What is Ghostty?
Ghostty is a terminal emulator that aims to be fast, feature-rich and native at the same time, rather than trading one for another. On macOS it is a real native application written in Swift with AppKit and SwiftUI, and it renders through Metal instead of drawing its own widgets. Terminal emulation, font handling and rendering live in a shared Zig core called libghostty, which the Mac and Linux apps both link against. It supports the Kitty graphics protocol, hyperlinks, native tabs and splits, a drop-down terminal, and macOS-specific APIs such as Quick Look and window state recovery. It is free and open source under the MIT licence. It suits developers who want a modern terminal that behaves like a Mac app rather than a port.
Verified product facts
- Type
- terminal emulatorEditorially reviewed
- Platform
- macOS
- Pricing
- Open sourceDeveloper-stated
- Open source
- Yes
- Relationship to Nuanyue
- Third-party product — not published by NuanyueEditorially reviewed
- Licence
- MIT
- Current version
- 1.3.1Developer-stated
- Official website
- ghostty.org/
Last updated . Facts marked developer-stated come from the developer and are not independently confirmed; editorially reviewed marks a Nuanyue judgement.
Key features
What Ghostty does at a glance.
GPU-accelerated rendering
Using Metal on macOS
A native macOS app
Written in Swift with AppKit and SwiftUI
Terminal emulation, font handling and rendering
In a shared Zig core, libghostty
Native tabs and splits rather than custom-drawn widgets
Drop-down terminal on macOS
Kitty graphics protocol support
For image-capable terminal applications
Quick Look, force touch and the macOS secure input API
Built-in window state recovery on restart
Theme switching
Follows the system light or dark mode
Hyperlinks and light/dark mode notifications
In terminal output
What you can use Ghostty for
- Running Neovim or other tools that use the Kitty graphics protocol to display images
- Keeping a drop-down terminal one keystroke away on macOS
- Using a terminal that follows the system appearance automatically
Who is Ghostty for?
- Developers who want a terminal that looks and behaves like a native Mac app
- Users of image-capable terminal applications such as Neovim
Who is Ghostty not for?
- Anyone who needs to build on libghostty today — it is not yet a stable, standalone library
- Users who need a Windows application, since the project's own apps target macOS and Linux
Limitations
- libghostty is not yet a stable API and has not been released as a standalone stable library
- The macOS and Linux apps use different toolkits, so the experience is not identical across platforms
- The minimum macOS version is not stated in the sources Nuanyue tracks
- Apple Silicon support is not stated in the sources Nuanyue tracks
Strengths and trade-offs
What Ghostty does well, and what to weigh before choosing it. Points marked developer-stated come from the developer’s own material and have not been independently confirmed.
Strengths
- Renders through the GPU, using Metal on macOS, rather than a software renderer.Developer-stated
- The macOS app is a genuine native application written in Swift with AppKit and SwiftUI.Developer-stated
- Terminal emulation, font handling and rendering are shared with the Linux app through a single core, libghostty.Developer-stated
- Supports native tabs, splits and a drop-down terminal on macOS.Developer-stated
- Implements the Kitty graphics protocol, so image-capable terminal applications work.Developer-stated
- Free and open source under the MIT licence.
Trade-offs
- libghostty is not yet a stable API and has not been released as a standalone stable library, so it cannot be relied on as a building block today.
- The macOS and Linux apps are built on different toolkits, so behaviour differs between platforms.
- The minimum macOS version is not published in the sources Nuanyue tracks, so the OS floor has to be checked before installing.Editorially reviewed
First-use experience
What the app asks of you when you set it up. Only established facts appear here; anything we could not confirm is left out rather than guessed at.
- Installation
- A macOS disk image published by the project, or installation through a package manager.
- First launch Developer-stated
- No account is required; Ghostty uses different default key bindings on macOS and Linux to match each platform's conventions.
- System integration Developer-stated
- Uses macOS-specific APIs including Quick Look, force touch, the secure input API and window state recovery on restart.
What it does
Ghostty is a terminal emulator with tabs, splits, a drop-down terminal and support for the Kitty graphics protocol, so applications such as Neovim can draw images as well as text. It also hooks into macOS APIs that have no equivalent elsewhere — Quick Look, force touch, the secure input API, and window state recovery so that a restart brings the windows back.
Native, and why that matters
The project’s argument is that terminals have historically forced a choice between speed, features and a native interface. Ghostty aims for all three. On macOS that means the interface is written in Swift with AppKit and SwiftUI and renders through Metal, and it uses standard macOS keyboard and mouse conventions rather than a single set of bindings shared across platforms.
libghostty
The architecture behind that is libghostty: a cross-platform core, written in Zig, that provides terminal emulation, font handling and rendering, with the macOS and Linux apps as consumers of it. The separation is what lets each app use its platform’s own toolkit. It is also the project’s stated intent to let other terminal emulators build on the same core — but as of the initial release the library is not yet a stable API and has not been released as a standalone library, so that remains a direction rather than a supported feature.
Questions about Ghostty
Is Ghostty free?
Yes. Ghostty is free and open source under the MIT licence.
Is Ghostty a native Mac app?
Yes. On macOS the interface is written in Swift and uses AppKit and SwiftUI, and it renders through Metal. It is not a cross-platform toolkit app dressed up for macOS.Developer-stated
What is libghostty?
It is the shared cross-platform core providing terminal emulation, font handling and rendering, which the macOS and Linux apps both consume. As of the initial public release it is not yet a stable API or a standalone library.
Does Ghostty support images in the terminal?
Yes. It implements the Kitty graphics protocol, which lets applications such as Neovim display images rather than only text.Developer-stated
Alternatives to Ghostty
Apps that could replace this one — the same job, a different trade-off.
Alacritty
Minimal GPU-accelerated terminal emulator, still in beta.
Both are GPU-accelerated terminal emulators, but Alacritty keeps to a minimal, configuration-first design while Ghostty adds native tabs, splits and a drop-down terminal.
Competitors
Direct competitors: overlapping features aimed at the same users.
iTerm2
Terminal emulator with split panes, search and shell integration.
Both are established terminals on macOS, but iTerm2 has the longer feature history while Ghostty is built around a native UI and a shared core.
Similar apps
Related in purpose, but not a straight swap.
kitty
GPU-accelerated terminal emulator that pioneered the graphics protocol.
Both are feature-rich GPU terminals, but Kitty is a cross-platform application with its own windowing model while Ghostty builds on each platform's native toolkit.
WezTerm
GPU-accelerated terminal emulator and multiplexer written in Rust.
Both are GPU-accelerated terminals, but WezTerm ships as one cross-platform application while Ghostty builds a native app per platform.
Links
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the sources below. Last updated .
- Ghostty — official websiteGrade B
- Ghostty — documentationGrade C
- Ghostty — source repositoryGrade D
