dialoguer
Rust library for building interactive command-line user interfaces with prompts, selections, and confirmations. Part of the console-rs ecosystem. Provides Input (text input), Select (single choice), MultiSelect, Confirm (yes/no), and Password (hidden input) prompts with fuzzy search support. Styled output via console crate.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
Password prompts hide input but secrets remain in memory — use zeroize for sensitive input cleanup.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
Adding interactive prompts to Rust CLI tools for setup, configuration, or deployment confirmation.
Avoid When
Building fully automated tools without user interaction or complex terminal layouts.
Use Cases
- • Build interactive Rust CLI setup wizards with text inputs, password prompts, and confirmation dialogs
- • Implement multi-select menus for choosing configuration options in CLI tools
- • Create deployment confirmation prompts: Confirm::new().with_prompt('Deploy to production?').interact()?
- • Build CLI tools with fuzzy-searchable selection lists for long option lists
- • Implement secure password/secret input without echoing with Password prompt
Not For
- • Full TUI applications with layouts — use Bubble Tea (Go) or ratatui (Rust) for multi-pane terminal UIs
- • Non-interactive batch automation — dialoguer prompts require user input; not suitable for scripted automation
- • Web interfaces — terminal-only library
Interface
Authentication
Library — no auth needed.
Pricing
MIT licensed open source library.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ interact() blocks until user input — tests with dialoguer prompts require mock stdin; use interact_on_opt() for optional prompts with default
- ⚠ interact_opt() returns Option<T> where None means the user pressed Escape — check for None to handle cancel correctly
- ⚠ Select::with_prompt() is required — without a prompt the selection renders without context, confusing users
- ⚠ fuzzy search in Select requires enabling the 'fuzzy' feature flag — not enabled by default
- ⚠ Password prompt input is hidden but not encrypted in memory — clear secrets after use with zeroize crate
- ⚠ dialoguer requires a real TTY — piped stdin will cause interact() to return an error; detect TTY with atty crate and skip prompts in non-interactive mode
Alternatives
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Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-07.