par-term

A cross-platform, GPU-accelerated terminal emulator frontend built with Rust, powered by par-term-emu-core-rust. Designed for high performance, modern typography, and rich graphics support.

What's New in 0.16.0

🌐 SSH Host Management

Comprehensive SSH host profiles, quick connect, and auto-discovery.

SSH Quick Connect dialog (Cmd+Shift+S) with search, keyboard navigation, grouped by source
SSH config parser (~/.ssh/config), known hosts parser, shell history scanner
mDNS/Bonjour SSH host discovery via _ssh._tcp.local. (opt-in)
SSH-specific profile fields: host, user, port, identity file, extra args
Profiles with ssh_host set launch SSH connections instead of shells
Automatic profile switching on SSH connection with auto-revert on disconnect
SSH settings tab in Settings UI

📊 Status Bar

Configurable status bar with widget system and system monitoring.

10 built-in widgets: clock, username@hostname, current directory, git branch, CPU/memory usage, network status, bell indicator, current command, custom text
Three-section layout (left/center/right) with configurable separator
Widget configurator in Settings UI with drag-and-drop reordering
System monitoring via background thread (CPU, memory, network)
Git branch/ahead/behind/dirty status with configurable polling
Auto-hide on fullscreen and/or mouse inactivity
Top or bottom positioning (stacks with tab bar)

➕ Profile Selection on New Tab

Split button on the tab bar for quick profile-based tab creation.

+ button creates a default tab, ▾ chevron opens a profile dropdown
Chevron shows all profiles with icons; works in horizontal and vertical layouts
Config: new_tab_shortcut_shows_profiles: true makes Cmd+T show the profile picker

🐚 Shell Selection Per Profile

Configure a specific shell for each profile with platform-aware detection.

New shell and login_shell fields per profile
Shell dropdown in profile editor with all detected shells
Priority: profile command > profile shell > global custom_shell / $SHELL

🔧 Other Changes

Navigate to Settings from Application Menu: macOS app menu with Settings... (Cmd+,), About, and standard items; Windows/Linux Edit > Preferences... (Ctrl+Shift+,)
Install Shell Integration on Remote Host: Shell menu option to install shell integration on remote hosts via SSH with confirmation dialog
Core Library Update: Updated par-term-emu-core-rust to latest version

What's New in 0.15.0

📂 Directory-Based Profile Switching

Automatically switch profiles based on current working directory.

New directory_patterns field on profiles (glob patterns like /Users/*/projects/work-*)
CWD changes detected via OSC 7 trigger profile matching
Priority: explicit user selection > hostname match > directory match > default
Settings UI for editing directory patterns per profile

🎨 Tab Style Variants

Cosmetic tab bar presets with 5 built-in styles.

Dark (default), Light, Compact, Minimal, and High Contrast presets
Each preset applies coordinated color/size/spacing adjustments
Config: tab_style: dark|light|compact|minimal|high_contrast

🔊 Alert Sounds

Configurable sound effects for terminal events.

Per-event sound configuration: Bell, Command Complete, New Tab, Tab Close
Each event supports: enable/disable, volume, frequency, duration, custom sound file
Custom sound files: WAV/OGG/FLAC format with ~ home directory expansion
UI in Settings > Notifications > Alert Sounds

🔍 Fuzzy Command History Search

Searchable overlay for browsing and selecting from command history.

Fuzzy matching with ranked results via Skim algorithm
Match highlighting, exit code indicators, and relative timestamps
Keyboard navigation: Arrow Up/Down, Enter to insert, Esc to close
History persisted across sessions; keybinding: Cmd+R (macOS), Ctrl+Alt+R (Linux/Windows)

↩️ Session Undo — Reopen Closed Tabs

Recover accidentally closed tabs.

