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Textual-debugger, a Python TUI debugger with power features

Textual-debugger, a Python TUI debugger with power features

by aldanial·May 14, 2026·3 points·1 comment

AI Analysis

●●SolidNiche GemSolve My Problem

Finally a TUI debugger that handles async tasks and multiprocessing without breaking a sweat.

Strengths
  • Built-in async task inspector and wait graph visualization for event loops.
  • Spawns debuggee in external terminal to debug other TUI apps cleanly.
  • JSON-RPC server mode enables programmatic control for AI agents.
Weaknesses
  • Requires Python 3.10+, excluding legacy environments still on 3.8.
  • Zero GitHub stars at launch means unproven stability and community support.
Target Audience

Backend Python developers working in terminal environments

Similar To

pudb · VS Code Debugger · ipdb

Post Description

I'm a vim/command line guy and loved using pudb (https://pypi.org/project/pudb/) as I was learning Python. Gradually my code became more complex and pudb wasn't keeping up; event loops and the threading and multiprocessing modules were problematic.

TL;DR: I used Claude Code to write the TUI debugger of my dreams: https://pypi.org/project/textual-debugger/ It's built with textual and debugpy so can do all the things possible you'd would expect with the Debug Adapter Protocol (remote attach, thread/process inspection).

And then some!

I added a JSON-RPC interface so the debugger can be controlled by external tools (eg an AI agent). I also added the capability to run the debug target in a separate terminal which is handy for debugging applications that make demands on the terminal (like curses / rich / textual apps).

Here's a video of that in action: https://youtu.be/121aihjAQ8g

Screenshots: - https://github.com/AlDanial/tdb/blob/main/gallery/async_brea... - https://github.com/AlDanial/tdb/blob/main/gallery/async_task... - https://github.com/AlDanial/tdb/blob/main/gallery/multiproce... - https://github.com/AlDanial/tdb/blob/main/gallery/threading_...

Give it a try! pip install textual-debugger

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