TermRadar

See what's flying above you - without leaving your terminal.

TermRadar is a lightweight live aircraft radar for developers, programmers, and aviation enthusiasts.

You're coding, you hear an aircraft overhead, or spot something from the window. Instead of opening a browser or reaching for a flight-tracking app, open a terminal and run:

termradar

You get a live radar centered on your location: nearby callsigns, distance, bearing, speed, altitude, and route info when available. Use it for the quick answer, then jump to another tracker when you want deeper details.

One radar engine. Multiple displays.

The core is display-agnostic. Today: a polished terminal UI. Planned: Raspberry Pi fullscreen and small displays.

Quick start

pip install termradar
termradar

From source:

git clone https://github.com/rusty3699/termradar.git
cd termradar
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate   # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -e .
termradar

First run: enter a location, pick a geocoding result, set radius and refresh. Later runs reuse saved settings. Press Ctrl+C to exit.

Config: ~/.config/termradar/config.toml on Linux (platformdirs on macOS and Windows — see ARCHITECTURE.md).

What you get

Available now	Planned
Live terminal radar (default 5 s refresh)	Raspberry Pi fullscreen display
Numbered radar markers + top-five nearby list	OLED / e-paper displays
Closest-aircraft detail panel	Local ADS-B receivers
adsb.lol live aircraft (default)	Alerts and notifications
ADSBDB route/airline enrichment	Web UI
Nominatim geocoding, local timezone
OpenSky via --aircraft-provider opensky

Requirements: Python 3.11+, network access. Works on Linux, macOS, Windows, and Raspberry Pi.

Usage

termradar --location "Andheri, Mumbai"  # temporary location (this run only)
termradar --radius 25                   # search radius in km
termradar --refresh 10                  # refresh interval (min 5 s)
termradar --aircraft-provider opensky   # OpenSky instead of adsb.lol
termradar --enrichment-limit 10         # max aircraft to enrich per scan
termradar --reset-location              # re-run setup
termradar --version
termradar --help

Setting	Default	Allowed
Refresh	5 s	5-300 s
Radius	15 km	1-250 km
Aircraft source	adsb.lol	adsblol or opensky
Enrichment	10 nearest	--enrichment-limit

Provider details and internal limits: docs/DATA_PROVIDERS.md

How it works

each refresh (every 5 s by default):
  1. Fetch aircraft near you          → adsb.lol
  2. Distance and bearing from you
  3. Enrich nearest (cache miss only) → ADSBDB
  4. Draw radar + aircraft panels

setup only (not each refresh):
  Geocoding → Nominatim

Data sources: adsb.lol (aircraft), ADSBDB (routes/airlines), Nominatim (geocoding)

Documentation

Doc	What it covers
CHANGELOG.md	Release history
ARCHITECTURE.md	Design, UI layout, code boundaries
DATA_PROVIDERS.md	APIs, internal limits, caching
ROADMAP.md	What's next
DEVELOPMENT.md	Tests, lint, packaging

License

MIT - see LICENSE.

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Made with <3 Anish