Reopen with Cmd+Z (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift+Z (Linux/Windows)
Toast notification shows undo keybinding hint and countdown
Optional shell session preservation for full session restore with scrollback intact
Configurable timeout and queue depth

💾 Session Restore on Startup

Automatically save and restore session state.

Saves open windows, tabs, pane layouts, and working directories on clean exit
Restores full session on next launch including split pane trees with ratios
Config: restore_session: true (default: false)

📍 Tab Bar Position

Configurable tab bar placement with three positions.

Top (default), Bottom, or Left (vertical sidebar)
Configurable sidebar width for Left position (default 160px, range 100–300)
All positions support tab bar visibility modes and live switching via Settings UI

📥 Import/Export Preferences

Import and export terminal configuration.

Export current config to a YAML file via native file dialog
Import from local file or URL with replace or merge modes
Merge mode only overrides values that differ from defaults

🔧 Other Changes

Profile Emoji Picker: Curated grid of ~70 terminal-relevant emojis in 9 categories for profile icons
Full Profile Auto-Switch Application: Directory, hostname, and tmux session switching now apply all visual settings (icon, title, badge, command)
Profile Management in Settings: Profile create/edit/delete/reorder UI moved inline to Settings > Profiles tab
Settings Quick Search: Added missing search keywords across all settings tabs
HiDPI/DPI Scaling Fix: All pixel-dimension config values now correctly scale on HiDPI displays
Text Shaper LRU Cache: Upgraded from FIFO to proper LRU eviction for better cache hit rates
Default Update Check: Changed from weekly to daily for faster update discovery

What's New in 0.14.0

🔄 Self-Update

par-term can now update itself in-place — no package manager needed.

CLI: par-term self-update with --yes flag for non-interactive use
Settings UI: "Check Now" and "Install Update" buttons in Advanced > Updates
Detects installation method (Homebrew, cargo, .app bundle, standalone binary) and shows appropriate instructions

─── Command Separator Lines

Horizontal separator lines between shell commands in the terminal grid.

Renders thin lines at prompt boundaries using shell integration (OSC 133) marks
Exit-code coloring: green for success, red for failure, gray for unknown
Configurable thickness, opacity, and custom fixed color

🔀 Drag-and-Drop Tab Reordering

Reorder tabs by dragging them in the tab bar with ghost tab preview and insertion indicators.

📐 Window Arrangements

Save and restore window layouts (iTerm2 parity) with monitor-aware positioning and auto-restore on startup.

🔧 Other Changes

Variable Substitution in Config (#102): Use ${VAR} and ${VAR:-default} in config.yaml values
Shell Integration Event Queuing: OSC 133 markers now queue with cursor positions
Remember Settings Section States (#105): Collapsible section states persist across sessions

What's New in 0.13.0

📋 Vi-Style Copy Mode

Keyboard-driven text selection and navigation (iTerm2 parity).

Full vi motions: h/j/k/l, w/b/e, 0/$, gg/G, count prefixes, half/full page scrolling
Visual selection: Character (v), Line (V), and Block (Ctrl+V) modes with yank to clipboard
Search: /pattern forward, ?pattern backward, n/N repeat (case-insensitive, wrapping)
Marks: m{a-z} set, '{a-z} jump — persistent per-tab bookmarks through scrollback
Status bar: Mode indicator (COPY/VISUAL/V-LINE/V-BLOCK/SEARCH) and cursor position
Settings: Enable/disable, auto-exit on yank, status bar visibility (Settings > Input > Copy Mode)

📝 Snippets & Actions Completion

Custom Variables UI: Collapsible per-snippet variable editor (name/value grid)
Key Sequence Simulation: KeySequence actions send terminal byte sequences (Ctrl combos, arrow keys, F-keys)
Import/Export: Export/import snippets as YAML with duplicate detection and keybinding conflict resolution

🔤 Unicode Normalization

Configurable normalization form (NFC/NFD/NFKC/NFKD/None) in Settings > Terminal > Unicode. Live-updates across all tabs.

