Features Overview¶

Baboon is packed with features designed to make you a better typist. Here's what sets it apart from other typing tutors.

Dual Interface Design¶

:material-console: Terminal UI

A beautiful TUI built with Bubble Tea and Lipgloss. Unicode block characters create stunning large letters that change colour as you type.

Works over SSH
No browser needed
Minimal resource usage
Spring-based animations

:material-web: Web UI

A modern React application with Chakra UI and Framer Motion. Physics-based animations make typing feel satisfying.

Works on any device
Touch-friendly
Responsive design
Chunky button aesthetics

Intelligent Word Selection¶

Baboon doesn't just throw random words at you. It uses a sophisticated algorithm to maximise your learning:

Adaptive Learning¶

flowchart LR
    A[Track Mistakes] --> B[Identify Weak Letters]
    B --> C[Weight Word Selection]
    C --> D[More Practice on Weak Areas]
    D --> A

Frequency balancing: Ensures all letters get coverage
Accuracy weighting: Prioritises letters you frequently mistype
Combined scoring: Words are ranked by how helpful they'll be

Consistent Rounds¶

Every round contains:

Exactly 30 words
Exactly 150 characters

This ensures your WPM scores are always comparable across sessions.

Real-time Visual Feedback¶

Colour-coded Letters¶

Colour	Meaning
Gray	Not yet typed
Green	Correctly typed
Red	Incorrectly typed

Letters change colour instantly - no lag, no delay.

Live WPM Bar¶

A gradient progress bar shows your current speed:

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  45 WPM

Colours indicate performance:

Red: Below 40 WPM
Yellow: 40-60 WPM
Green: Above 60 WPM

Word Carousel¶

See what's coming next:

Previous word (dimmed, above)
Current word (bright, center)
Next 3 words (dimmed, below)

Smooth spring animations when transitioning between words.

Comprehensive Statistics¶

Baboon tracks more than just WPM:

Core Metrics¶

Metric	Description
WPM	Words per minute (correct chars / 5 / minutes)
Accuracy	Correct keystrokes as a percentage
Time	Round completion duration

Per-Letter Analysis¶

Accuracy: How often you hit each letter correctly
Frequency: How often each letter appears
Seek time: How fast you reach each letter

Typing Theory Metrics¶

Finger accuracy: Performance by finger (8 fingers)
Row accuracy: Top/Home/Bottom row performance
Hand balance: Left vs right distribution
Alternation rate: Hand-switching frequency
Same-finger bigrams: Slow letter pairs detected
Rhythm consistency: Typing evenness (std deviation)
Error patterns: Common letter substitutions

Persistence¶

All statistics are saved to ~/.config/baboon/stats.json:

Survives between sessions
Tracks historical bests
Maintains running averages
Records per-letter stats

Cross-Platform Support¶

Platform	Support
Linux	AMD64, ARM64
macOS	Intel, Apple Silicon
Windows	AMD64

Package Formats¶

Native binaries
DEB packages (Debian/Ubuntu)
RPM packages (Fedora/RHEL)
Flatpak
Nix flakes

British English¶

Baboon uses proper British spellings throughout:

colour (not color)
behaviour (not behavior)
organisation (not organization)
travelling (not traveling)

Punctuation Mode¶

Enable punctuation practice with the -p flag:

baboon -p

Words are separated by random punctuation: , . ; : ! ?

Architecture¶

Client-Server Design¶

flowchart TB
    subgraph Frontend
        TUI[Terminal UI]
        Web[Web UI]
    end
    subgraph Backend
        API[REST API]
        Engine[Game Engine]
        Stats[Statistics]
    end
    TUI --> API
    Web --> API
    API --> Engine
    Engine --> Stats

Frontend handles all timing-critical measurements
Backend manages game logic and persistence
Multiple clients can connect to one server

Technology Stack¶

Component	Technology
Backend	Go
TUI	Bubble Tea, Lipgloss, Harmonica
Web	React 18, Chakra UI, Framer Motion
Animations	Spring physics (Harmonica)
Build	Nix flakes

What's Next?¶

Explore each feature in detail: