CLAUDE.md

Guidance for AI agents working with Terminal.Gui. For humans, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Before Every File Edit

READ

.claude/REFRESH.md

first. It contains a quick checklist to prevent common mistakes.

Detailed Rules

See

.claude/rules/

for detailed guidance:

```
type-declarations.md
```
- No var except built-in types
```
target-typed-new.md
```
- Use
```
new ()
```
not
```
new TypeName()
```
```
terminology.md
```
- SubView/SuperView, never "child/parent"
```
event-patterns.md
```
- Lambdas, closures, handlers
```
collection-expressions.md
```
- Use
```
[...]
```
syntax
```
cwp-pattern.md
```
- Cancellable Workflow Pattern

Task-Specific Guides

See

.claude/tasks/

for task checklists:

```
scenario-modernization.md
```
- Upgrading UICatalog scenarios

Project Overview

Terminal.Gui - Cross-platform .NET console UI toolkit

Language: C# (net8.0)
Branch:
```
v2_develop
```
Version: v2 (Alpha)

Build & Test

dotnet restore
dotnet build --no-restore
dotnet test Tests/UnitTestsParallelizable --no-build
dotnet test Tests/UnitTests --no-build

Key Concepts

Concept	Documentation
Application Lifecycle	`docfx/docs/application.md`
View Hierarchy	`docfx/docs/View.md`
Layout (Pos/Dim)	`docfx/docs/layout.md`
CWP Events	`docfx/docs/cancellable-work-pattern.md`
Terminology	`docfx/docs/lexicon.md`

Critical Rules (Summary)

No
var
except:

int

string

bool

double

float

decimal

char

byte

Use
new ()
not
```
new TypeName()
```
Use
[...]
not
```
new () { ... }
```
for collections
SubView/SuperView for containment (Parent/Child only for non-containment refs)
Unused lambda params - use
```
_
```
:
```
(_, _) => { }
```

Testing

Prefer
```
UnitTestsParallelizable
```
over
```
UnitTests
```
Add comment:
```
// Claude - Opus 4.5
```
Never decrease coverage
Avoid
```
Application.Init
```
in tests

Repository Structure

/Terminal.Gui/     - Core library
/Tests/            - Unit tests
/Examples/UICatalog/ - Demo app
/docfx/docs/       - Documentation
/.claude/          - AI agent guidance

What NOT to Do

Don't use
```
var
```
for non-built-in types
Don't use redundant type names with
```
new
```
Don't say "child/parent" for containment (use SubView/SuperView)
Don't modify unrelated code
Don't introduce new warnings

Detailed Rules

See

.claude/rules/

type-declarations.md

- No var except built-in types

target-typed-new.md

- Use

new ()

not

new TypeName()

terminology.md

- SubView/SuperView, never "child/parent"

event-patterns.md

- Lambdas, closures, handlers

collection-expressions.md

- Use

[...]

syntax

cwp-pattern.md

- Cancellable Workflow Pattern

Concept

Documentation

Application Lifecycle

docfx/docs/application.md

View Hierarchy

docfx/docs/View.md

Layout (Pos/Dim)

docfx/docs/layout.md

CWP Events

docfx/docs/cancellable-work-pattern.md

Terminology

docfx/docs/lexicon.md

CLAUDE.md

CLAUDE.md

Before Every File Edit

Detailed Rules

Task-Specific Guides

Project Overview

Build & Test

Key Concepts

Critical Rules (Summary)

Testing

Repository Structure

What NOT to Do

Related Skills

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CLAUDE.md

Before Every File Edit

Detailed Rules

Task-Specific Guides

Project Overview

Build & Test

Key Concepts

Critical Rules (Summary)

Testing

Repository Structure

What NOT to Do