🔧 Fixed

Color emoji rendering (Apple Color Emoji now renders as colored bitmaps instead of monochrome outlines)
Tmux pane resize via mouse drag (drag events now forwarded when mouse tracking enabled)
Text baseline alignment (eliminated per-glyph rounding artifacts)
File/URL link highlighting offset with multi-byte UTF-8 characters
Absolute file path detection in link highlighting regex

What's New in 0.12.0

📝 Snippets & Actions System

Text automation and custom actions (iTerm2 parity).

Text Snippets: Save text blocks with variable substitution (\(variable) syntax), 10 built-in + 12 session variables
Custom Actions: Shell commands, text insertion, and keyboard shortcuts triggered via keybindings
Settings UI: Two new tabs — Snippets (📝) and Actions (🚀) — with keybinding recording and conflict detection
Auto-Execute: Optional checkbox to run commands immediately when keybinding is pressed

📊 Progress Bar Rendering

Overlay progress bars via OSC 9;4 and OSC 934 protocols.

Configurable style (bar or bar-with-text), position, height, opacity, and per-state colors
Named concurrent progress bars stack vertically
New iProgress shader uniform for progress-reactive shader effects

📋 Paste Enhancements

Paste Delay: Configurable delay between pasted lines (paste_delay_ms, 0-500ms)
Newline Control: Three new Paste Special transforms — Single Line, Add Newlines, Remove Newlines

🖥️ Shell Integration Enhancements

Command in Title: Window title shows [command_name] during execution
Badge Variables: \(session.exit_code) and \(session.current_command)
Remote Host: OSC 1337 RemoteHost syncs hostname and username to badge variables

🖼️ Image & Pane Improvements

Image Scaling: Choose nearest or linear filtering for inline images
Aspect Ratio Control: Toggle aspect ratio preservation for inline images
Pane Titles: GPU-rendered title bars for split panes
Divider Styles: Four visual styles — Solid, Double, Dashed, Shadow

⌨️ Cross-Platform Keybindings

Redesigned Linux/Windows defaults to avoid conflicts with terminal control codes (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, etc.). macOS unchanged.

🔧 Fixed

Dingbat/symbol rendering as colored emoji instead of monochrome glyphs
Pane focus indicator, background opacity, divider hover, and divider width settings (#88)
Platform-specific keybinding labels in snippet rows

What's New in 0.11.0

⚡ Triggers, Trigger Actions & Coprocesses

Full automation system for terminal output processing with regex triggers, 7 action types, coprocesses, and scrollbar marks.

♿ Minimum Contrast Enforcement

WCAG-based accessibility — auto-adjusts text color when contrast ratio is too low.

📂 Semantic History

Ctrl+click file paths in terminal output to open them in your editor.

🔧 Configurable Log Level

Runtime log level control via log_level config or --log-level CLI flag.

What's New in 0.10.0

🏷️ Per-Profile Badge Configuration

Full badge customization per profile (iTerm2 parity). Profiles can now override badge color, opacity, font, position, and size constraints individually.

⚡ Performance: Maximize Throughput Mode

Manual toggle for prioritizing bulk output processing over immediate responsiveness. Toggle with Cmd+Shift+T (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift+T (other platforms).

🖥️ Reduce Flicker

iTerm2-style flicker reduction for smoother terminal updates. Delays redraws while cursor is hidden (DECTCEM off).

🎮 GPU Power Preference

Control which GPU is used for rendering on multi-GPU systems: none, low_power, or high_performance.

🔄 Tmux Profile Auto-Switching

Automatically apply profiles when connecting to tmux sessions via tmux_session_patterns glob patterns.

⌨️ Enhanced Keyboard Input

Modifier key remapping, physical key bindings, and modifyOtherKeys protocol support.

🛡️ Close Confirmation for Running Jobs

Confirmation dialog when closing tabs/panes with active processes.

