Markdown Rendering in Textual CLI

The --tui CLI mode now supports markdown rendering for agent responses! This makes the output much more readable and visually appealing.

Features

Headers

  • # Header 1 → 🔷 Header 1
  • ## Header 2 → 🔸 Header 2
  • ### Header 3 → ▪️ Header 3

Text Formatting

  • **bold text** → [bold text]
  • *italic text* → (italic text)
  • __bold text__ → [bold text]
  • _italic text_ → (italic text)

Code

  • `inline code` → inline code
  • Code blocks with syntax highlighting: 
    def hello():
  print("Hello, World!")

    → 💻 Code: def hello(): print(“Hello, World!”)

Lists

  • - Item 1 → • Item 1
  • * Item 2 → • Item 2
  • + Item 3 → • Item 3
  • 1. Numbered → 1️⃣ Numbered

Other Elements

  • > Blockquote → 💬 Blockquote
  • [Link](https://example.com) → Link (https://example.com)
  • --- → ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

Usage

Toggle Markdown Rendering

  • Ctrl+M - Toggle markdown rendering on/off
  • Status bar shows 📝 when enabled, 📄 when disabled
  • Enabled by default

Example Agent Response

When an agent responds with markdown like:

# Analysis Results

## Summary
The code analysis found **3 issues**:

1. Missing error handling
2. Unused variables
3. Performance bottleneck

### Recommendations
- Add `try/catch` blocks
- Remove unused code
- Optimize the `process_data()` function

> **Note**: These are suggestions, not requirements.

It will be rendered as:

🔷 Analysis Results

🔸 Summary
The code analysis found [3 issues]:

1️⃣ Missing error handling
2️⃣ Unused variables  
3️⃣ Performance bottleneck

▪️ Recommendations
• Add `try/catch` blocks
• Remove unused code
• Optimize the `process_data()` function

💬 [Note]: These are suggestions, not requirements.

Benefits

✅ Better readability - Structured content with visual hierarchy
✅ Emoji indicators - Quick visual scanning of content types
✅ Terminal-friendly - Works well in any terminal environment
✅ Toggle-able - Can be disabled if plain text is preferred
✅ Preserves functionality - All CLI features still work normally

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+M Toggle markdown rendering
Ctrl+T Toggle theme (dark/light)
Ctrl+C Interrupt agent
Ctrl+L Clear output
Ctrl+D Exit

The markdown rendering makes agent responses much more pleasant to read while maintaining the powerful Textual CLI functionality!