diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 85095f58..285f818f 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1217,7 +1217,10 @@ dependencies = [
  "lazy_static",
  "libc",
  "log",
+ "maplit",
+ "ncurses",
  "signal-hook",
+ "term_size",
  "unicode-segmentation",
  "unicode-width",
 ]
@@ -2637,6 +2640,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "socket2",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "ncurses"
+version = "5.101.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5e2c5d34d72657dc4b638a1c25d40aae81e4f1c699062f72f467237920752032"
+dependencies = [
+ "cc",
+ "libc",
+ "pkg-config",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ndk"
 version = "0.6.0"
@@ -4329,6 +4343,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "winapi",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "term_size"
+version = "0.3.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "1e4129646ca0ed8f45d09b929036bafad5377103edd06e50bf574b353d2b08d9"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+ "winapi",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "termcolor"
 version = "1.1.3"
diff --git a/veilid-cli/Cargo.toml b/veilid-cli/Cargo.toml
index 0e871df1..d3c76201 100644
--- a/veilid-cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/veilid-cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -10,11 +10,16 @@ license = "LGPL-2.0-or-later OR MPL-2.0 OR (MIT AND BSD-3-Clause)"
 name = "veilid-cli"
 path = "src/main.rs"
 
+[target.'cfg(unix)'.dependencies]
+cursive = { path = "../external/cursive/cursive", default-features = false, features = ["ncurses-backend", "toml"]}
+
+[target.'cfg(not(unix))'.dependencies]
+cursive = { path = "../external/cursive/cursive", default-features = false, features = ["crossterm-backend", "toml"]}
+
 [dependencies]
 async-std = { version = "^1.9", features = ["unstable", "attributes"] }
 async-tungstenite = { version = "^0.8", features = ["async-std-runtime"] }
 async_executors = { version = "^0", default-features = false, features = [ "async_std" ]}
-cursive = { path = "../external/cursive/cursive", default-features = false, features = ["crossterm-backend", "toml"]}
 cursive-flexi-logger-view = { path = "../external/cursive-flexi-logger-view" }
 cursive_buffered_backend = { path = "../external/cursive_buffered_backend" }
 # cursive-multiplex = "0.4.0"
diff --git a/veilid-cli/src/ui.rs b/veilid-cli/src/ui.rs
index 686f7d34..62365927 100644
--- a/veilid-cli/src/ui.rs
+++ b/veilid-cli/src/ui.rs
@@ -649,17 +649,30 @@ impl UI {
         cursive_flexi_logger_view::resize(node_log_scrollback);
 
         // Instantiate the cursive runnable
+        let runnable;
+        cfg_if::cfg_if! {
+            if #[cfg(unix)] {
+                runnable = CursiveRunnable::new(
+                    || -> Result<Box<dyn cursive_buffered_backend::Backend>, Box<DumbError>> {
+                        let ncurses_backend = cursive::backends::curses::n::Backend::init().unwrap();
+                        let buffered_backend =
+                            cursive_buffered_backend::BufferedBackend::new(ncurses_backend);
 
-        // reduces flicker, but it costs cpu
-        let runnable = CursiveRunnable::new(
-            || -> Result<Box<dyn cursive_buffered_backend::Backend>, Box<DumbError>> {
-                let crossterm_backend = cursive::backends::crossterm::Backend::init().unwrap();
-                let buffered_backend =
-                    cursive_buffered_backend::BufferedBackend::new(crossterm_backend);
+                        Ok(Box::new(buffered_backend))
+                    },
+                );
+            } else {
+                runnable = CursiveRunnable::new(
+                    || -> Result<Box<dyn cursive_buffered_backend::Backend>, Box<DumbError>> {
+                        let crossterm_backend = cursive::backends::crossterm::Backend::init().unwrap();
+                        let buffered_backend =
+                            cursive_buffered_backend::BufferedBackend::new(crossterm_backend);
 
-                Ok(Box::new(buffered_backend))
-            },
-        );
+                        Ok(Box::new(buffered_backend))
+                    },
+                );
+            }
+        }
         //let runnable = cursive::default();
 
         // Make the callback mechanism easily reachable