🔧 Shell Exit Action

Configurable behavior when shell exits: close, keep, restart_immediately, restart_with_prompt, or restart_after_delay.

What's New in 0.9.0

📋 Welcome Dialog Changelog Link

The welcome/onboarding popup now includes a "View Changelog" link for easy access to release notes.

📁 Configurable Startup Directory

Control where new terminal sessions start with three modes: home, previous, or custom.

🏷️ Badge System

iTerm2-style semi-transparent text overlays with 12 dynamic variables and full appearance customization.

📊 Scrollbar Mark Tooltips

Hover over scrollbar command markers to see command text, execution time, duration, and exit code.

🎨 Tab Bar Enhancements

Tab stretch to fill bar width (tab_stretch_to_fill)
HTML markup support in tab titles

What's New in 0.7.0

🔌 Integrations Install System

Unified installation for optional par-term enhancements.

Shell Integration: Scripts for bash/zsh/fish enabling prompt navigation, CWD tracking, and command status
- Install via CLI: par-term install-shell-integration
- Install via curl: curl -fsSL https://paulrobello.github.io/par-term/install-shell-integration.sh | bash
Shader Bundle with Manifest: Tracks bundled vs user-created files using SHA256 hashes
Welcome Dialog: First-run prompt offering to install both integrations
Settings UI Tab: New "Integrations" tab (🔌) for managing installations

👤 Profile System

iTerm2-style profiles for saved terminal configurations.

Profile Manager: Create, edit, delete, and reorder named profiles
Profile Drawer: Collapsible right-side panel for quick profile access
Profile Settings: Name, emoji icon, working directory, custom command, tab name override
Persistence: Profiles saved to ~/.config/par-term/profiles.yaml

📹 Session Logging & Recording

Automatic session logging to record terminal output.

Multiple Formats: Plain text, HTML (with colors), Asciicast (asciinema-compatible)
Hotkey Toggle: Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R to start/stop session recording on demand
CLI Option: --log-session flag to enable logging at startup

🔳 tmux Integration Enhancements

Native Status Bar: Session name, window list, and time display at terminal bottom
Bidirectional Pane Resize: Resizing in par-term updates external tmux clients
Auto-Close Exited Panes: Panes close when their shell process exits

🔍 Terminal Search

Search through scrollback buffer with Cmd/Ctrl+F.

Match highlighting with navigation (Enter/Shift+Enter)
Search options: case sensitive, regex mode, whole word
Proper Unicode support for multi-byte characters

📋 Paste Special

Transform clipboard content before pasting with Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+V.

28 text transformations across shell escaping, case conversion, whitespace, and encoding
Live preview with keyboard navigation
Integration with clipboard history via Shift+Enter

⌨️ Option Key as Meta/Esc

Essential feature for emacs/vim users.

Configure left and right Option/Alt key behavior independently
Three modes: Normal (special characters), Meta (high bit), Esc (ESC prefix)

What's New in 0.6.0

🖼️ Shader Gallery

Browse the Gallery: See all shaders before installing
Auto-Updated: Gallery automatically deploys when shaders are added or modified

⌨️ Configurable Keybindings

Custom Bindings: Edit ~/.config/par-term/keybindings.yaml
Modifier Support: Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Super in any combination

🖥️ CLI Enhancements

--screenshot <path>: Capture terminal to image file
--shader <name>: Override background shader on launch
--exit-after <seconds>: Auto-exit after duration
--command <cmd>: Run specific command instead of default shell

What's New in 0.5.0

🪟 Standalone Settings Window

F12 or Cmd+, (macOS) / Ctrl+, (Linux/Windows) to open
Settings window stays visible when terminal gains focus

🎨 Per-Shader Configuration System

Shader metadata in GLSL files, per-shader overrides, global fallback
Shader hot reload with desktop notifications

🔤 Enhanced Unicode Rendering

Grapheme clusters (flag emoji, ZWJ sequences, skin tones)
Geometric box drawing and block elements

