Pacsea: A TUI for Arch Linux Package Management

Pacsea is a terminal user interface (TUI) for browsing, searching, and installing packages from Arch Linux repositories and the Arch User Repository (AUR). It is written in Rust and provides keyboard-first navigation.

Key Features

• Security Scanning for AUR Packages: Optional pre-installation security scanning using multiple tools (ClamAV, Trivy, Semgrep, ShellCheck, VirusTotal, custom patterns, aur-sleuth) with detailed scan summaries.
• Fuzzy Search: Toggleable fuzzy search mode for approximate package name matching.
• Unified Search: Search across official repositories and the AUR with results displayed in a single interface.
• Automated Package Update Checks: Background checks for available package updates with version comparison view.
• Keyboard-First Navigation: Interface designed for keyboard use with minimal keystrokes and Vim-like navigation patterns.
• Queue and Install: Queue packages for installation and execute installs with optional AUR security scans before installation.
• Persistent Lists: Recent searches and installation queues are saved and persist across sessions.
• Distro-Aware Updates: Automatically detects and uses appropriate mirror management tools for Manjaro, EndeavourOS, CachyOS, Artix, and standard Arch Linux.
• Integrated Process Execution: All operations execute within the TUI with real-time output streaming, progress indicators, and inline password prompts. No external terminal windows are required.
• News Feed: Unified feed combining Arch news, security advisories, package update notifications, and AUR package comments. Includes offline caching, filtering by source or date, search with history, bookmarking, and read/unread tracking.
• Preflight Review Modal: Review dependencies, files, and potential impacts before install/remove operations. For removals, shows reverse dependencies and affected services.
• PKGBUILD Preview: View and copy PKGBUILD files directly in the interface.
• AUR Comments Viewer: View community comments for AUR packages with markdown support and clickable URLs.
• Package Management: Manage installed packages including removal and downgrade functionality using the downgrade tool.

Security-First Approach

The security workflow provides optional scanning before installing AUR packages. This includes:

• ClamAV scans for malware detection.
• Trivy for filesystem vulnerability scanning.
• Semgrep for static analysis of PKGBUILDs.
• ShellCheck for linting PKGBUILD and .install scripts.
• VirusTotal hash lookups (requires API key configuration).
• Custom pattern checks for suspicious code patterns.
• aur-sleuth for LLM-based audit of packages.

User Interface

• Main App View: Interface displays package search results, package information, and installation queues in a single view.
• News Feed View: Browse Arch news, security advisories, package updates, and AUR comments with filtering and search capabilities.
• Preflight Review Modal: Review dependencies and potential impacts before proceeding with installations or removals.
• AUR Comments Viewer: Access community comments for AUR packages with markdown support and automatic updates when navigating between packages.
• TUI Optional Deps: Modal interface for installing and verifying recommended helper tools with environment-aware defaults.

Installation Notes

Pacsea can be installed through AUR helpers like paru or yay using the pacsea-bin (stable) or pacsea-git (latest) packages. It is also available via Cargo with cargo install pacsea. The application can be built from source using standard Rust tooling.

Community Engagement

The project accepts contributions through GitHub issues, discussions, and pull requests. Community feedback and feature suggestions are tracked through the project's issue tracker and discussion forums.

Conclusion

Pacsea provides a TUI for managing Arch Linux and AUR packages with integrated security scanning, news feed, and keyboard-first navigation. The application supports multiple Arch-based distributions.