blog: Camel TUI editor follow-up blog post

content/blog/2026/08/camel-tui-editor/index.md

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+---
+title: "Camel TUI: A Low-Code YAML Editor in Your Terminal"
+date: 2026-08-11
+draft: false
+authors: [davsclaus]
+categories: ["Tooling"]
+keywords: ["apache camel", "tui", "terminal", "yaml", "editor", "low-code", "tab completion", "AI"]
+preview: "The Camel TUI now includes a built-in YAML DSL editor with intelligent Tab completion, validation on save, and support for four AI providers in the AI prompt panel."
+---
+
+Two weeks ago we [introduced the Camel TUI](/blog/2026/07/camel-tui/) -- a terminal dashboard for
+monitoring and managing Apache Camel integrations. Since then, development has continued at a rapid
+pace. This post covers the latest additions landing in Camel 4.22.
+
+## Open Any Project
+
+You can now launch the TUI directly from any existing Camel project -- Spring Boot, Quarkus,
+or Camel Main -- by pointing it at the project directory:
+
+```bash
+camel tui .
+```
+
+The TUI detects the project type from `pom.xml`, opens it, runs it (via F10), and gives you the full dashboard
+experience for troubleshooting or light development. No extra setup, no plugins to install --
+just point the TUI at your project and go.
+
+## A Low-Code YAML Editor
+
+The biggest addition is a built-in source editor in the Source tab. What started as a read-only
+source viewer with inline documentation has evolved into a mini low-code editor for Camel YAML DSL
+routes and `application.properties` files.
+
+The editor is designed for prototyping and quick edits -- sketching out a new route, tweaking
+an endpoint option, or experimenting with an EIP pattern while your application is running.
+It is not intended to replace a full IDE for project-based development. If you are looking for
+a graphical UI development experience, check out [Kaoto](https://kaoto.io) or
+[Karavan](https://github.com/apache/camel-karavan).
+
+### Tab Completion
+
+Press **Tab** anywhere in a YAML route file, and the editor offers context-aware completions:
+
+![Tab completion showing EIP names](camel-tui-tab-completion-eip.png)
+
+![Tab completion showing Kafka endpoint options](camel-tui-tab-completion-kafka.png)
+
+- **EIP names** -- `choice`, `split`, `aggregate`, `filter`, and all other EIPs. The autocomplete
+  popup shows the EIP category label (routing, transformation, error handling, etc.) to help you
+  pick the right one.
+- **EIP options** -- After selecting an EIP, Tab again to see its available options with placeholder
+  values.
+- **Component names** -- Type a `to:` or `from:` URI and Tab to browse all available components.
+- **Endpoint options** -- After the component name, Tab to see the endpoint's query parameters.
+- **Expressions and data formats** -- Tab completion for expression languages (`simple`, `jsonpath`,
+  `xpath`, etc.) and data format options (`json-jackson`, `csv`, `avro`, etc.).
+- **`application.properties`** -- Tab completion for `camel.*` configuration keys, including
+  Spring Boot configuration metadata when available.
+
+The completion engine is tree-driven, generated from the canonical YAML DSL schema and the Camel
+catalog metadata. It understands the nesting structure of the YAML DSL, so completions are
+scoped to where you are in the document -- you only see options that are valid at the current
+cursor position.
+
+### Validate on Save
+
+When you save a file (Ctrl+S), the editor validates the content:
+
+- **YAML route files** are validated against the Camel YAML DSL schema. Errors are shown in a
+  popup with the line number and description.
+
+![Validation error popup on save](camel-tui-validation-error.png)
+- **`application.properties`** files have their `camel.*` keys validated against the catalog,
+  catching typos in property names.
+
+### Editor Features
+
+The editor also includes:
+
+- **Inline quick docs** -- press `i` to toggle inline documentation for the component or EIP
+  under the cursor.
+
+![Inline quick docs overlay](camel-tui-quick-docs.png)
+- **Cross-route navigation** -- jump indicators show where routes connect to each other
+  (via `direct`, `seda`, etc.), and you can jump between them.
+- **Go to route** -- press `g` to open a type-ahead popup listing all routes in the file,
+  letting you quickly jump to any route by name.
+- **Confirm before discard** -- pressing Esc with unsaved changes prompts for confirmation.
+- **Row:col indicator** in the status bar so you know where you are.
+- **Plain mode** (toggle with a key) strips syntax coloring and expands the panel to full width without border lines, for easy multi-line copy/paste.
+
+The combination of Tab completion, validation, and inline docs means you can write and iterate
+on Camel routes without leaving the terminal -- a low-code experience for the command line.
+
+## AI Panel: Bring Your Own LLM
+
+The F8 AI prompt panel now supports a wide range of LLM providers:
+
+- **Anthropic** (Claude) -- auto-detected when `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` is set, including Vertex AI.
+- **Azure OpenAI** -- auto-detected when `AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY` and `AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT` are set.
+- **Google Gemini** -- auto-detected when `GEMINI_API_KEY` is set.
+- **OpenAI** (and any OpenAI-compatible API) -- when `OPENAI_API_KEY` is set. Works with any provider
+  that implements the OpenAI API (Groq, Together, etc.) by setting a custom URL.
+- **IBM watsonx.ai** -- auto-detected when `WATSONX_API_KEY` and `WATSONX_PROJECT_ID` are set.
+- **Ollama** -- for local models, auto-detected when Ollama is running on localhost.
+
+![AI prompt panel](camel-tui-ai-panel.png)
+
+The panel auto-detects which provider to use based on your environment variables, so you just
+set the key and start chatting. You can also switch providers on the fly from within the panel.
+Token usage is tracked per conversation.
+
+The TUI also comes with a built-in MCP server, so any external AI coding assistant
+(Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.) can connect to the TUI and observe, interact with,
+and control your running Camel application from the outside -- reading routes, errors, traces,
+sending messages, stopping routes, and more.
+
+## Other Improvements
+
+A few more additions since the intro blog:
+
+- **HTTP probe** -- A lightweight Postman-like tool for sending HTTP requests to your running
+  application's endpoints, directly from the TUI.
+- **Secrets tab** -- Browse secrets from configured vault providers (AWS, Azure, GCP, HashiCorp, CyberArk).
+- **JFR tab** -- View Java Flight Recorder runtime events (route, processor, exchange) when
+  JFR instrumentation is enabled.
+- **Clickable hyperlinks** -- URLs in the HTTP tab and infrastructure service console URLs are
+  now clickable hyperlinks in terminals that support them.
+- **Destructive action confirmations** -- Actions like "Stop All" now prompt for confirmation,
+  configurable in the Settings dialog.
+
+## Try It
+
+All of this ships in Apache Camel 4.22. Install the Camel CLI and try it:
+
+```bash
+curl -fsSL https://camel.apache.org/install.sh | sh
+camel run myRoute.yaml --dev
+```
+
+Then in another terminal:
+
+```bash
+camel tui
+```
+
+Navigate to the Source tab, open a YAML file, and press Tab to see the completion in action.
+
+## Roadmap
+
+The TUI is actively developed and will continue to receive improvements and new features
+in upcoming Camel releases. Stay tuned!
+
+## About the Screenshots
+
+The screenshots in this blog post were captured entirely by an AI agent (Claude Code) connected
+to the running TUI via its built-in MCP server. The agent navigated the TUI, opened files,
+entered the editor, triggered Tab completion, saved with intentional errors, toggled quick docs,
+and opened the AI panel -- all through MCP tool calls, without any human interaction with the
+terminal.
+