minimaxir has released "miditui," a MIDI editing, mixing, and playback application that provides a DAW-like experience within the terminal. Written in Rust, it features a rich set of capabilities not typically expected from terminal applications.
Development began as a personal experiment to test the extent to which the latest coding agents could handle TUIs. The developer stated that they decided to release the project after Opus 4.5 produced favorable results and a demo video gained traction on X. Details regarding the agent-driven coding workflow are documented in the agent_notes folder within the repository.
Binaries for macOS and Linux are available on the release page. Users with a Rust environment can also install it via cargo install miditui. A SoundFont file (.sf2) is required for operation, with free options such as TimGM6mb.sf2 being recommended.
Upon launch, the app enters Normal Mode, displaying a view that integrates the piano roll and project timeline. Notes can be inserted using arrow keys or double-clicking, and playback is triggered by the Space key. Insert Mode allows for real-time keyboard-style operation, and track muting and soloing are supported via keyboard shortcuts.
Source: Show HN: Miditui – A terminal app/UI for MIDI composing, mixing, and playback (HN 66pt, 13 comments) (HN Search (backfill), 2026-01-09)