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kitty

A GPU-rendered terminal emulator for Linux, macOS and BSD

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Built by @kovidgoyal on GitHub. This page was written by @iluxav from public sources, last updated for v0.49.2 (2026-10-01), and may lag behind new releases.

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v0.49.2 / 2026-10-0123 things you can do9 changes to know before upgradingFollow (Atom feed)

Run a terminal with images, tabs, splits and layouts, scriptable control, saved sessions and SSH integration, rendered on the GPU.

kitty showing several programs side by side in one window.kitty's splits layout with several shells arranged in panes.kitty's command palette listing actions with a search box.The choose-files kitten with a file list and a preview pane.

What you can do with it

Run a terminal rendered on the GPU, with ligatures, emoji and per-glyph font fallback.

Present at v0.43.1

Show images and animations inside the terminal, for example with the icat kitten.

Present at v0.43.1

Arrange terminal windows in tabs, splits and switchable layouts inside one kitty window.

Present at v0.43.1

Control kitty from scripts or the shell: open windows, send text, change colors and query state.

Present at v0.43.1

Start a saved working environment of tabs, windows and programs from a session file, and switch between sessions.

Present at v0.43.1

SSH into remote machines with shell integration and kitty's terminfo set up automatically.

Present at v0.43.1

Jump between shell prompts and open the scrollback or the last command's output in a pager.

Good to know

Needs kitty's shell integration for bash, zsh or fish.

Present at v0.43.1
Show all 23

Select URLs, file paths or line numbers on screen from the keyboard and open or insert them.

Present at v0.43.1

Browse hundreds of color themes with a live preview and switch kitty's theme.

Present at v0.43.1

Show and hide a drop-down terminal with a global shortcut, quake style.

Good to know

On Wayland needs a compositor with the layer-shell protocol.

Present at v0.43.1

Run a terminal program as a desktop panel or as the desktop background.

Good to know

On Wayland needs a compositor with the layer-shell protocol.

Present at v0.43.1

View side-by-side diffs of files or directories with syntax highlighting and images in the terminal.

Present at v0.43.1

Edit or download files from a remote machine inside an existing SSH session, and transfer files over the terminal connection.

Present at v0.43.1

Let terminal programs, or your own scripts with the notify kitten, send desktop notifications.

Present at v0.43.1

Have kitty read a set of environment variables from your login shell at startup.

Since v0.44.0

Choose files from a keyboard-first picker with previews of text with syntax highlighting, images, videos and e-books.

Since v0.45.0

Browse and run all mapped and unmapped kitty actions from a searchable command palette.

Since v0.46.2

Scroll the scrollback by pixels, with momentum scrolling on Linux touchpads and touchscreens.

Good to know

Momentum scrolling is for Linux; set with pixel_scroll and momentum_scroll.

Since v0.46.2

Drag files from your shell to any GUI program, including from a remote machine over SSH.

Since v0.47.0

Have changes to kitty.conf apply automatically when the file is saved.

Since v0.47.0

See a progress bar at the top of the window when a program reports progress with the OSC 9;4 escape code.

Since v0.47.0

Add graphical effects, such as dimming inactive windows or a cursor trail, with custom shaders.

Since v0.49.1

Before you upgrade

Newest first
v0.49.12026-09-24

clipboard_max_size was read as terabytes and is now applied in megabytes as documented; writes over the limit get an EFBIG error instead of being silently truncated.

Behavior changedAffects: Programs that write large amounts of data to the clipboard
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Show 6 older
v0.48.22026-07-30

Official binaries are now built on Ubuntu 22 instead of 18, so they may not run on distributions older than that; use your distribution's package or build from source there.

Action requiredInferredAffects: Users of the official kitty binaries on older Linux distributions
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v0.47.02026-05-19

scroll_line_up and scroll_line_down now scroll smoothly by default; map them without the smooth argument to get the old behavior.

Behavior changedAffects: Users of scroll_line_up and scroll_line_down
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v0.47.02026-05-19

Built-in shortcuts fall back to the US layout key when a pressed non-English key has no match.

Behavior changedAffects: Users with non-English keyboard layouts
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Release history 10
v0.49.22026-10-01

Make any text pattern, such as file:line references in compiler output, clickable with detect_url_regex.

Details

New detect_url_regex option. Small program output, such as typed characters, is processed immediately for lower input latency. New cursor-trail-motion-blur shader; the dim-inactive-windows shader no longer dims the tab bar and padding.

Also: Security fix: a remote program could bypass the file transfer confirmation when no bypass password was set.

v0.49.2.

Improved: Open URLs and hyperlinks in terminal output by clic…Improved: Add graphical effects, such as dimming inactive win…Behavior changed: Add graphical effects, such as dimming inactive win…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v0.49.12026-09-24

Add graphical effects to the terminal with custom shaders.

Details

Groups v0.49.0 and v0.49.1. Custom shader support, window_border_radius, remap_modifiers, kitten @ screenshot and set-os-window-title, a proportional sizing policy for splits, and sessions that save every layout. clipboard_max_size is now applied in megabytes.

Also: 15 to 35% throughput improvement; remember_window_size keeps the maximized state; macOS Split View tiling.

v0.49.1.

Added: Add graphical effects, such as dimming inactive win…Improved: Control kitty from scripts or the shell: open windo…Improved: Arrange terminal windows in tabs, splits and switch…Improved: Start a saved working environment of tabs, windows…Behavior changed

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v0.48.22026-07-30

Show the tab bar vertically on the left or right edge of the window.

