Ghostty
From Gentoo Wiki
Ghostty is a terminal emulator available for Linux and macOS that aims for high performance and a wide feature-set.
Ghostty was first publicly released in December 2024, as version 1.0.0.
Installation
USE flags
USE flags for x11-terms/ghostty Fast, feature-rich, and cross-platform terminal emulator
Emerge
Tip
To save time building Zig, there is a precompiled binary package available in the Gentoo ebuild repository (using this package may be superfluous for some systems that use binary package host packages by default).
To save time building Zig, there is a precompiled binary package available in the Gentoo ebuild repository (using this package may be superfluous for some systems that use binary package host packages by default).
To avoid x11-terms/ghostty pulling in dev-lang/zig as a dependency, emerge dev-lang/zig-bin with the --oneshot option:
root #emerge --ask --oneshot dev-lang/zig-binInstall x11-terms/ghostty:
root #emerge --ask x11-terms/ghosttyConfiguration
Files
- $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ghostty/config - main configuration file
- $HOME/.config/ghostty/config - main configuration file if the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable does not exist
Note
In this article, the Ghostty configuration directory will be listed as $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ghostty/. If the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable is not defined on a given system, replace this with $HOME/.config/ghostty/, as evidenced above. (In practice, both of these paths will often resolve to ~/.config/ghostty/.)
In this article, the Ghostty configuration directory will be listed as $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ghostty/. If the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable is not defined on a given system, replace this with $HOME/.config/ghostty/, as evidenced above. (In practice, both of these paths will often resolve to ~/.config/ghostty/.)
Choose themes
Ghostty has built-in themes that can be previewed using the +list-themes action:
user $ghostty +list-themes Tip
In the theme preview interface, press ? to list available keybindings. The c key may be useful to copy the selected theme name to the clipboard.
In the theme preview interface, press ? to list available keybindings. The c key may be useful to copy the selected theme name to the clipboard.
Set the chosen theme by editing the Ghostty config file:
FILE
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ghostty/configtheme = tokyonight
Custom themes
Ghostty also supports custom themes. Themes must adhere to Ghostty's format and be placed in the $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ghostty/themes/ directory.
Here is an example theme converted from Manjaro konsole Breath:
FILE
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ghostty/themes/Breathpalette = 0=#1e2229
palette = 1=#ed1515
palette = 2=#448539
palette = 3=#f67400
palette = 4=#1d99f3
palette = 5=#9b59b6
palette = 6=#1abc9c
palette = 7=#fcfcfc
palette = 8=#7f8c8d
palette = 9=#c0392b
palette = 10=#55a649
palette = 11=#fdbc4b
palette = 12=#3daee9
palette = 13=#8e44ad
palette = 14=#16a085
palette = 15=#ffffff
background = #1e2229
foreground = #17a88b
cursor-color = #17a88b
selection-background = #17a88b
selection-foreground = #1e2229
Once a custom theme file is added, edit the Ghostty config to use it:
FILE
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ghostty/configtheme = Breath
Tip
There is a tool to convert konsole themes to the Ghostty format: konsole2ghosttytheme.bash
There is a tool to convert konsole themes to the Ghostty format: konsole2ghosttytheme.bash
Usage
Invocation
For a listing of invocation options:
user $ghostty --helpUsage: ghostty [+action] [options] Run the Ghostty terminal emulator or a specific helper action. If no `+action` is specified, run the Ghostty terminal emulator. All configuration keys are available as command line options. To specify a configuration key, use the `--<key>=<value>` syntax where key and value are the same format you'd put into a configuration file. For example, `--font-size=12` or `--font-family="Fira Code"`. To see a list of all available configuration options, please see the `src/config/Config.zig` file. A future update will allow seeing the list of configuration options from the command line. A special command line argument `-e <command>` can be used to run the specific command inside the terminal emulator. For example, `ghostty -e top` will run the `top` command inside the terminal. On macOS, launching the terminal emulator from the CLI is not supported and only actions are supported. Available actions: +version +help +list-fonts +list-keybinds +list-themes +list-colors +list-actions +show-config +validate-config +crash-report +show-face Specify `+<action> --help` to see the help for a specific action, where `<action>` is one of actions listed below.)
Querying current setup
Show config
Pass +show-config to Ghostty to display the current configuration:
user $ghostty +show-configfont-family = Cascadia Code NF font-family-bold = Cascadia Code NF font-family-italic = Cascadia Code NF font-family-bold-italic = Cascadia Code NF font-size = 11 command = /bin/zsh click-repeat-interval = 500 auto-update-channel = stable
List keybinds
Pass +list-keybinds to Ghostty to display the current keybinds:
user $ghostty +list-keybindssuper + ctrl + shift + up resize_split:up,10 super + ctrl + shift + equal equalize_splits super + ctrl + shift + left resize_split:left,10 super + ctrl + shift + down resize_split:down,10 super + ctrl + shift + right resize_split:right,10 ctrl + alt + shift + j write_scrollback_file:open super + ctrl + right_bracket goto_split:next super + ctrl + left_bracket goto_split:previous ctrl + alt + up goto_split:top ctrl + alt + left goto_split:left ctrl + alt + down goto_split:bottom ctrl + alt + right goto_split:right ctrl + shift + v paste_from_clipboard ctrl + shift + a select_all ctrl + shift + o new_split:right ctrl + shift + c copy_to_clipboard ctrl + shift + q quit ctrl + shift + n new_window ctrl + shift + page_down jump_to_prompt:1 ctrl + shift + comma reload_config ctrl + shift + left previous_tab ctrl + shift + w close_surface ctrl + shift + j write_scrollback_file:paste ctrl + shift + right next_tab ctrl + shift + page_up jump_to_prompt:-1 ctrl + shift + t new_tab ctrl + shift + tab previous_tab ctrl + shift + e new_split:down ctrl + shift + enter toggle_split_zoom ctrl + shift + i inspector:toggle alt + five goto_tab:5 alt + eight goto_tab:8 alt + three goto_tab:3 alt + nine goto_tab:9 alt + two goto_tab:2 alt + four goto_tab:4 alt + f4 close_window alt + one goto_tab:1 alt + six goto_tab:6 alt + seven goto_tab:7 ctrl + comma open_config ctrl + page_down next_tab ctrl + equal increase_font_size:1 ctrl + minus decrease_font_size:1 ctrl + zero reset_font_size ctrl + enter toggle_fullscreen ctrl + page_up previous_tab ctrl + tab next_tab ctrl + plus increase_font_size:1 shift + insert paste_from_selection shift + up adjust_selection:up shift + left adjust_selection:left shift + page_up scroll_page_up shift + end scroll_to_bottom shift + right adjust_selection:right shift + page_down scroll_page_down shift + down adjust_selection:down shift + home scroll_to_top
Troubleshooting
Title appears abrupt in system's window manager
If GTK's title appears abrupt in system's window manager, turn off the adwaita USE flag firstly:
FILE
/etc/portage/package.usex11-terms/ghostty -adwaita
Then disable the GTK title:
FILE
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/ghostty/configgtk-titlebar = false
See also
- Terminal emulator — emulates a video terminal within another display architecture (e.g. in X).