An AI tool is set to start advising air traffic controllers on managing air traffic in the congested airspace above the Washington, DC, area. The expected launch would be the first step toward a planned nationwide rollout covering the 29 million square miles of US national airspace overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA describes the SMART system as using AI models to predict air traffic flows and identify potential conflicts based on operational factors like airline schedules, weather, airport capacity, and airspace conditions. US government and industry officials told The Wall Street Journal that SMART could debut for the three major airports in the Washington, DC, area as soon as Monday, September 21.
The decision to launch SMART in a limited scope before going nationwide is the βright call,β said Philip Mann, principal consultant at Vector Strategic Consulting LLC, where he advises on aviation safety and AI governance. Mann previously worked at the FAA in multiple roles for 17 years.
Β© Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Edit, Microsoftβs open-source command-line text editor, added syntax highlighting, improved regex handling in Find & Replace and new editing shortcuts in its v2.0.0 update. Microsoft open-sourced Edit last year. Itβs a small, cross-platform text editor with VS Code-style keybindings, mouse support, handles LF and CRLF line endings and lets you open multiple file. The clean terminal user interface (TUI) is super easy to use. The Edit v2.0.0 release came out earlier this year, but the unofficial Linux snap package (msedit, maintained by Canonicalβs Aaron Prisk) only updated on 14 September β that update is how I heard a new version [β¦]
You're reading Microsoftβs open-source CLI text editor adds syntax highlighting, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.
Edit, Microsoftβs open-source command-line text editor, added syntax highlighting, improved regex handling in Find & Replace and new editing shortcuts in its v2.0.0 update. Microsoft open-sourced Edit last year. Itβs a small, cross-platform text editor with VS Code-style keybindings, mouse support, handles LF and CRLF line endings and lets you open multiple file. The clean terminal user interface (TUI) is super easy to use. The Edit v2.0.0 release came out earlier this year, but the unofficial Linux snap package (msedit, maintained by Canonicalβs Aaron Prisk) only updated on 14 September β that update is how I heard a new version [β¦]
You're reading Microsoftβs open-source CLI text editor adds syntax highlighting, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.
A new version of BleachBit, an open-source system cleaning tool, is out. BleachBit 6.0.4 brings everything I mentioned in my spot on the BleachBit 6.0.4 beta release, including macOS support for the first time β albeit in an early state, and including a Cleaner for Safari and a choice of the (neat) BleachBit CLI or an early GUI. Windows and Linux users all benefit from faster startup times and scanning speeds, and gain new cleaners for Android Studio, Gradleβs cache, fish and Zsh shells and Python CLI. Top-level log files are cleared by the Claude cleaner, and browser βsuper cookiesβ [β¦]
You're reading BleachBit 6.0.4 brings faster scanning, better browser cleaning, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.
A new version of BleachBit, an open-source system cleaning tool, is out. BleachBit 6.0.4 brings everything I mentioned in my spot on the BleachBit 6.0.4 beta release, including macOS support for the first time β albeit in an early state, and including a Cleaner for Safari and a choice of the (neat) BleachBit CLI or an early GUI. Windows and Linux users all benefit from faster startup times and scanning speeds, and gain new cleaners for Android Studio, Gradleβs cache, fish and Zsh shells and Python CLI. Top-level log files are cleared by the Claude cleaner, and browser βsuper cookiesβ [β¦]
You're reading BleachBit 6.0.4 brings faster scanning, better browser cleaning, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.
Most Linux users benefit from GNU Readline without realizing it. It is the library responsible for Bash's interactive command-line editing, providing familiar features like cursor movement, command history, and basic tab completion.
While Readline is highly configurable, Readline's completion remains relatively simple out of the box.
I came across a new tool called Flyline that takes Bash command completion to an entirely different level. No special configuration is required.
For anyone who has control over their shell environment, Flyline could become a must-have terminal tool.
Flyline takes a different approach entirely. Instead of layering on top of Readline, it replaces it outright. It is built in Rust and ratatui to render richer, more interactive terminal interfaces than Readline.
When I installed Flyline for the first time and started using it, the difference was immediately noticeable. Command suggestions appeared as I typed, making it quicker to complete commands and move through my workflow. It makes working in the terminal noticeably faster.