🗂️ Tab Bar Enhancements

11 color options, per-tab colors, equal-width layout

🔒 Window Transparency

macOS blur, proper alpha handling, keep_text_opaque option

🎮 Shader System

Cubemap support, iTimeKeyPress, 9 new shaders

🔋 Power Saving

pause_shaders_on_blur, pause_refresh_on_blur, unfocused_fps

What's New in 0.4.0

Multi-Tab Support

Cmd/Ctrl+T new tab, Cmd/Ctrl+W close tab
Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+[/] or Ctrl+Tab to switch tabs
Cmd/Ctrl+1-9 direct tab access
Tab bar with close buttons, activity indicators, bell icons

Multi-Window Support

Cmd/Ctrl+N new window with independent PTY session
Each window has its own tabs, scrollback, and state

Native Menu Bar

Cross-platform menus via muda
Full keyboard accelerators for all menu items

Custom Shader Enhancements

Shadertoy-compatible iChannel1-4 texture support
custom_shader_brightness for better text readability
cursor_shader_hides_cursor for shader-controlled cursors

What's New in 0.3.0

Ghostty-Compatible Cursor Shaders

iCurrentCursor, iPreviousCursor, iCurrentCursorColor, iTimeCursorChange uniforms
Built-in cursor shaders: sweep, warp, glow, blaze, trail, ripple, boom
Geometric cursor rendering for all styles

Fixes

Login shell initialization and environment loading

What's New in 0.2.0

Power Efficiency

Event-driven rendering with ControlFlow::Wait
Smart redraws only when content changes

Stability

Fixed dropped input during heavy rendering
parking_lot mutex migration
Graceful audio fallback

Features

Core Terminal Frontend

Cross-platform Support: Native performance on macOS (Metal), Linux (Vulkan/X11/Wayland), and Windows (DirectX 12).
Multi-Window & Multi-Tab: Multiple windows with independent tab sessions per window.
GPU-Accelerated Rendering: Powered by wgpu with custom glyph atlas for blazing-fast text rasterization.
Inline Graphics: Full support for Sixel, iTerm2, and Kitty graphics protocols.
Real PTY Integration: Full pseudo-terminal support for interactive shell sessions.
Advanced Sequence Support: VT100/VT220/VT320/VT420/VT520 compatibility via par-term-emu-core-rust.
Intelligent Reflow: Full content reflow on window resize, preserving scrollback and visible state.

Modern UI & Visuals

Custom GLSL Shaders: 49+ included shaders with hot reload, per-shader config, and cubemap support.
Background Images: Support for PNG/JPEG backgrounds with configurable opacity and scaling modes.
Window Transparency: True per-pixel alpha with macOS blur support and text clarity options.
Visual Bell: Flash-based alerts for terminal bell events.
Dynamic Themes: Support for iTerm2-style color schemes (Dracula, Monokai, Solarized, etc.).
Standalone Settings: Dedicated settings window (F12) for live configuration editing.

Typography & Fonts

Styled Font Variants: Explicit support for separate Bold, Italic, and Bold-Italic font families.
Unicode Range Mapping: Assign specific fonts to Unicode ranges (perfect for CJK, Emoji, or Symbols).
Text Shaping: HarfBuzz-powered shaping for ligatures, complex scripts, and emoji sequences.
Grapheme Clusters: Proper rendering of flag emoji, ZWJ sequences, skin tone modifiers.
Box Drawing: Geometric rendering for pixel-perfect TUI borders and block characters.
Smart Fallback: Automatic system font discovery and fallback chain.

Selection & Clipboard

Advanced Selection: Block/Rectangular, Line-based, and Word-based selection modes.
Multi-platform Clipboard: Seamless integration with system clipboards via arboard.
Middle-click Paste: Standard Unix-style middle-click paste support.
Automatic Copy: Optional "copy on select" behavior.

