What Thomas Ptacek thinks about design
Security engineer; founder of Matasano Security and Latacora.
Thomas Ptacek did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Only Thomas Ptacek on design. See everyone on design
3 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Thomas Ptacek has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsWe build terminal interfaces because we have to, not because we should.
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Their wordsCLIs have purposes for which they’re irreplaceable. Building a CLI is almost always a good idea. Building a TUI almost never is.
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Our readingProduction systems need a command-line interface, not a user interface running on the server
Their wordsThe problem with this argument is that you probably don’t need a user interface on prod. You need a command line interface on prod that a user interface on your Macbook can drive.