🎾 Tennis: The Quickest Way to Visualize CSV Files in Your Terminal

March 12, 2026

Ever open Excel or fire up a Python script just to peek at a CSV file? There’s a faster, cleaner way.

Meet tennis — a blazing-fast terminal table viewer built in Zig. No Python. No pandas. No GUI. Just clean, colored, readable tables right in your shell.

🐳 Run It Instantly with Docker

No need to install Zig or compile anything yourself. Use this Docker setup:

FROM ubuntu:22.04
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
    build-essential bash git curl xz-utils
RUN curl -L https://ziglang.org/download/0.13.0/zig-linux-x86_64-0.13.0.tar.xz | tar -xJ \
    && mv zig-linux-x86_64-0.13.0 /opt/zig \
    && ln -s /opt/zig/zig /usr/local/bin/zig
WORKDIR /app
RUN git clone https://github.com/gurgeous/tennis.git
WORKDIR /app/tennis
RUN zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast
RUN ln -s /app/tennis/zig-out/bin/tennis /usr/local/bin/tennis
CMD ["tennis"]

Run it against any local CSV:

docker run -it -v $(pwd):/data tennis tennis /data/yourfile.csv -n --title "my data"

Instantly, your CSV is rendered as a color-coded, aligned table with headers and row numbers.

⚡ Why This Combo Works

• Docker handles the build — no “works on my machine” headaches
• Volume mounting (-v) lets you point to any CSV without rebuilding
• Zig’s ReleaseFast build keeps it snappy, even on large files
• Zero runtime dependencies once the image is built

📊 Perfect for Quick Data Checks

• Validate ETL pipeline outputs
• Spot-check exported reports
• Review data before database loads
• Share readable snapshots with teammates

No notebooks. No spreadsheets. One command and your data is readable.

🔗 Try it here: github.com/gurgeous/tennis

💡 Found other underrated CLI tools for data work? Drop your favorites in the comments 👇

#Developer #DataEngineering #Docker #CLI #Productivity #Zig #DevTools