As soon as you start typing, Flyline displays a completion popup right next to the cursor with matching suggestions. This keeps the suggestions close to where you're working, making it easy to complete commands without breaking your typing flow.
Flyline IntelliSense Suggestion
You can cycle through the available suggestions by pressing the Tab key, with the selected entry being updated on the command line in real time. If you prefer, the Up and Down arrow keys work just as well, and the completion list can also be navigated using the mouse.
For longer lists, Flyline includes a functional scrollbar that lets you quickly jump through the available suggestions. Personally, I found it faster to keep typing and narrow down the results rather than reaching for the mouse, but it's nice to have the option.
Once you've found the suggestion you want, press Enter to insert it into the command line and close the completion popup.
Traditional command completion usually expects you to type characters in the correct order. For example, typing pamc won't normally suggest pacman, since the entered characters don't match the expected sequence.
Fuzzy Search
Flyline addresses this with fuzzy search support. Instead of requiring an exact character order, it tolerates minor typos and partial matches, making it much easier to find the command you're looking for. This means you can type a bit more naturally without worrying about getting every character in the right place.
The same fuzzy matching also works for file and directory paths. As you type, Flyline presents matching paths based on your input, allowing you to navigate deep directory structures with fewer keystrokes. I found this particularly useful when working with long or nested paths, where a small typo would normally require me to backtrack and start over.
Not every command line tool ships with a completion script. Install a new CLI tool and you keep on pressing tab, and nothing happens. No suggestions appear.
When that's the case, Flyline can generate one automatically by parsing the command's --help output and available man pages.
I noticed this while trying ffmpeg, which didn't have a completion script on my system. When I typed:
Loginffmpeg --<Tab>
Flyline prompted me to generate a completion script for the command. After confirming, it analyzed the available documentation and created a completion definition on the fly. From that point onward, option completion for ffmpeg worked as expected.
Synthesize Suggestions
This is also useful for commands with dozens, or even hundreds, of available options. Instead of repeatedly opening the man page or running --help to look up an argument, I could simply rely on the generated completions and discover the available options as I typed.
It makes working with feature-rich command-line tools much more convenient.
This isn't exactly a productivity feature, but it does make the terminal feel a bit more lively.
If you've used the Kitty terminal emulator, you might be familiar with its cursor animations. Flyline brings similar effects to virtually any terminal emulator, letting you customize how the cursor looks and behaves.
To explore the available cursor options, run:
flyline set-cursor --help
This displays the various settings you can tweak, including cursor style and animation effects.
For example, the following command adds a cursor trail that closely resembles Kitty's animated cursor, even if your terminal emulator doesn't support it natively.
flyline set-cursor \
--backend flyline \
--style "#33ccff" \
--interpolate 1.5 \
--interpolate-easing out-elastic \
--effect fade \
--effect-easing in-out-sine \
--effect-speed 2.0
Cursor Trail Emulation
Flyline also gives Bash's reverse history search a much nicer interface. Instead of the traditional incremental search prompt, it presents your command history in a dedicated view where you can see each command in full, search through previous entries, and even check when a command was executed.
Refined History
Just like command completion, history search also supports fuzzy matching. This makes it easier to find an older typed command, even if you don't remember the exact sequence of characters.
What impressed me the most, though, was the Canceled Commands feature. The first time I pressed Alt+R, the list was empty. However, every command I subsequently interrupted with Ctrl+C, was automatically added there.
Cancelled Commands
Remember, it is the commands that are interrupted without executing are added to the cancelled list, and not those commands that are executed and then pressed CTRL+C.
This list is kept separate from your regular shell history, so searching your normal command history with Ctrl+R remains unaffected, while cancelled commands are available through Alt+R. The only limitation is that the list is maintained per terminal session, so it is cleared once you close or reset the terminal.
Flyline can also work with your favorite AI assistant to turn plain English into executable Bash commands. Once you've configured an AI agent, you can simply describe what you want to do in natural language, and Flyline will ask the agent to generate the corresponding command.
For example, you could type something like:
ai: list files older than three days
Pressing Alt+Enter, or simply Enter if you've configured a trigger prefix such as ai:, sends the prompt to the configured AI agent. Flyline then displays the generated command with syntax highlighting before you decide whether to run it. If the agent returns additional information in Markdown, Flyline renders that as well.
