A cross-platform terminal user interface for discovering and listing nearby WiFi networks.

• Real-time WiFi network scanning
• Signal strength visualization with bars
• Channel and security protocol display
• Keyboard navigation
• Built-in log viewer for debugging

# Build
cargo build --release

# Run
./target/release/wifi-tui

The Linux scanner uses two methods:

1. nmcli (preferred) - Works without root on systems with NetworkManager
2. iw (fallback) - Requires root privileges (sudo wifi-tui)

Most desktop distributions (Ubuntu, Fedora, etc.) pre-install NetworkManager.

The Windows scanner uses raw FFI to the Native WiFi API (wlanapi.dll):

• No external crates required (demonstrates FFI skills)
• RAII wrapper ensures proper handle cleanup
• Retrieves SSID, BSSID, channel, signal strength, and security type
• Works on Windows 7 and later

src/
├── main.rs           # Entry point, event loop
├── app.rs            # Application state
├── ui.rs             # Ratatui rendering
├── lib.rs            # Library exports
└── scanner/
    ├── mod.rs        # Scanner trait, types
    ├── macos.rs      # macOS: system_profiler
    ├── linux.rs      # Linux: nmcli / iw
    └── windows.rs    # Windows: wlanapi.dll

Why not CoreWLAN on macOS?

CoreWLAN requires Location Services permission, which is problematic for CLI tools:

• CLI tools can't reliably trigger the permission dialog
• They inherit permissions from the parent terminal app
• Most terminals don't have Location permission by default

See ffi.md for detailed documentation.

Why system_profiler?

system_profiler SPAirPortDataType provides WiFi network information without requiring Location Services or root access.

The Windows implementation (src/scanner/windows.rs) uses raw FFI to the Native WiFi API. This was chosen to demonstrate FFI skills without relying on external crates like windows-sys.

Safety measures implemented:

1. RAII Handle Management - WlanHandle wrapper ensures WlanCloseHandle is always called via Drop, even on error paths

2. Memory Management - All Windows-allocated memory (WLAN_INTERFACE_INFO_LIST, WLAN_AVAILABLE_NETWORK_LIST, WLAN_BSS_LIST) is freed with WlanFreeMemory before returning

3. Pointer Validation - Return codes checked before dereferencing pointers; ERROR_SUCCESS required

4. Struct Layout - All structs use #[repr(C)] with field order matching official Microsoft documentation

API functions used:

• WlanOpenHandle / WlanCloseHandle - Connection lifecycle
• WlanEnumInterfaces - Discover wireless adapters
• WlanScan - Trigger fresh network scan
• WlanGetAvailableNetworkList - Get visible networks
• WlanGetNetworkBssList - Get BSSID and channel info

Both macOS and Linux implementations use safe Rust only, spawning system commands (system_profiler, nmcli, iw) and parsing their text output. See ffi.md for why CoreWLAN FFI was abandoned on macOS.

Only three crates as required:

• ratatui - TUI framework
• crossterm - Terminal backend
• tracing / tracing-subscriber - Structured logging

To test WiFi scanning without the TUI:

cargo run --bin scan-test

Example output:

WiFi available: true
Interface: en0

Found 4 networks:

  ████ | 2.4GHz |  -50 dBm | WPA2 | MyNetwork
  ███░ |  5GHz  |  -65 dBm | WPA2 | CoffeeShop
  ██░░ | 2.4GHz |  -76 dBm | WPA2 | Neighbor
  █░░░ | 2.4GHz |  -85 dBm | Open | FreeWiFi

• macOS 10.15+ (Catalina or later)
• WiFi hardware enabled

• NetworkManager (for non-root scanning) or iw package
• WiFi hardware enabled

• Windows 7 or later
• WLAN AutoConfig service running (default on Windows)
• WiFi hardware enabled

• Rust 1.70+

• Connect to networks - Allow users to select a network and connect directly from the TUI
• Password input - Secure text input for entering WPA/WPA2/WPA3 credentials
• Forget networks - Remove saved network profiles
• Network details view - Expandable panel showing BSSID, exact channel, PHY mode, and more
• Auto-refresh - Configurable automatic rescanning interval
• Signal history graph - Track signal strength over time for selected network