Terminalwire will require a lot of discussions with customers, hard work, care, and time to get right. This roadmap was written to give you an idea of where Terminalwire is headed and how it will get there. It’s a living document that will be updated as the project progresses.

Terminalwire will be the best way for developers to build and distribute command-line interface applications for their web applications. It will accomplish this with:

1. Familiar APIs for building command-line interfaces in developers’ choice of programming languages and frameworks.
2. Distribution channels that make it easy for developers to distribute command-line applications to their customers.
3. Low-friction licensing for developers who want to use Terminalwire with personal projects, demos for work, commercial use, etc.
4. Sustainable business model that ensures the long-term maintainence, security, and enhancements for Terminalwire.

Here’s how Terminalwire will reach the destination:

Initially, Terminalwire will be built with Ruby and target Ruby on Rails developers. This will make it easier to build the product and get feedback from a smaller group of developers since I’m fluent with Ruby and Rails. The goal is to have a production-quality prototype that can be used to build and distribute simple command-line applications.

I suspect people will want a cross-platform self-contained binary so they can distribute to their customers without requiring the installation of Ruby and RubyGems.

After the Ruby on Rails version is stable, I will build a self-contained binary client that can be distributed to customers on all platforms with minimal dependencies. This will be the first step towards making Terminalwire a cross-platform tool for building and distributing command-line applications.

After the self-contained binary client is stable, more languages and frameworks will be supported. This will make it easier for developers to build and distribute command-line applications in their choice programming languages and frameworks.

At this point, Terminalwire will be a mature product that can be used by developers to build and distribute command-line applications for their web applications. The product will be stable, well-documented, and easy to use. The financial model will be sustainable and the product will be generating revenue to continue supporting the project for maintenance and future development.