I didn't test this feature personally. I will let you try and comment your experience with it.
Flyline doesn't just enhance command editing, it also offers extensive prompt customization. You can build rich prompts with dynamic widgets, animations, left and right prompts, transient prompts, live time displays, and even your own custom widgets that run shell commands in the background.
The project's documentation goes into great detail, complete with examples and screenshots for the various customization options. Rather than covering each one here, I've put together a sample configuration that combines several of these features, including a subtle animation. Simply append the following to your ~/.bashrc to give it a try.
# 1. Create the animation widgets
flyline create-prompt-widget animation \
--name "SPINNER" \
--fps 12 \
'\e[38;2;137;180;250mβ \e[0m' \
'\e[38;2;137;180;250mβ \e[0m' \
'\e[38;2;137;180;250mβ Ή\e[0m' \
'\e[38;2;137;180;250mβ Έ\e[0m' \
'\e[38;2;137;180;250mβ Ό\e[0m' \
'\e[38;2;137;180;250mβ ΄\e[0m' \
'\e[38;2;137;180;250mβ ¦\e[0m' \
'\e[38;2;137;180;250mβ §\e[0m' \
'\e[38;2;137;180;250mβ \e[0m' \
'\e[38;2;137;180;250mβ \e[0m'
flyline create-prompt-widget animation \
--name "PULSE" \
--fps 6 \
--ping-pong \
'\e[38;2;166;227;161mβ\e[0m' \
'\e[38;2;116;199;236mβ\e[0m' \
'\e[38;2;203;166;247mβ\e[0m'
# 2. Set prompt variables
PS1='\e[1;32m\u@\h\e[0m:\e[1;34m\w\e[0m\nSPINNER PULSE \e[1;35mβ―\e[0m '
PS1_FILL='β'
RPS1='\e[38;2;249;226;175m\t\e[0m'
PS2='\e[2mFLYLINE_PROMPT_LINE_NUMBER βΊ\e[0m '
# 3. Set transient history cleanup
PS1_FINAL='\e[38;2;166;227;161mβ\e[0m \e[1;34m\w\e[0m \e[1;30mβ―\e[0m '
RPS1_FINAL=''
PS1_FILL_FINAL=''
# 4. Enable cursor trail & motion
flyline set-cursor \
--backend flyline \
--style "#cba6f7" \
--interpolate 1.5 \
--interpolate-easing out-elastic \
--effect fade \
--effect-easing in-out-sine \
--effect-speed 2.0
Restart your terminal and enjoy the effects.
Custom animated Prompt
The easiest way to install Flyline is by using the official installation script. Open a terminal and run:
curl -sSfL https://github.com/HalFrgrd/flyline/releases/latest/download/install.sh | sh
The installer downloads the latest release and automatically updates your ~/.bashrc to load Flyline, so there's no need to perform any additional setup manually.
Once the installation is complete, launch the interactive tutorial with:
flyline run-tutorial
I recommend going through the tutorial before you start using Flyline. It walks you through onboarding, making it much easier to get comfortable with the enhanced editing experience.
When I started using Flyline, apart from its intellisense style completion, I can't say it felt like a first in a lifetime moment, because I kind of used a similar functionality in ZSH for some time.
Flyline is designed exclusively for Bash, so you can't use it with Zsh.
But, the combination of zsh-syntax-highlighting, zsh-autosuggestions, and zsh-autocomplete covers many of the features you'd expect from an IntelliSense-like command-line interface.
Together, they offer inline suggestions, syntax highlighting, and interactive command completion that make working in the terminal much more comfortable.
ZSH Autosuggestion, Syntax Highlighting and Auto Complete
If you pair these plugins with a prompt framework like Starship or a Powerline-style prompt, you can build a polished and highly productive terminal environment.
Flyline is one of the new breed of terminal tools that are built in rust to be faster and provide features that either require too much config effort or not possible in classic GNU tools at all.
From intelligent command completion and fuzzy search to AI-assisted command writing and prompt customization, Flyline adds plenty of quality-of-life improvements without changing the shell you've grown accustomed to.
