Compare Terminals

GPU Acceleration

Uses the GPU for rendering terminal output instead of the CPU. This enables smoother scrolling, faster text rendering, and support for visual effects like transparency and animations without lag.

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The ability to display images directly within the terminal window. Terminals may support this via Sixel, Kitty Graphics Protocol, iTerm2 inline images, or other proprietary protocols.

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Sixel

A legacy graphics protocol originally developed by DEC that allows terminals to display raster images inline. Supported by many terminal emulators and command-line tools like img2sixel.

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printf '\033Pq#0;2;0;0;0#1;2;100;100;0#1!6~-#0!6~\033\\'

Kitty Graphics

A modern graphics protocol created by the Kitty terminal that supports PNG, animated GIFs, and GPU-accelerated rendering. Offers better performance and features than Sixel.

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iTerm2 Images

A proprietary inline image protocol developed by iTerm2. While originally macOS-only, several cross-platform terminals now support it. Works with tools like imgcat.

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A rendering mode that draws the terminal grid in a 3D scene rather than a flat 2D plane, letting cells, text, and objects occupy depth. Pioneered by Ratty, which toggles between traditional 2D and 3D with Ctrl+Alt+Enter.

Ratty

Inline 3D

The ability to embed interactive 3D objects directly inline within terminal output, alongside text, in the spirit of TempleOS. Ratty exposes this through its Ratty Graphics Protocol.

Ratty

Ratty Graphics Protocol

The Ratty Graphics Protocol (RGP) is Ratty's escape-sequence protocol for transmitting and rendering inline 3D objects in the terminal. It is the mechanism behind Ratty's inline 3D support.

Ratty

Glyph Protocol

A protocol by Raphael Amorim that lets applications register custom vector glyphs with the terminal at runtime (restricted to Unicode Private Use Areas) and query whether specific codepoints can be rendered. Apps ship the glyph instead of requiring patched fonts.

Rio Terminal

Support for 24-bit RGB color, allowing 16.7 million distinct colors. Essential for modern CLI tools, syntax highlighting themes, and accurate color reproduction in terminal-based editors.

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printf '\033[38;2;255;100;0mTrueColor\033[0m\n'

Renders programming ligatures where multi-character sequences like ->, =>, and != are displayed as single combined glyphs. Requires a ligature-capable font like Fira Code or JetBrains Mono.

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Unicode

Correctly renders the full Unicode character set including emoji, CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) characters, mathematical symbols, and combining characters with proper width handling.

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Extends basic underline support with curly, dashed, dotted, and double underline styles, plus custom underline colors. Used by editors like Neovim for diagnostic markers and spell checking.

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printf '\033[4:3m\033[58:2::255:0:0mCurly underline\033[0m\n'

Allows terminal applications to trigger native desktop notifications using escape sequences. Useful for long-running commands, build completion alerts, and background task monitoring.

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OSC 52 Clipboard

An escape sequence protocol that lets terminal applications directly access the system clipboard. Essential for copying text in remote SSH sessions where the local clipboard is otherwise inaccessible.

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printf '\033]52;c;SGVsbG8=\033\\'

OSC 8 Hyperlinks

Supports clickable hyperlinks in terminal output, similar to HTML anchor tags. CLI tools can emit links that open in the default browser on click. Used by ls --hyperlink, grep, and other modern tools.

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printf '\033]8;;https://terminaltrove.com\033\\Click here\033]8;;\033\\\n'

Kitty Keyboard

An extended keyboard protocol that reports key press, repeat, and release events with modifier disambiguation. Enables terminal applications to handle complex key combinations that traditional terminals cannot distinguish.

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A protocol (DCS sequence) that batches terminal output to prevent partial/torn renders. The application signals 'begin update' and 'end update' so the terminal only repaints once per frame. Critical for smooth TUI applications.

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printf '\033[?2026h' && echo "Sync on" && printf '\033[?2026l'

The terminal has built-in awareness of shell state: current working directory, command boundaries, and exit codes. Enables click-to-rerun commands, smart scrollback, and breadcrumb navigation without configuring shell hooks manually.

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Native tab support within the terminal window, allowing multiple shell sessions in a single window with a tab bar. An alternative to using terminal multiplexers like tmux for basic session management.

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Split the terminal window horizontally or vertically to view multiple sessions side-by-side. Similar to tmux panes but managed by the terminal itself with native keybindings.

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A system-wide hotkey summons the terminal as a drop-down overlay from the top of the screen (like the Quake game console). The terminal slides away when dismissed, staying ready in the background.

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Includes a built-in terminal multiplexer with session persistence, detach/reattach capability, and pane/tab management. Reduces or eliminates the need for external tools like tmux or GNU Screen.

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