Ghostel.el: Emacs terminal emulator built on libghostty
Original: Ghostel.el: Terminal emulator powered by libghostty
Why This Matters
Brings modern terminal protocol support (Kitty, OSC 8, DEC 2026) natively into the Emacs ecosystem.
Ghostel.el is a new Emacs terminal emulator package powered by libghostty-vt, the same VT engine used in the Ghostty terminal. It uses a native dynamic module written in Zig for terminal state and PTY I/O, with Elisp handling keymaps, buffers, and remote integration.
Ghostel.el is an open-source Emacs terminal emulator that leverages libghostty-vt — the core VT engine behind the Ghostty terminal application. The project follows a two-layer architecture inspired by emacs-libvterm: a native dynamic module written in Zig manages terminal state, rendering, and local PTY I/O, while Elisp handles keymaps, buffer management, commands, and TRAMP-based remote process integration.
Unlike vterm, which relies on libvterm, Ghostel brings support for the Kitty keyboard protocol, Kitty graphics protocol (inline images), rich underline styles, OSC 8 hyperlinks, OSC 4/10/11 color queries, and synchronized output (DEC 2026) — features not available in libvterm.
The native module is automatically downloaded on first use, requiring no local toolchain for typical installations. The package is available via MELPA and supports use-package with :vc for Emacs 30+. Additional features include multiple input modes (semi-char, char, Emacs, copy, line), shell integration, TRAMP remote terminal support, password prompt detection, bookmark support, compilation mode integration, Evil-mode compatibility, and Eshell/Comint integration. Users can launch a terminal session with M-x ghostel.