Give Flyline a try. It's already a capable tool, and with active development, it'll be interesting to see how it evolves in the future.
A major update to open-vm-tools, a package that integrates Linux virtual machines with VMware hypervisors, is rolling out to users of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. βWithout SRUing the newer version users get issues running on more recent hypervisorsβ, Canonicalβs Lena Voytek explained in a backport request. Itβs a full backport from Ubuntu 26.04 LTS to support platform enablement to benefit those running 24.04 LTS. The open-vm-tool package goes from v12.3.5 to v13.0.10 (the same version in Ubuntu 26.04 LTS). VMwareβs open-vm-tools package enables clock sync with the hypervisor host, βgracefulβ power management for clean shutdowns, vSphere API, shared folder support, relays [β¦]
You're reading Ubuntu 24.04 gets a big open-vm-tools update, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.
A major update to open-vm-tools, a package that integrates Linux virtual machines with VMware hypervisors, is rolling out to users of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. βWithout SRUing the newer version users get issues running on more recent hypervisorsβ, Canonicalβs Lena Voytek explained in a backport request. Itβs a full backport from Ubuntu 26.04 LTS to support platform enablement to benefit those running 24.04 LTS. The open-vm-tool package goes from v12.3.5 to v13.0.10 (the same version in Ubuntu 26.04 LTS). VMwareβs open-vm-tools package enables clock sync with the hypervisor host, βgracefulβ power management for clean shutdowns, vSphere API, shared folder support, relays [β¦]
You're reading Ubuntu 24.04 gets a big open-vm-tools update, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.
Whether you're a developer, system administrator, or simply someone who spends a lot of time in the terminal, juggling multiple terminal sessions can be messy and frustrating.
A terminal multiplexer helps you keep everything organized, letting you manage several sessions from a single interface while making your workflow much more efficient.
While tmux and GNU Screen are the names most Linux users are familiar with, there are many more similar terminal multiplexer tools available. As someone who like to explore new tools, I spent some time and came up with this list for you.
Zellij describes itself as a terminal workspace rather than just a multiplexer, with an emphasis on delivering a polished experience from the moment you launch it.
It aims to provide sensible defaults while still leaving plenty of room for customization.
Zellij
One of the things that sets Zellij apart is its focus on usability. Built-in layouts, a plugin system, and collaborative sessions are all part of the experience, but the project's philosophy is that you shouldn't have to trade simplicity for advanced functionality.
This makes it approachable for newcomers while still offering enough flexibility for users who want to tailor their workspace.
While this is not a ranking list, Zellij is the first one on this list because I have used it on a daily basis for the past several months.
While most terminal multiplexers focus on helping you manage terminal sessions, TUIOS takes that idea a step further by presenting itself as a terminal window manager.
TUIOS tries to bring concepts you'd expect from a tiling window manager, such as workspaces, automatic tiling, and window management, into your existing terminal.
TUIOS
The workflow is centered around a modal interface inspired by Vim, letting you switch between managing windows and interacting with terminal applications.
Alongside features like a command palette and workspace organization, TUIOS also supports automation through tape files, making it suitable for users who want to build repeatable terminal workflows instead of just juggling multiple shells.
You probably know WezTerm as a feature-rich terminal emulator. But there's more to it than meets the eye.
WezTerm includes a built-in multiplexer, allowing you to create and manage persistent sessions without relying on a separate tool.
Wezterm as a Terminal Multiplexer
It integrates multiplexing directly into the terminal and supports local domains. While it lets you connect to remote domains over SSH and other tmux like features, this requires you to spend some time configuring.
If you're already using Kitty as your terminal emulator, you don't necessarily have to switch to a traditional multiplexer. Pairing it with abduco gives you a lightweight way to keep terminal sessions running in the background while letting Kitty handle everything on the frontend.
Kitty with Abduco
It's a simple combination that sticks to the Unix philosophy of using small tools that do one job well.
The primary job of abduco is to detach and reattach terminal sessions, leaving the rest to your terminal emulator.
Kitty complements this nicely with features like tabs, splits, and a polished interface, giving you a workflow that feels familiar while still providing session persistence.
