Nx not using terminal UI

[benwainwright]

Current Behavior

Running nx commands looks exactly like it did with previous versions

Expected Behavior

Expecting to see the new terminal UI when I run nx commands in the terminal

GitHub Repo

https://github.com/nrwl/nx-examples

Steps to Reproduce

1. Clone repo
2. Install dependencies
3. Run npm run test

Nx Report

NX   Report complete - copy this into the issue template

Node           : 22.2.0
OS             : darwin-x64
Native Target  : x86_64-macos
yarn           : 4.2.2

nx                     : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/js                 : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/jest               : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/eslint             : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/workspace          : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/angular            : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/cypress            : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/devkit             : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/eslint-plugin      : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/module-federation  : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/react              : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/rspack             : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/web                : 21.0.0-rc.4
@nx/webpack            : 21.0.0-rc.4
typescript             : 5.7.3
---------------------------------------
Registered Plugins:
@nx/eslint/plugin
@nx/cypress/plugin
@nx/jest/plugin
---------------------------------------
Community plugins:
@ngrx/component-store : 19.0.0
@ngrx/effects         : 19.0.0
@ngrx/entity          : 19.0.0
@ngrx/operators       : 19.0.0
@ngrx/router-store    : 19.0.0
@ngrx/store           : 19.0.0
@ngrx/store-devtools  : 19.0.0
---------------------------------------
Cache Usage: 4.21 KB / 93.15 GB

Failure Logs

Package Manager Version

yarn 4.2.2

Operating System

• [x] macOS
• [ ] Linux
• [ ] Windows
• [ ] Other (Please specify)

Additional Information

I get the same behaviour in my own monorepo which is NX v21.3

[FrozenPandaz]

@claude Can you look at the logic for when the TUI is enabled and propose some things for the user to check please?

[claude[bot]]

Claude finished @FrozenPandaz's task —— View job

---

I've analyzed the TUI enablement logic in the Nx codebase and compiled troubleshooting steps for @benwainwright.

How Nx Determines TUI Enablement

The TUI enablement logic is in /packages/nx/src/tasks-runner/is-tui-enabled.ts and follows this priority order:

1. Terminal Capability Check: Must support TTY and Unicode
2. CLI Arguments: --output-style flag (highest priority)
3. Environment Variable: NX_TUI=true/false
4. Environment Detection: CI/Windows/WASM checks
5. nx.json Configuration: tui.enabled property
6. Default: Enabled if system is capable

Troubleshooting Steps

Here are the most likely causes and things to check:

1. Check Environment Variables

# Check if NX_TUI is set to false
echo $NX_TUI

# Check if you're in a CI-like environment
echo $CI
echo $GITHUB_ACTIONS
echo $BUILDKITE
# ... (various CI environment variables)

2. Check Terminal Capability

# Verify TTY support
node -e "console.log('TTY:', process.stderr.isTTY)"

# Check your TERM environment variable
echo $TERM
echo $TERM_PROGRAM

3. Verify CLI Arguments

• Check if you're using --output-style with values like static, stream, or dynamic-legacy
• Try explicitly enabling TUI: npm run test -- --output-style=tui

4. Check nx.json Configuration

Look for a tui section in your nx.json:

{
  "tui": {
    "enabled": false  // This would disable TUI
  }
}

5. Test Direct Nx Commands

Instead of npm run test, try running Nx directly:

# Force TUI mode
NX_TUI=true npx nx run-many --target=test --output-style=tui

# Or with explicit output style
npx nx run-many --target=test --output-style=tui

6. Debug TUI Enablement

Add this temporary debug script to see what's happening:

node -e "
const { shouldUseTui } = require('./node_modules/nx/src/tasks-runner/is-tui-enabled');
const { readNxJson } = require('./node_modules/nx/src/config/nx-json');
console.log('TUI enabled:', shouldUseTui(readNxJson(), { outputStyle: undefined }));
"

Most Likely Causes

Given your setup (macOS, Node 22.2.0, Nx 21.0.0-rc.4):

1. Hidden CI Environment: Some environment variable might be making Nx think you're in CI
2. npm script wrapper: The npm run test command might be setting --output-style to something other than tui
3. nx.json configuration: The repo might have tui.enabled: false
4. Terminal emulator: Your terminal might not be reporting TTY capability correctly

Quick Fix Attempts

Try these in order:

# 1. Force TUI via environment variable
NX_TUI=true npm run test

# 2. Use direct nx command with explicit TUI
npx nx run-many --target=test --output-style=tui

# 3. Skip capability check (for debugging)
NX_TUI_SKIP_CAPABILITY_CHECK=true NX_TUI=true npm run test

Let me know what you find with these checks, and I can help narrow down the specific issue!

[benwainwright]

1. None of these environment variables are set

❯ node -e "console.log('TTY:', process.stderr.isTTY)"

TTY: true

~/repos/nx-examples master
❯ echo $TERM
echo $TERM_PROGRAM

xterm-256color
WezTerm

3. No flags of any kind are being used, but... when I add it explicitly with npm run test -- --output-style=tui it does work
4. There is nothing related to the tui in my nx.json
5. For both options in this section, the tui does work

~/repos/nx-examples master
❯ node -e "
const { shouldUseTui } = require('./node_modules/nx/src/tasks-runner/is-tui-enabled');
const { readNxJson } = require('./node_modules/nx/src/config/nx-json');
console.log('TUI enabled:', shouldUseTui(readNxJson(), { outputStyle: undefined }));
"

TUI enabled: false

For all the options in the 'quick fix attempts' section, the tui DOES work, which is great... however, I don't consider this a fix - there is nothing in the documentation that suggests I should have to enable this feature explicitly, and I'd prefer not to have to do it for every command.

[guesant]

is this related to #31588 and #31586 ?

[AgentEnder]

@guesant - no, its not. This is related to nx using the regular terminal output instead of the tui.

@benwainwright - Hey, thanks for looking through the AI help and confirming things are working when explicitly set. Can you add some console logs into the is-tui-enabled file and determine which check there is returning false? Looking through it on my end there's not an obvious reason that it would default to a different value for you.

[benwainwright]

@AgentEnder it looks like the reason that is-tui-enaabled is returning false is because it thinks my shell is CI.

This is returning true

[benwainwright]

Ok, after looking into how it worked out something is CI, I had a look through my environment variables. Will you look at that...

Hanging around in my dotfiles, leftover from my time working at the BBC. Happy to consider this closed...

[github-actions[bot]]

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