Hyperlinks & URL Detection

OSC 8 Support: Native support for application-provided hyperlinks.
Regex Detection: Automatic detection of URLs in terminal output.
Interactive Links: Ctrl+Click to open links in your default browser, with hover highlighting and tooltips.

Documentation

Getting Started

Quick Start Guide - Get up and running with custom fonts.
Examples - Comprehensive configuration examples.

Features

Keyboard Shortcuts - Complete keyboard shortcut reference.
Mouse Features - Text selection, URL handling, and pane interaction.
Semantic History - Click file paths to open in your editor.
Automation - Regex triggers, actions, and coprocesses.
Profiles - Profile system for saving terminal configurations.
Session Logging - Recording sessions in Plain/HTML/Asciicast formats.
Search - Terminal search with regex, case-sensitive, and whole-word modes.
Paste Special - 28 clipboard transformations for pasting.
Copy Mode - Vi-style keyboard-driven text selection and navigation.
Snippets & Actions - Text snippets with variables, custom actions, and keybinding management.
Progress Bars - OSC 9;4 and OSC 934 progress bar rendering and shader integration.
Accessibility - Minimum contrast enforcement and display options.
Integrations - Shell integration and shader installation system.
Window Management - Window types, multi-monitor, and transparency.
Window Arrangements - Save and restore window layouts with auto-restore.
Command Separators - Horizontal lines between shell commands with exit-code coloring.
SSH Host Management - SSH quick connect, host discovery, and SSH profiles.
Status Bar - Configurable status bar with widgets and system monitoring.
Self-Update - In-place update capability via CLI and Settings UI.
Debug Logging - Configurable log levels and troubleshooting.

Shaders

Shader Gallery - Visual gallery of 49+ included shaders with screenshots.
Shader Reference - Complete list of bundled shaders.
Custom Shaders Guide - Create custom GLSL shaders with hot reload and per-shader config.
Compositor Details - Deep dive into the rendering architecture.

Technical

Architecture Overview - High-level system architecture and components.
Core Library - Documentation for the underlying terminal engine.

Installation

Homebrew (macOS)

brew install --cask paulrobello/tap/par-term

From Source

Requires Rust 1.85+ (2024 edition) and modern graphics drivers:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/paulrobello/par-term
cd par-term

# Build and run (debug)
cargo run

# Build optimized release version
cargo build --release
./target/release/par-term

macOS Bundle

To create a native macOS .app bundle with a dock icon:

make bundle
make run-bundle

Linux Dependencies

On Linux (Ubuntu/Debian), you need GTK3 and X11/Wayland libraries:

sudo apt install libgtk-3-dev libxkbcommon-dev libwayland-dev libxcb-render0-dev libxcb-shape0-dev libxcb-xfixes0-dev libasound2-dev

macOS Gatekeeper Notice

If macOS reports that par-term "is damaged and can't be opened", this is caused by the Gatekeeper quarantine attribute applied to unsigned binaries. Remove it with:

# For the release binary
xattr -cr target/release/par-term

# For the .app bundle
xattr -cr /Applications/par-term.app

Note: The Homebrew cask install (brew install --cask paulrobello/tap/par-term) handles this automatically.

Installing Shaders

par-term includes 49+ custom GLSL shaders for background effects and cursor animations. These need to be installed to your config directory.