Rather than reinventing the multiplexer experience, tmate builds on tmux and adds secure session sharing, making it easy to collaborate, troubleshoot problems, or provide remote assistance without asking someone to install extra software.
Tmate
The biggest addition is the ability to generate a connection string that others can use to join your session.
By default, these shared sessions are relayed through tmate's public servers, although you can host your own relay if you prefer to keep everything under your control. If you never need to share your terminal, however, plain tmux is likely the better fit.
At first glance, boo might look like just another GNU Screen alternative. In reality, it's a fairly different take on terminal multiplexing.
Built on Ghostty's terminal emulation library, boo keeps track of the actual terminal state, allowing it to recreate a session exactly as you left it, even after you've detached and reattached.
Boo
The project also leans into automation. Besides keeping sessions alive, it includes commands that let scripts and AI agents inspect or interact with detached sessions without needing a live terminal connection.
Okena combines terminals, tabs, panes, and projects into a single interface, with a strong focus on helping you pick up exactly where you left off.
Close the application, reopen it later, and your workspace is restored much like you never left.
Okena
That persistence model is what makes Okena different. Unlike tmux or GNU Screen, it doesn't keep sessions running in the background after the application closes, nor is it designed for detached SSH workflows or remote session management.
Instead, the emphasis is on restoring your local workspace, making it feel more like a modern development environment than a server-backed multiplexer.
Seance, built with GTK4 and libadwaita, takes a desktop-first approach to terminal session management. It feel more like a modern Linux application than a traditional keyboard-driven multiplexer.
Seance. Video Credit: Seance
It offers a clean interface with configurable key bindings, workspace management, and session persistence across restarts, so you can reopen the application and continue where you left off.
However, it isn't designed around detached server sessions or remote SSH workflows. Instead, it focuses on providing a polished experience for managing terminal workspaces on your local Linux desktop.
As you can see, there's no shortage of ways to organize your terminal workflow. Some of these tools have been around for decades, while others are reimagining what a terminal workspace can look like. The thing is that there's no single "right" choice. It all comes down to how you work.
Whichever you choose, learning to use a terminal multiplexer is one of those skills that pays off over time. Once it becomes part of your workflow, your muscle memory, there is no going back to normal terminal sessions.
By the way, you might be interested in exploring various terminal emulators as well.
Cloudflare has open-sourced its Cloudflare OS platform, which it first developed as an internal workspace for employees to build apps using AI agentsβincluding people who are not software developers or engineers. The company also touts a security framework designed to reduce the risk of employee vibe-coding sessions creating serious security flaws or leading to data breaches.
The tech company spent several months building and internally testing Cloudflare OS, which allows employees to describe workflows in natural language so that an AI agent can code them into applications. In an August 5 blog post announcing the open source versionβs availability on GitHub, the company claims thousands of Cloudflare employees use the platform on a daily basis to βcreate documents and slides, automate repeatable tasks, and build small apps to visualize data and help them do their work.β
βThis is a full-on personal app vibe coding platform, in which the sandbox is so secure that you can pretty much go wildβthe AI cannot introduce a significant security bug,β said Kenton Varda, principal engineer at Cloudflare, in a post on the social media platform X. βWe believe a company's security team can feel comfortable giving non-technical users permission to vibe code and then sleep soundly at night.β
Β© Mike Campbell/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Kitty is a popular terminal emulator that supports many modern features. Focused on power users, it offers a wide range of customization that other terminals often lack.
For example, it includes a functional image display protocol and smooth cursor animations.
I have shown Kitty tweaking in the past, and in the regards, I would like to discuss Kittens today.
Kittens are functional units that extend the features of the Kitty terminal or work as standalone programs. They have direct access to the running Kitty instance.
Kitty comes bundled with several of these kittens, written in Go, which we will explore in detail later. You even have the option to create your own custom Kittens in Python, if you find a specific need that hasn't been solved yet.
Let's start with the most popular tool first. If you use Kitty daily, you have likely come across this utility at some point.
Themes is a kitten that allows you to change your terminal color scheme interactively without editing any configuration files. Kitty includes a wide variety of preset themes that you can access by running a simple command:
kitten themesApply themes in Kitty
In the overlay window, you can easily scroll through both dark and light themes to see a live preview. Once you find one you like, just press Enter and follow the prompts to set it as your preferred theme.
