mxtty

README

mxtty

• Multimedia Terminal Emulator
• How It Works
• Whats Left To Do
  • Escape Codes
    • VT100
    • VT52 mode
    • VT200 mode
    • Tektronix 4014 mode
    • Window management codes
    • Extended features
    • Common application support
  • Application Usability
  • Tmux Integration
• Supported Platforms
• Install Guide
• How To Support

Multimedia Terminal Emulator

The aim of this project is to provide an easy to use terminal emulator that supports inlining multimedia widgets using native code as opposed to web technologies like Electron.

Currently the project is very alpha.

The idea behind this terminal emulator is that is can be used by any $SHELL, however hooks will be built into Murex so the terminal will be instantly usable even before wider support across other shells and command line applications is adopted.

At its heart, mxtty is a regular terminal emulator. Like Kitty, iTerm2, and PuTTY (to name a few). But where mxtty differs is that it also supports inlining rich content. Some terminal emulators support inlining images. Others might also allow videos. But none bar some edge case Electron terminals offer collapsible trees for JSON printouts. Easy to navigate directory views. Nor any other interactive elements that we have come to expect on modern user interfaces.

The few terminal emulators that do attempt to offer this usually fail to be good, or even just compatible, with all the CLI tools that we've come to depend on.

mxtty aims to do both well. Even if you never want for any interactive widgets, mxtty will be a good terminal emulator. And for those who want a little more GUI in their CLI, mxtty will be a great modern user interface.

How It Works

mxtty uses SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) which is a simple hardware-assisted multimedia library. This enables the terminal emulator to be both performant and also cross-platform. Essentially providing some of the conveniences that people have come to love from tools like Electron while still offering the benefits of native code.

The multimedia and interactive components will be passed from the controlling terminal applications via ANSI escape sequences. Before groan, yes I agree that in-band escape sequences are a lousy way of encoding meta-information. However to succeed at being a good terminal emulator, it needs to support some historic design decisions no matter how archaic they might seem today. This allows mxtty to work with existing terminal applications and for third parties to easily add support for their applications to render rich content in mxtty without breaking compatibility for legacy terminal emulators.

Whats Left To Do

In short, a lot!! Some of what has been detailed above is still aspirational. Some of it has already been delivered but in a very alpha state. And while there is lots of error handling and unit tests, test coverage is still pretty low and exceptions will crash the terminal (quite deliberately, because I want to see where the application fails).

Below is a high level TODO list of features and compatibility. If an item is ticked but not working as expected, then please raise an issue in Github.

Escape Codes

VT100

• C1 codes
  • common: can run most CLI applications
  • broad: can run older or more CLI applications
  • complete: xterm compatible
• CSI codes
  • common: can run most CLI applications
  • broad: can run older or more complicated CLI applications
  • complete: xterm compatible
• SGR codes
  • common: can run most CLI applications
  • broad: can run older or more complicated CLI applications
  • complete: xterm compatible
• OSC codes
  • common: can run most CLI applications
  • broad: can run older or more complicated CLI applications
  • complete: xterm compatible
• DCS codes
  • common: can run most CLI applications
  • broad: can run older or more complicated CLI applications
  • complete: xterm compatible
• PM codes (out of scope)
  • common: can run most CLI applications
  • broad: can run older or more complicated CLI applications
  • xterm compatible
• Alt character sets
• Wide characters
  • vt100 (ASCII characters)
  • Unicode (eg logograph-centric languages)
• Keyboard
  • Ctrl modifiers
  • Alt modifiers
  • Shift modifiers
  • special keys (eg function keys, number pad, etc)
• Mouse tracking
  • common: can run most CLI applications
  • broad: can run older or more complicated CLI applications
  • complete: xterm compatible

VT52 mode

• cursor movements
• special modes

VT200 mode

Tektronix 4014 mode

• graphics plotting
• text rendering

Window management codes

eg xterm and similar terminal emulators

• titlebar can be changed
• window can be moved and resized (WILL NOT IMPLEMENT)
• window can be minimized and restored

Extended features

• Hyperlink support
• Bracketed paste mode
• Inlining images
  • mxtty codes
  • iterm2 compatible
  • sixel graphics
  • ReGIS graphics
• Code folding
  • alpha: available but expect changes to the API
  • stable: available to use in Murex
• Table sorting
  • alpha: available but expect changes to the API
  • stable: available to use in Murex

Common application support

• Supports tmux
  • usable
  • glitch-free
• Supports vim
  • usable
  • glitch-free
• Supports murex
  • usable
  • glitch-free

Application Usability

• Terminal can be resized
• Scrollback history
  • usability hints added
• discoverability hints added
• Typeface can be changed
• Colour scheme can be changed
• Bell can be changed
• Default term size can be changed
• Default command / shell can be changed

Tmux Integration

• Supports single pane
• Supports multiple panes
• Supports multiple windows
• Hotkey passthrough

Supported Platforms

Support for the following platforms is planned:

• Linux
  • tested on Arch
  • tested on Ubuntu
  • tested on Rocky
• BSD
  • tested on FreeBSD
  • tested on NetBSD
  • tested on OpenBSD
  • tested on DragonflyBSD
• macOS
  • tested on 12.x, Monterey
  • tested on 13.x, Ventura
  • tested on 14.x, Sonoma
  • tested on 15.x, Sequoia
• Windows
  • PTY support implemented
  • tested on Windows 10
  • tested on Windows 11

Install Guide

Currently mxtty can only be compiled from source.

To do so you will need the following installed:

• C compiler (eg GNU C)
• Go compiler
• SDL libraries
  • sdl2
  • sdl2_ttf
  • sdl2_mixer
• pkg-config

Aside from that, it's as easy as running go build . from the git repository root directory.

How To Support

Regardless of your time and skill set, there are multiple ways you can support this project:

• Contributing code: This could be bug fixes, new features, or even just correcting any typos.

• Testing: There is a plethora of different software that needs to run inside a terminal emulator and a multitude of distinct platforms that this could run on. Any support testing mxtty would be greatly appreciated.

• Documentation: This is possibly the hardest part of any project to get right. Eventually documentation for this will follow the same structure as Murex Rocks (albeit its own website) however, for now, any documentation written in markdown is better than none.

• Architecture discussions: I'm always open to discussing code theory. And if it results in building a better terminal emulator, then that is a worthwhile discussion to have.

• Porting escape codes to other applications: Currently Murex is the pioneer for supporting mxtty-specific ANSI escape codes. However it would be good to see some of these extensions expanded out further. Maybe even to a point where this terminal emulator isn't required any more than a place to beta test future proposed escape sequences.