Built-in Installer (Recommended)

Use the built-in CLI command to download and install all shaders from the latest release:

# Install shaders (with confirmation prompt)
par-term install-shaders

# Install without prompts
par-term install-shaders -y

# Force overwrite existing shaders
par-term install-shaders --force

Shell Script

Alternatively, use the shell script installer:

# Download and run the installer
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paulrobello/par-term/main/install_shaders.sh | sh

Or download and run manually:

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paulrobello/par-term/main/install_shaders.sh
chmod +x install_shaders.sh
./install_shaders.sh

Manual Install

Download shaders.zip from the latest release
Extract to your config directory:
- macOS/Linux: ~/.config/par-term/shaders/
- Windows: %APPDATA%\par-term\shaders\

From Source

If building from source, copy the shaders folder manually:

# macOS/Linux
cp -r shaders ~/.config/par-term/

# Windows (PowerShell)
Copy-Item -Recurse shaders $env:APPDATA\par-term\

Using Shaders

Once installed, enable shaders in your config.yaml:

# Background shader
custom_shader: "starfield.glsl"
custom_shader_enabled: true

# Cursor shader
cursor_shader: "cursor_glow.glsl"
cursor_shader_enabled: true

See the Shader Gallery for previews of all included shaders.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Window & Tab Management

Shortcut	Action
`Cmd/Ctrl + N`	New window
`Cmd/Ctrl + T`	New tab
`Cmd/Ctrl + W`	Close tab (or window if single tab)
`Cmd/Ctrl + Q`	Quit (Windows/Linux)
`Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + ]`	Next tab
`Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + [`	Previous tab
`Ctrl + Tab`	Next tab (alternative)
`Ctrl + Shift + Tab`	Previous tab (alternative)
`Cmd/Ctrl + 1-9`	Switch to tab 1-9
`Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + Left`	Move tab left
`Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + Right`	Move tab right

Navigation & Editing

Shortcut	Action
`PageUp` / `PageDown`	Scroll up/down one page
`Shift + Home`	Jump to top of scrollback
`Shift + End`	Jump to bottom (current)
`Cmd/Ctrl + C`	Copy selection
`Cmd/Ctrl + V`	Paste from clipboard
`Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + K`	Clear scrollback buffer
`Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + H`	Clipboard history
`Ctrl + L`	Clear visible screen
`Cmd/Ctrl + +/-/0`	Adjust font size / Reset
`Ctrl + Shift + S`	Take screenshot

UI Toggles

Shortcut	Action
`F1`	Toggle Help panel
`F3`	Toggle FPS overlay
`F5`	Reload configuration
`F11`	Toggle fullscreen
`F12`	Open Settings window
`Cmd + ,` / `Ctrl + ,`	Open Settings window (alternative)

Configuration

Configuration is stored in YAML format:

Unix: ~/.config/par-term/config.yaml
Windows: %APPDATA%\par-term\config.yaml

cols: 80
rows: 24
font_size: 13.0
font_family: "JetBrains Mono"
theme: "dark-background"
window_opacity: 0.95
scrollbar_position: "right"

# Tab bar settings
tab_bar_mode: "when_multiple"  # always, when_multiple, never
tab_bar_height: 28.0
tab_show_close_button: true
tab_inherit_cwd: true
dim_inactive_tabs: true
inactive_tab_opacity: 0.6

# Transparency settings
keep_text_opaque: true
transparency_affects_only_default_background: true
blur_radius: 8  # macOS only

# Power saving
pause_shaders_on_blur: true
unfocused_fps: 30

# Cursor lock options (prevent apps from overriding)
lock_cursor_visibility: false
lock_cursor_style: false
lock_cursor_blink: false

# Custom shader settings
custom_shader: "starfield.glsl"
custom_shader_enabled: true
shader_hot_reload: true  # Auto-reload on file changes

# Per-shader overrides (optional)
shader_configs:
  starfield.glsl:
    animation_speed: 0.8
    brightness: 0.3

See examples/config-complete.yaml for a full list of options.