In my opinion, this is a feature I really miss when using Ghostty. While Ghostty has a similar interface, you still have to manually edit your configuration file to apply the theme name after you pick one.
If you have found a new font and want to set it as your terminal choice, this kitten has you covered. You can launch the interactive interface directly in your terminal using a simple command:
kitten choose-fontsChoose Fonts
This tool allows you to perform several actions within a single interface. You can select new fonts, preview how they look, and even fine-tune specific font faces.
The utility makes it much easier to manage your typography without guessing how a font will appear in your workspace. It handles the complex parts of the setup so you can focus on finding the perfect look.
Choose files is a comprehensive file picker designed for Kitty and other GUI applications on your system. It functions similarly to fzf but is specifically optimized for finding and managing files.
Choose Files
This tool offers several powerful features, including the ability to select multiple files at once. It intelligently respects .gitignore rules in your git directories to keep your workflow clean.
To use it, run:
kitten choose-filesYou can also select non-existent files to trigger a "save file" option or choose entire directories. In my opinion, this file picker will completely change the way you interact with files in your terminal.
If you remember Yakuake in KDE, you are already familiar with the concept of a drop down terminal for quick tasks. Kitty offers similar functionality through the Quick Access Terminal Kitten.
You can launch this feature at any time using a simple command in your terminal:
kitten quick-access-terminalQuick Access Terminal
If you want to personalize the experience, you can customize the tool using a specific configuration file. Simply create or edit quick-access-terminal.conf inside your ~/.config/kitty/ directory to adjust its behavior.
The Panel kitten is something truly special. It creates a desktop panel for you that functions much like i3bar.
Kitten Panel
While some might feel this is a bit overpowered for a terminal application, the panel is quite interesting for minimal use cases. It even allows you to set tools like btop as your actual desktop wallpaper.
In my opinion, this is an incredible feature for anyone who loves a unique workspace. You heard that right, and here is a great example of how it looks in action.
The diff kitten is an excellent tool available directly within Kitty. It offers several advanced features like side-by-side comparisons, syntax highlighting, and even image diffs or recursive directory comparisons.
To use it, you simply pass the file names as shown in the command below:
kitten diff file1 file2Diff Files
I use the terminal daily for standard update tasks and editing text files. If you are deeply involved in terminal usage, there are many kittens available for very niche use cases.
For example, the Broadcast kitten allows you to type text simultaneously across multiple Kitty windows. There are also SSH related kittens designed for editing files and even a specialized SSH supported clipboard.
In my opinion, these specific tools are essential for power users who manage remote servers regularly. Feel free to experiment with these options to make your terminal life significantly more productive.
All these kittens can be bound to keyboard shortcuts or aliases so you don't have to manually run the command every time. This makes your workflow much faster by giving you instant access to your favorite actions.
I will show you how I mapped the kittens in my own configuration file. It is a straightforward process that keeps everything organized and easy to access.
The most important step is to make sure your chosen keys are uniquely assigned. You want to avoid any conflicts with existing terminal options or system-wide shortcuts.
In the below code, I mapped the F1 key to get the file chooser kitten in multiple file select mode.
map f1 kitten choose-files --mode=filesAdding the following line to your shell configuration file (~/.bashrc) to add an alias to the diff tool:
alias d="kitten diff"Now, you can run:
d file1 file2To get the difference between them.
Another example, let's map the F2 key to get a quick access terminal:
map f2 kitten quick-access-terminalSo, we have seen how kittens can improve your terminal productivity. While most of these have separate alternatives like fzf for file selection or difftastic for diffs, integrating them directly into your terminal with a clean UI is commendable.
Kitty also offers a desktop-ui kitten that lets you integrate the file picker into all your GUI apps. Since this can cause issues with some applications and is something I use rarely, it remains out of scope for this guide.
In my opinion, the seamless integration of these tools makes Kitty feel much more cohesive than a standard terminal emulator.
Did you find any of these kittens useful enough to replace your existing tools?
It's been nearly five years since Alacritty made its debut and became a favorite of many power terminal users.
By power users, I mean people who configure Vi mode everywhere, even in graphical IDE.