Details

Groups v0.48.0 to v0.48.2. tab_bar_edge accepts left and right for vertical tabs. The first click in an unfocused window now focuses it and is passed through. Official binaries are built on Ubuntu 22 instead of Ubuntu 18.

Also: kitten @ get-text can read the alternate screen; quick-access-terminal layer is configurable; edit-in-kitty returns the editor's exit code.

v0.48.2.

Improved: Arrange terminal windows in tabs, splits and switch…Behavior changedAction required / inferredImproved: Control kitty from scripts or the shell: open windo…Improved: Choose files from a keyboard-first picker with prev…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v0.47.42026-06-15

Even out split sizes with one action, or automatically when a window closes.

Details

Groups v0.47.2 to v0.47.4. Splits layout gains an equalize action and an equalize_on_window_close option. Config watching no longer watches subdirectories recursively. Fontconfig fake italics work on Linux.

Also: Security fixes for color control responses, the file transfer protocol and the dnd kitten (CVE-2026-54055, -54056, -54057).

v0.47.4.

Improved: Arrange terminal windows in tabs, splits and switch…Improved: Have changes to kitty.conf apply automatically when…Improved: Run a terminal rendered on the GPU, with ligatures,…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

Read the evidence
v0.47.12026-05-28

Have automatic config reload work when kitty.conf is a symlink, as in most dotfile setups.

Details

auto_reload_config now follows a symlinked kitty.conf. Panel and quick-access-terminal windows stay on top under KDE on X11 after being hidden.

Also: Tab stops set by programs survive window resizes; DECST8C support.

v0.47.1.

Now works: Have changes to kitty.conf apply automatically when…Now works: Show and hide a drop-down terminal with a global sh…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

Read the evidence
v0.47.02026-05-19

Drag files from your shell into any GUI program, even across SSH.

Details

New dnd kitten for dragging files out of the terminal. Windows can be dragged to rearrange, move or detach. New options auto_reload_config, progress_bar (OSC 9;4) and palette_generate.

Also: Multiple background images kept on the GPU; diff kitten sticky file header.

v0.47.0.

Added: Drag files from your shell to any GUI program, incl…Added: Have changes to kitty.conf apply automatically when…Added: See a progress bar at the top of the window when a…Improved: Arrange terminal windows in tabs, splits and switch…Improved: Browse hundreds of color themes with a live preview…Behavior changed: Scroll the scrollback by pixels, with momentum scro…Behavior changed: Arrange terminal windows in tabs, splits and switch…Behavior changedBehavior changed: Edit or download files from a remote machine inside…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

Read the evidence
v0.46.22026-03-21

Find and run any kitty action from a searchable command palette.

Details

Groups v0.46.0 to v0.46.2. New command palette; tabs can be dragged to reorder, move or detach; window borders can be dragged to resize; optional per-window title bars; pixel scrolling (pixel_scroll) and Linux momentum scrolling (momentum_scroll).

Also: Colors in kitty.conf can be written in OKLCH or LAB; Wayland background blur; multi-key mapping timeouts; diff kitten highlights moved lines.

v0.46.2.

Added: Browse and run all mapped and unmapped kitty action…Improved: Arrange terminal windows in tabs, splits and switch…Added: Scroll the scrollback by pixels, with momentum scro…Improved: Browse hundreds of color themes with a live preview…Improved: View side-by-side diffs of files or directories wit…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

Read the evidence
v0.45.02025-12-24

Pick files from the keyboard with previews of text, images, videos and e-books.

Details

New choose-files kitten. icat adds animated PNG and WebP, netPBM and ICC color profiles and a --fit flag. New copy_last_command_output action and a default mapping to search the scrollback in a pager.

Also: Paste events protocol support; goto_session can pick a session file from a directory.

v0.45.0.

Added: Choose files from a keyboard-first picker with prev…Improved: Show images and animations inside the terminal, for…Improved: Jump between shell prompts and open the scrollback…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

Read the evidence
v0.44.02025-11-03

Load chosen environment variables from your login shell when kitty starts.

Details

New env directive in kitty.conf reads listed variables from the login shell at startup. Session files gain a focus_tab command, save_as_session gains --base-dir, and Unicode 17 is supported.

Also: Option draw_window_borders_for_single_window; macOS performance and power improvements.

v0.44.0.

Added: Have kitty read a set of environment variables from…Improved: Start a saved working environment of tabs, windows…Behavior changed: Start a saved working environment of tabs, windows…Improved: Run a terminal rendered on the GPU, with ligatures,…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

Read the evidence
v0.43.12025-10-01
Starting point

Run a GPU-rendered terminal with images, tabs, splits, sessions and SSH integration on Linux, macOS and BSD.

Details

Starting point: what kitty could do as of v0.43.1, from its documentation at that tag.

v0.43.1; packaged by most distributions, or the official binaries and installer.

Added: Run a terminal rendered on the GPU, with ligatures,…Added: Show images and animations inside the terminal, for…Added: Arrange terminal windows in tabs, splits and switch…Added: Control kitty from scripts or the shell: open windo…Added: Start a saved working environment of tabs, windows…Added: SSH into remote machines with shell integration and…Added: Jump between shell prompts and open the scrollback…Added: Open URLs and hyperlinks in terminal output by clic…Added: Select URLs, file paths or line numbers on screen f…Added: Browse hundreds of color themes with a live preview…Added: Show and hide a drop-down terminal with a global sh…Added: Run a terminal program as a desktop panel or as the…Added: View side-by-side diffs of files or directories wit…Added: Edit or download files from a remote machine inside…Added: Let terminal programs, or your own scripts with the…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

Read the evidence