Technology

Terminal Engine: par-term-emu-core-rust
Graphics: wgpu (WebGPU for Rust)
Text: swash + rustybuzz (custom glyph atlas)
UI: egui for settings and overlays
Windowing: winit
Async: tokio

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please ensure you run make checkall before submitting any pull requests.

make fmt       # Format code
make lint      # Run clippy
make test      # Run test suite
make checkall  # Run all of the above

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Author

Paul Robello - probello@gmail.com

Links

GitHub: https://github.com/paulrobello/par-term
Core Library: https://github.com/paulrobello/par-term-emu-core-rust

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 552 Commits
.cargo		.cargo
.claude		.claude
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
assets		assets
docs		docs
examples		examples
fonts		fonts
gh-pages		gh-pages
homebrew/Casks		homebrew/Casks
images		images
scripts		scripts
shaders		shaders
shell_integration		shell_integration
src		src
tests		tests
.gitignore		.gitignore
AGENTS.md		AGENTS.md
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
Cargo.lock		Cargo.lock
Cargo.toml		Cargo.toml
Cross.toml		Cross.toml
GEMINI.md		GEMINI.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
MATRIX.md		MATRIX.md
Makefile		Makefile
PANES.md		PANES.md
QUICK_START_FONTS.md		QUICK_START_FONTS.md
README.md		README.md
build.rs		build.rs
ideas.md		ideas.md
install_shaders.sh		install_shaders.sh
par-term.terminfo		par-term.terminfo
rust-toolchain.toml		rust-toolchain.toml
screenshot.png		screenshot.png
shader_debug.md		shader_debug.md
test_cr.rs		test_cr.rs
test_grid.rs		test_grid.rs

License

paulrobello/par-term

Folders and files

Latest commit

History

Repository files navigation

par-term

What's New in 0.16.0

🌐 SSH Host Management

📊 Status Bar

➕ Profile Selection on New Tab

🐚 Shell Selection Per Profile

🔧 Other Changes

📂 Directory-Based Profile Switching

🎨 Tab Style Variants

🔊 Alert Sounds

🔍 Fuzzy Command History Search

↩️ Session Undo — Reopen Closed Tabs

💾 Session Restore on Startup

📍 Tab Bar Position

📥 Import/Export Preferences

🔧 Other Changes

🔄 Self-Update

─── Command Separator Lines

🔀 Drag-and-Drop Tab Reordering

📐 Window Arrangements

🔧 Other Changes

📋 Vi-Style Copy Mode

📝 Snippets & Actions Completion

🔤 Unicode Normalization

🔧 Fixed

📝 Snippets & Actions System

📊 Progress Bar Rendering

📋 Paste Enhancements

🖥️ Shell Integration Enhancements

🖼️ Image & Pane Improvements

⌨️ Cross-Platform Keybindings

🔧 Fixed

⚡ Triggers, Trigger Actions & Coprocesses

♿ Minimum Contrast Enforcement

📂 Semantic History

🔧 Configurable Log Level

🏷️ Per-Profile Badge Configuration

⚡ Performance: Maximize Throughput Mode

🖥️ Reduce Flicker

🎮 GPU Power Preference

🔄 Tmux Profile Auto-Switching

⌨️ Enhanced Keyboard Input

🛡️ Close Confirmation for Running Jobs

🔧 Shell Exit Action

📋 Welcome Dialog Changelog Link

📁 Configurable Startup Directory

🏷️ Badge System

📊 Scrollbar Mark Tooltips

🎨 Tab Bar Enhancements

🔌 Integrations Install System

👤 Profile System

📹 Session Logging & Recording

🔳 tmux Integration Enhancements

🔍 Terminal Search

📋 Paste Special

⌨️ Option Key as Meta/Esc

🖼️ Shader Gallery

⌨️ Configurable Keybindings

🖥️ CLI Enhancements

🪟 Standalone Settings Window

🎨 Per-Shader Configuration System

🔤 Enhanced Unicode Rendering

🗂️ Tab Bar Enhancements

🔒 Window Transparency

🎮 Shader System

🔋 Power Saving

Multi-Tab Support

Multi-Window Support

Native Menu Bar

Custom Shader Enhancements

Ghostty-Compatible Cursor Shaders

Fixes

Power Efficiency

Stability

Packages