Personally, I prefer Kitty and I have written some tutorials on Kitty. But whenever we share our Kitty articles, someone would mention Alacritty. And that kind of forced me to try Alacritty.
But this article is not about comparing Kitty and Alacritty. It's merely me sharing my experience and exploration of Alacritty.
Alacritty is a modern terminal emulator designed with a strong focus on performance. It is a GPU-accelerated terminal that uses OpenGL technology to offload rendering tasks entirely to your graphics processor rather than relying heavily on the CPU. Out of the box, Alacritty comes with a decent set of defaults. Which seems to be true as you really don't need to do much to make this terminal work right away.
Alacritty comes with several 'cool features' that will elevate your terminal workflow. These are Vi mode, scrollback buffer search, regex hints and multi-window approach.
Alacritty features a built-in Vi mode, which you can easily access using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Space.
Vi Mode in Alacritty
Once you are in this mode, you can move around your scrollback buffer using standard Vi navigation keys. This means you don't need to reach for your mouse at all just to scroll through your text, keeping your hands exactly where they belong on the keyboard.
The Vi mode can do several types of selection and copy text entirely with keyboard shortcuts.
When you are in Vi mode, pressing Alt + v enables semantic selection, which is the one I use most often. Semantic selection is a smart feature that lets you select distinct words or semantic blocks of text based on specific characters acting as boundaries.
Semantic Select
If you want to perform a standard manual selection, simply press v to start selecting from the cursor, then move the cursor in any direction to select your text.
Normal Select
Now, instead of lowercase v, if you press Shift + v, a line selection mode is enabled, allowing you to quickly select entire lines of text at once.
Line Select
When you have a lot of output in your terminal scrollback and need to track something down, Alacritty has built-in search functions. You can press Ctrl + Shift + F to start a forward search.
Forward Search
Or Ctrl + Shift + B to initiate a backward search.
Backward Search
Once you type your query, you can press Enter to jump between the matches sequentially.
Alternatively, if you are already inside the Vi mode, you can simply press / and type your search term directly.
Search inside Vi Mode
I personally use the Vi mode search because it gives me extra flexibility. It allows me to semantic-select/line-select the entire matched term even when only a partial match is found.
A feature I love while reading configuration files is bracket matching. I usually print the file to the terminal and jump straight into Vi mode.
Once there, you can place your cursor on top of any bracket and press %. This will instantly jump your cursor to the matching opening or closing bracket.
Matching brackets
At times, this is much more handy than opening the file up in a separate text editor. Especially when I am using it with the Zellij terminal multiplexer.
Alacritty does not need any user configuration to work properly and access its important features, as it comes right out of the box with some highly sensible defaults.
Still, there are plenty of areas that we can customize to tweak it to perfection. Here, I will take you through some of the options that I personally changed in my Alacritty setup.
I have also shared these config changes on our GitHub repo for your ease.
Creating a single configuration file for all your features seems easy at first. However, if a tool supports multiple configuration files and imports, it is always a better practice to divide the config into relevant, modular parts.
Doing this will give you a much easier editing experience later when you need to tweak specific behaviors.
For Alacritty, all configuration files should be located in the ~/.config/alacritty/ directory. The directory structure in my system looks like this:
βββ alacritty.toml
βββ keybindings
βΒ Β βββ keybindings.toml
βββ themes
βββ ansi.toml
βββ catppuccin-mocha.toml
βββ cocoa-dark.toml
βββ cream-light.toml
βββ dracula.toml
βββ dusk-dark.toml
βββ fog-light.toml
You can see that I have split the configuration files into separate items for:
alacritty.tomlkeybindings/keybindings.tomlthemes <name>.tomlNow, once you have all your configuration files split up, you need to import the other configs into your main file alacritty.toml so that Alacritty can actually read them.
Open up your alacritty.toml file in a text editor and add the import lines to the top of your file using the import array under the [general] section:
[general]
import = [
"~/.config/alacritty/keybindings/keybindings.toml",
"~/.config/alacritty/themes/lavender-fields-light.toml"
]
To change font in Alacritty, in the config file, add the following lines:
[font]
size = 12
[font.normal]
family = "JetBrains Mono"
style = "Regular"
[font.bold]
family = "JetBrains Mono"
style = "Bold"
[font.italic]
family = "JetBrains Mono"
style = "Italic"
[font.bold_italic]
family = "JetBrains Mono"
style = "Bold Italic"
The above configuration is self-explanatory. Of course, any font you want to appear in your terminal must actually be installed on your system first.
