A couple of neat options here: Look into urwid first, which is a full TUI framework in python. Also consider using libcaca, which has excellent python binding

A couple of neat options here: Look into urwid first, which is a full TUI framework in python. Also consider using libcaca, which has excellent python bindings but is generally used for flashier stuff than simple utilities (text-based demoscene stuff, etc etc)... Apologies for not linking to the relevant projects, but I'm certain you'll find them with a quick search :)