What should we call a terminal app where one pane can refresh while you keep working in another? I'm proposing "Live TUI."
The pattern is a persistent terminal workspace. Panes stream data and update independently. A task shows its own loading or progress state, so waiting on that task does not block the whole interface.
AJAX is the analogy I keep coming back to: partial updates that leave the surrounding interface usable. In a terminal app, the useful question is what the person can keep doing while a request is still in flight.
hqtui-demo is the example behind the idea. It is a way to experience the combination of live state, independent pane updates, and local progress indicators.
There is a fair objection to the name. None of those mechanics is new, and responsive terminal applications existed long before this proposal. I'm proposing a name for the combined experience, with no claim to having invented asynchronous terminal interfaces.
For someone designing a TUI, the term could express a practical expectation: a busy pane should show its own status while the rest of the workspace stays usable.
Does "Live TUI" describe that clearly? Is there an existing term you would reach for instead?
The example: https://hqtui.com
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