To find the exact name of the font you want to use, you can either open up a font-manager GUI application, or query your system via the command line using fc-list and filtering for your desired font family:
fc-list | grep "jetbrains"
We have already seen some great features relating to scrollback navigation, selection, and searching. To make these features truly efficient, you need a comparatively large scrollback buffer so you don't lose your terminal history too quickly.
In your main Alacritty configuration file, you can set this by adding the following lines:
[scrolling]
history = 10000
I would suggest caution when increasing this value much beyond 10000. Because this scrollback history is stored directly in your RAM, a massive scrollback buffer can negatively affect your system performance.
Especially when you accidentally dump a massive log file or print exceptionally long files directly to the terminal.
Most Linux distributions come with Bash as the default shell, and sometimes you may want to use an alternative shell like Zsh.
You don't actually need to change your entire system-wide default shell just for this. You can simply change the shell executed inside Alacritty itself.
To do this, add the following lines to your main alacritty.toml file:
[terminal]
shell = "/usr/bin/zsh"
To know the shell location, use:
which zshAlacritty allows you to change the terminal window opacity across all desktop environments, and it even lets you add a native blur effect if you are running a KDE Plasma Wayland session.
To configure this, add the following lines under the [window] section of your configuration:
opacity = 1.0
blur = true # enable this for KDE Plasma to get blur
The best way to manage custom shortcuts is by adding them via a separate keybindings.toml file and importing it into your main configuration, as we looked at earlier.
In this file, you can define keybindings using the following syntax:
[[keyboard.bindings]]
key = "C"
mods = "Control|Shift"
mode = "Vi"
action = "ClearSelection"
Here, [[keyboard.bindings]] defines the section. For every new keybinding you want to map, a separate [[keyboard.bindings]] section must be used.
Inside this section, you have a few core parameters to customize:
A, B, 2, 3, |, /).|)βfor example, Control|Shift triggers on a Ctrl + Shift action.With Alacritty, you can customize how various mouse buttons behave inside your terminal. The general syntax looks like this:
[[mouse.bindings]]
mouse = "Forward"
action = "ToggleViMode"
[[mouse.bindings]]
mouse = "Back"
action = "CreateNewWindow"
Just like keyboard configurations, the [[mouse.bindings]] headers must be separate sections for each distinct mouse shortcut. Inside each section, you define:
For instance, I have an 8-button mouse, so I added the Forward button to quickly toggle into Vi mode, and the Back button to instantaneously open a fresh Alacritty window.
Alacritty allows you to completely alter the appearance of your terminal using custom color configurations.
Out of the box, it expects you to modify the hex color values for various display elements manually. If you don't want to build a palette from scratch, you can visit our GitHub repository to grab several preset color schemes for Alacritty.
Alacritty color schemes
Once you find a theme you like, you can drop it into your ~/.config/alacritty/themes/ directory, import it into your main config, or tweak the individual color blocks within that file to customize the look entirely to your liking.
Alacritty is available in the default repositories of most popular distributions. If you are using Ubuntu, install it using the apt package manager:
sudo apt install alacritty
Fedora users can install it using the DNF package manager:
sudo dnf install alacritty
For Arch Linux users, install Alacritty from the extra repository using the command:
sudo pacman -S alacritty
One thing to note is that, as far as I know, Alacritty does not support viewing images natively from the terminal, though there is some Sixel image support development floating around.
Personally, I don't care much about image support because I am not working on images from the terminal anyway. But if that is an absolute requirement for your workflow, you may feel a bit disappointed.
There are exciting new terminal emulators like Ghostty and Ptyxis these days, and I have given them a try for a while. Now, I have been using Alacritty for the past couple of months as my main terminal, paired with Zellij multiplexer. I like this setup. It may make me forget Kitty, who knows.
What's your take on Alacritty? Do you use it as your main terminal emulator? If not, which one is your favorite? Do mention it in the comments below!
