DATUI-CATALOG(1) User Commands DATUI-CATALOG(1)

datui-catalog - show the catalogs of named datasets on the home screen, or check a catalog file

datui catalog show [NAME]
datui catalog check FILE

Show the catalogs of named datasets on the home screen, or check a catalog file.

A catalog is one TOML file of named datasets, local or remote, that the home screen lists as a section under its label. CONFIG/catalog.toml is yours, and Ctrl+D on a home row adds to it; every CONFIG/catalogs/*.toml is a catalog, named by its file, and catalogs in the config lists files elsewhere; examples ships with datui, and a catalogs/examples.toml replaces it. A catalog's top level holds label and description; every other table is a dataset, keyed by a short id of lowercase letters, digits and -. A dataset's keys: name (its row), path or url, auth (auto or anonymous) or connection (a [[cloud.connections]] name), description, publisher, license, homepage, documentation (an https link), size (a web file's bytes, shown until measured), columns.NAME = { description, unit, values = { CODE = "meaning" } } and bookmarks."Name" = "path/". A long legend is a [id.columns.NAME.values] table, with the column's other keys written as dotted keys. datui catalog show examples prints a worked example.

With NAME, print that catalog's file (examples is the one datui ships); without, list the catalogs: id, label, datasets and file.
NAME
The catalog's id: mine (catalog.toml), examples, or a listed file's name.
Check a catalog file and list its datasets; a mistake is named by its line, with the fix, and exits non-zero.
The catalog file.

Set a config key for this run, as in the file: -c display.row_numbers=true. Repeatable; a flag of the key's own still wins. datui config keys lists them.
Print help.

0
Success: the session was quit (q, Ctrl+Q or Ctrl+C), or the command did what it was asked.
1
An error, printed to standard error: a PATH that is not there, a configuration file that cannot be used, nothing piped in for -, or a command that failed (datui formats check on a spec with errors).
2
A usage error: an unknown option or command, or a value an option does not take.

The config directory, in place of the platform's (~/.config/datui on Linux). Saved views and format specs live there too.

CONFIG is $DATUI_CONFIG_DIR when it is set, else $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/datui (~/.config/datui) on Linux, ~/Library/Application Support/datui on macOS and %APPDATA%\datui on Windows.

The config file: see datui-config(5). datui config path prints the files read.
Your catalog, which Ctrl+D on the home screen adds to: see datui-catalog(1).
More catalogs, one *.toml each, named by its file; examples.toml replaces the bundled one.
Saved views: see datui-views(1).
Format specs and dictionaries, searched first: see datui-formats(7).

Print the catalog datui ships, the worked example of the format.

datui catalog show examples

List the catalogs: id, label, datasets and file.

datui catalog show

Check a catalog file and list its datasets.

team.toml

label = "Team data"
[orders]
name = "Orders"
path = "data/orders.parquet"
description = "Every order, one row each"
columns.status = { description = "Where the order is", values = { P = "Placed", S = "Shipped" } }


datui catalog check team.toml

datui(1), datui-config(5)

The datui documentation: <https://derekwisong.github.io/datui/>

Report bugs at <https://github.com/derekwisong/datui/issues>.

Derek Wisong and the datui contributors.

Copyright © 2026 Derek Wisong

datui is free software under the MIT License.

2026-10-06 datui 0.4.1