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node-opcua/opcua-commander

★ 265 · TypeScript · MIT · updated Mar 2026

a opcua client with blessed (ncurses)

A terminal UI client for OPC UA servers, built on top of node-opcua and the blessed ncurses library. Useful for quickly browsing an OPC UA address space, reading node values, and watching alarms without standing up a full GUI tool. The target is industrial/IoT developers who need a fast sanity-check tool against PLCs or SCADA systems.

The blessed-based TUI is actually functional for navigating OPC UA address spaces, which is a niche no other CLI tool fills well. Built on node-opcua, which is one of the most complete OPC UA stacks outside of C/C++. Snap package and Docker image mean you can get it running on a Linux box in a plant network without fighting npm. The MVC split (controller/model/view) keeps the blessed widget code from completely devolving into spaghetti.

265 stars and 54 forks in over a decade of existence tells you this is a maintenance-mode tool, not an active project. The blessed library itself has been effectively abandoned, which means any terminal compatibility bugs are yours to fix. No write support visible — you can browse and subscribe to nodes but if you need to call a method or write a value you're out of luck. The `--unsafe-perm=true --allow-root` install instructions for Linux are a red flag someone should have fixed properly rather than documented as the solution.

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