ncurses is described as '(new curses) is a programming library that provides an API which allows the programmer to write text-based user interfaces in a terminal-independent manner. It is a toolkit for developing "GUI-like" application software that runs under a terminal emulator' and is a terminal emulator in the os & utilities category. There are more than 10 alternatives to ncurses for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Windows, Mac, Cygwin and Oracle Solaris apps. The best ncurses alternative is Ratatui, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like ncurses are FINAL CUT, termbox, rot.js and BearLibTerminal.
similar aim, still under development