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mas-ctl terminal UI (TUI)

mas-ctl tui is a curses chat UI with the same bootstrap as mas-ctl chat: manifest merge, overlays, infra refs, HITL, and observability.

Terms: glossary.md.

Use the TUI for long interactive sessions. Use mas-ctl chat for scripts and --trace (exchange log). Use the web UI to browse benchmark history. Use mas-lab benchmark run for experiments with an embedded pipeline.

You need an agent or MAS manifest first (Tutorial 1).

Basic usage

mas-ctl tui agent.yaml
mas-ctl tui mas.yaml -o overlays/governance/hitl-on-tool.yaml
mas-ctl tui agent.yaml -o docs/schemas/examples/overlays/observability-native.yaml

Flags (parity with mas-ctl chat)

Flag Description
-o / --overlay Overlay YAML (repeatable)
--pattern Design-pattern plugin alias
--infra-ref Infra bundle (standard:openai, …)
--memory-seed Seed file for memory plugins
--single-turn Exit after one user turn
--no-validate Skip manifest validation

Observability

Flag Description
--events / --no-events Override manifest observability
--events-file PATH events.jsonl output path
--events-stdout Stream JSONL on stderr
--events-format native · boundary · both · otel

Full reference: cli/observability.md.

--trace (exchange log) is on chat only:

mas-ctl chat agent.yaml -i --trace --events --events-file traces/events.jsonl
mas-ctl tui agent.yaml --events --events-file traces/events.jsonl

HITL

Governance overlays that require human approval work in the TUI like in chat.

When to use what

Tool Best for
mas-ctl chat Scripts, exchange log, CI smoke
mas-ctl tui Interactive terminal, HITL
Web UI Run history, plots, demos
mas-lab benchmark run Scenarios, dataset, embedded pipeline