KTREM
Migration note: Terminal’s maintained application and terminal engine are written in Ziran (.zi) and build with current Kryon modules. Native graphical input, font fallback, Rill integration and fresh locked release builds remain migration work.
Terminal emulator · Ziran migration Terminal

Terminal

Terminal is KryonLabs’ Terminal application, written in Ziran and using Kryon for its interface and platform hosts. Recorded benchmarks describe an earlier transition build; the complete native and release validation remains in progress.

View benchmarks Parity matrix Build locally
Terminal - benchmarks
1: shell 2: build 3: logs 
$ terminal -x make test --tab
ok terminal

$ make benchmark-parser
ansi_flood        27 ms
unicode_table      7 ms
dense_sgr         13 ms
resize_reflow    739 ms

Alt+1..Alt+8 switch tabs directly.
Recorded benchmark snapshot In the recorded synthetic suite, Terminal beat xfce4-terminal averages for measured output workloads. These results are not a current release guarantee.
Recorded Xvfb workflows Terminal averages 158.7 ms on live resize, 206.3 ms on clipboard paste, and 613.0 ms on find workflow under Xvfb.
Legacy Kryon dependency The terminal app lives in Terminal. Maintained sources are Ziran; legacy inputs are deleted module by module.

Benchmarks

Recorded comparison with xfce4-terminal

These archived results came from a GUI suite that ran both terminals inside Xvfb. They are averages across three isolated runs with KTREM_ACTIVE_FPS=1000 and KTREM_PTY_BURST_MS=8. The clipboard and find workloads send the same held shortcuts to both terminals.

Workload Terminal avg xfce4-terminal avg State
Startup payload0.0 ms1.7 msmatched
ANSI flood, 18k lines81.7 ms187.0 msfaster
Unicode table, 6k lines18.0 ms93.0 msfaster
Alternate-screen redraw22.3 ms61.0 msfaster
Dense SGR styling84.0 ms91.3 msfaster avg
Long wrapped output42.7 ms114.0 msfaster
Scrollback flood86.7 ms107.7 msfaster
Cursor matrix updates72.7 ms124.3 msfaster
External clipboard paste206.3 ms256.7 msfaster
External find dialog613.0 ms635.7 msfaster avg
Paste-like burst 69.3 ms

xfce4-terminal measured 154.7 ms on the same synthetic workload.

Hyperlink grid 76.7 ms

OSC 8 link-heavy output, compared with xfce4-terminal at 276.7 ms.

Resize replay 739 ms

Parser-only repeated reflow improved from 2393 ms after streaming reflow work.

Live resize 158.7 ms

120 external X window resizes under Xvfb; xfce4-terminal averaged 177.3 ms.

Clipboard paste 206.3 ms

29-line X clipboard payload pasted with Ctrl+Shift+V into a raw-mode target; xfce4-terminal averaged 256.7 ms.

Find workflow 613.0 ms

Ctrl+Shift+F over an 18k-line corpus, submit, close, and return to PTY input; xfce4-terminal averaged 635.7 ms.

Parity

Close, but not declared done

Terminal is already competitive on synthetic throughput and has a large terminal-compatibility surface. The remaining work is about server/drop-down behavior, packaging, and broader real-desktop validation.

Implemented

  • Tabs with Alt+1 through Alt+8 direct switching.
  • Search across scrollback and visible terminal content.
  • Copy, paste, primary selection, bracketed paste, and OSC 52 clipboard handling.
  • OSC 8 hyperlinks with Ctrl-click opening.
  • Profiles, font path, font size, colors, scrollback, cursor style, and session restore.
  • Sixel images, mouse reporting, alternate screen, xterm title/color controls, and XTGETTCAP reports.

Xfce launch coverage

  • --command, -e, --execute, and -x.
  • --working-directory, --default-working-directory, --title, and --geometry.
  • --fullscreen, --maximize, --drop-down, and border visibility flags.
  • --tab multi-spec launch up to the current 8-tab session limit.

Remaining before a full alternative claim

  • Broader workflow validation beyond the recorded Xvfb benchmark suite.
  • Broader live-resize validation across real desktop window managers.
  • Real multi-window launch and single-instance command server behavior.
  • Repeated-invocation drop-down visibility toggle.
  • Fontconfig-backed fallback for missing glyphs beyond static fallback paths.
  • Desktop file, icon packaging, release assets, and terminfo decision.

Features

Built for real terminal work

Fast output path

PTY output uses an adaptive active-output cadence and bounded drain burst to keep heavy shell output moving without locking the idle UI to a high frame rate.

Familiar keyboard model

Tab navigation, copy/paste, find, zoom, page scrolling, and direct tab switching follow the shortcuts terminal users expect.

Terminal compatibility

SGR styling, alternate screen, mouse modes, focus reporting, sixel, xterm OSC controls, modifyOtherKeys, and DEC private reports are covered in the parser.

Kryon integration

The application uses current Kryon modules for windowing, rendering, input, themes and platform hooks. Terminal behavior stays in Terminal’s Ziran modules. Native graphical input, font fallback and embedded desktop integration still need complete application checks.

Install

Check Terminal locally

Install Ziran on your PATH and the Linux build dependencies listed in the README. The application uses Git-backed Ziran packages and the committed dependency lock. Window checks run on a private display; native and release validation remains in progress.

git clone https://github.com/kryonlabs/terminal.git
cd terminal
make -j1
make standalone-window-test
make pane-ziran-test
make install

Roadmap

Remaining engineering plan

1

Broaden benchmark coverage

Add longer real-desktop workflow runs beside the existing output, clipboard paste, find, and live-resize Xvfb suites.

2

Close launch/server parity

Add real separate windows, single-instance command routing, and drop-down toggle behavior.

3

Fix missing glyphs completely

Add fontconfig fallback so box drawing, Powerline, CJK, symbols, Greek, and Cyrillic can resolve from installed system fonts.

4

Move renderer work into Kryon where reusable

Keep Terminal logic in Terminal, but add reusable Kryon primitives for a retained GPU terminal-grid renderer when the design is proven.