spectreconsole/spectre.console · error · NotSupportedException

Cannot show selection prompt since the current terminal isn'

Error message

Cannot show selection prompt since the current terminal isn't interactive.

What it means

Thrown by ListPrompt<T>.Show(...) when the console profile's Capabilities.Interactive is false. Selection-style prompts (SelectionPrompt, MultiSelectionPrompt) require a real interactive terminal to read keystrokes for navigation. Spectre checks this up front and throws NotSupportedException rather than failing mid-render or hanging on input that can never arrive. Note: this is checked before the ANSI capability check.

Source

Thrown at src/Spectre.Console/Prompts/List/ListPrompt.cs:29

        _console = console ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(console));
        _strategy = strategy ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(strategy));
    }

    public async Task<ListPromptState<T>> Show(
        ListPromptTree<T> tree,
        Func<T, string> converter,
        SelectionMode selectionMode,
        bool skipUnselectableItems,
        bool searchEnabled,
        int requestedPageSize,
        bool wrapAround,
        CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
    {
        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(tree);

        if (!_console.Profile.Capabilities.Interactive)
        {
            throw new NotSupportedException(
                "Cannot show selection prompt since the current " +
                "terminal isn't interactive.");
        }

        if (!_console.Profile.Capabilities.Ansi)
        {
            throw new NotSupportedException(
                "Cannot show selection prompt since the current " +
                "terminal does not support ANSI escape sequences.");
        }

        var nodes = tree.Traverse().ToList();
        if (nodes.Count == 0)
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException("Cannot show an empty selection prompt. Please call the AddChoice() method to configure the prompt.");
        }

        var state = new ListPromptState<T>(

View on GitHub (pinned to 0acc92fada)

Solutions

1. Guard prompt calls with AnsiConsole.Profile.Capabilities.Interactive.
2. For automated tests, use AnsiConsole.Testing.TestConsole which supports interactive simulation.
3. Run in a PTY wrapper in CI if interactive prompts are required.
4. Provide a non-interactive fallback (default value, config file, command-line args) when no TTY is detected.

Example fix

// before
var choice = AnsiConsole.Prompt(
    new SelectionPrompt<string>()
        .Title("Pick one")
        .AddChoices(new[] { "A", "B", "C" }));

// after
if (!AnsiConsole.Profile.Capabilities.Interactive)
{
    return defaultValue; // non-interactive fallback
}
var choice = AnsiConsole.Prompt(
    new SelectionPrompt<string>()
        .Title("Pick one")
        .AddChoices(new[] { "A", "B", "C" }));

if (!AnsiConsole.Profile.Capabilities.Interactive)
{
    // Provide a non-interactive fallback
    return defaultValue;
}
var choice = AnsiConsole.Prompt(
    new SelectionPrompt<string>()
        .Title("Pick one")
        .AddChoices(options));

static bool CanShowInteractivePrompt(IAnsiConsole console)
    => console.Profile.Capabilities.Interactive
       && console.Profile.Capabilities.Ansi;

try
{
    return AnsiConsole.Prompt(selectionPrompt);
}
catch (NotSupportedException ex) when (ex.Message.Contains("interactive"))
{
    // Fall back to default or config-based selection
    return defaultValue;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling AnsiConsole.Prompt(new SelectionPrompt<string>()...) or MultiSelectionPrompt in a non-interactive environment — CI, Docker without -it, redirected stdin, headless service, or a manually-created AnsiConsole with Interactive = false.

Common situations: Automated tests calling SelectionPrompt against real AnsiConsole; CLI tools run in CI without a PTY; Docker containers without -it; SSH non-interactive sessions; output piped to another command.

Related errors

• Cannot show selection prompt since the current terminal does
• Failed to read input in non-interactive mode.
• Could not convert input to a string
• Console width must be greater than zero
• Console height must be greater than zero

AI-assisted analysis of spectreconsole/spectre.console@0acc92fada (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/370c0487474f2db1. Report an issue: GitHub.