Homebrew (macOS / Linux) — recommended

brew install CodeOne45/tap/vex

go install

go install github.com/CodeOne45/vex-tui@latest

Download binary

Pre-built binaries on the releases page:

• macOS (Intel & Apple Silicon)
• Linux (x64 & ARM64)
• Windows (x64)

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/CodeOne45/vex-tui.git
cd vex-tui
make build
sudo mv vex /usr/local/bin/

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📖 Usage

vex data.xlsx                    # open Excel file
vex report.csv                   # open CSV (delimiter auto-detected)
vex data.csv -d ';'              # explicit semicolon delimiter
vex data.tsv -d '\t'             # tab-separated
vex file.xlsx --theme nord       # start with a specific theme
vex --help                       # show all options

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⌨️ Keyboard Shortcuts

Navigation

Data & Analysis

Editing

View

Visualization

File

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💡 Quick Start

Explore an unknown CSV

vex data.csv
# W  → see column types, nulls, unique counts instantly
# f  → type >1000 to show only matching rows
# s  → sort the column under cursor
# u  → restore original order

Visualize and export a chart

1. Press V  — start range selection
2. Move to end of data, press V  — finish selection
3. Press v  — open chart
4. Press 1-4  — switch chart type
5. Press p  — save as PNG (requires freeze: brew install charmbracelet/tap/freeze)

Bulk formula entry

i             Enter edit mode
=A1*B1        Type formula
Tab           Save and move right
...           Continue typing
Ctrl+S        Save file

Or: enter one formula → select range with V → press Ctrl+A to apply with auto-adjusted references.

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🏗️ Project Structure

vex-tui/
├── main.go                     # Entry point + CLI flags
├── internal/
│   ├── app/
│   │   ├── model.go            # State + filter/sort/stats logic
│   │   ├── update.go           # Event handling
│   │   ├── view.go             # Rendering, charts, data profile
│   │   ├── keys.go             # Keybindings
│   │   ├── edit.go             # Edit / save operations
│   │   └── formulas.go         # Formula evaluation engine
│   ├── loader/
│   │   ├── loader.go           # File loading + CSV delimiter detection
│   │   └── save.go             # File saving
│   ├── theme/
│   │   └── theme.go            # Theme definitions
│   └── ui/
│       └── ui.go               # Styles + helpers
└── pkg/
    └── models/
        └── models.go           # Data models + mode constants

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue first for large changes.

git clone https://github.com/CodeOne45/vex-tui.git
cd vex-tui
make test            # run tests
make build           # build binary
make snapshot        # local multi-platform build via goreleaser
make tag VER=v2.1.0  # tag + push → triggers GitHub Actions release

Follow Effective Go and run make fmt before opening a PR.

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☕ Support

If Vex saves you time or you just enjoy using it:

Every coffee keeps the terminal dream alive. ☕

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📄 License

MIT — see LICENSE.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Bubble Tea — TUI framework
• Lipgloss — terminal styling
• Freeze — chart PNG export
• Excelize — Excel parsing
• atotto/clipboard — clipboard support
• Themes inspired by Catppuccin, Nord, Rosé Pine, and others

📮 Contact

• GitHub: @CodeOne45
• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions

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⭐ If Vex is useful to you, a star goes a long way — thank you!

Made with ❤️ for terminal enthusiasts and spreadsheet power users.