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Rich TUI Baseline

Advanced features for cutting-edge TUIs

Cutting-edge terminal capabilities that enable the richest user experiences: the Kitty keyboard protocol (unambiguous key reporting with modifiers and release events), Kitty graphics protocol and Sixel for inline images, OSC 8 hyperlinks (clickable links in terminal output), OSC 52 clipboard access, extended underline styles (curly, dotted, dashed) with independent underline colors, semantic prompt markers (OSC 133), and text reflow on terminal resize.

21 features in this baseline

Analysis2026-03-26

0 of 8 tested terminals achieve 100% Rich TUI compliance. Lagging: Kitty (60%), Terminal.app (60%), Cursor (67%). Most commonly missing: Tertiary Device Attributes (DA3), Kitty graphics protocol, XTGETTCAP (Query Terminfo).

Compliance Scorecard

Terminal Applications

iTerm2

86%18 / 21

Ghostty

71%15 / 21

VS Code

67%14 / 21

Warp

62%13 / 21

Cursor

57%12 / 21

Kitty

57%12 / 21

Terminal.app

57%12 / 21

Headless Backends

vterm

86%18 / 21

Alacritty

57%12 / 21

WezTerm

67%14 / 21

vt100

43%9 / 21

Guidance

For Developers

Rich features enable experiences that were previously impossible in terminals — clickable links, inline images, precise keyboard input. Use feature detection (via DA1 responses or DECRPM queries) and degrade gracefully when unavailable.

For Terminal Authors

Rich compliance differentiates your terminal. The Kitty keyboard protocol is the most impactful single feature — it solves decades of terminal input ambiguity. Ghostty, Kitty, WezTerm, and foot lead here.

Features

Terminal Applications

Feature	iTerm2	Ghostty	VS Code	Warp	Cursor	Kitty	Terminal.app
Reverse Wrap (Mode 45)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Selective Erase (DECSED)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Pixel Mouse Reporting (1016)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
urxvt Mouse Reporting (1015)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Left/Right Margins (DECLRMM, Mode 69)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Kitty keyboard protocol	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	✗	✗
Kitty graphics protocol	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Sixel graphics	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✓	✓
Hyperlinks (OSC 8)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Text reflow on resize	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Semantic prompts (OSC 133)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
OSC 633 VS Code Integration	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Desktop Notifications (OSC 9/777)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
iTerm2 Inline Images	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Tertiary Device Attributes (DA3)	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
DECRQSS (Request Setting)	✓	✓	✓	✗	✓	✗	✗
XTGETTCAP (Query Terminfo)	✓	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Terminal Version (XTVERSION)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✗	✗	✗
TERM_FEATURES env var	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Cell Size Reporting (OSC 1337)	✓	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗
Capability Reporting (OSC 1337)	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗	✗

Headless Backends

Parser correctness tested via Termless. A ✓ means the parser accepts the sequence, not that it renders correctly.

Feature	vterm	Alacritty	WezTerm	vt100
Reverse Wrap (Mode 45)	✓	✓	✓	✓
Selective Erase (DECSED)	✓	✓	✓	✓
Pixel Mouse Reporting (1016)	✓	✓	✓	✓
urxvt Mouse Reporting (1015)	✓	✓	✓	✓
Left/Right Margins (DECLRMM, Mode 69)	✓	✓	✓	✓
Kitty keyboard protocol	✓	✓	✓	✗
Kitty graphics protocol	✓	✗	✗	✗
Sixel graphics	✓	✗	✓	✗
Hyperlinks (OSC 8)	✓	✓	✓	✗
Text reflow on resize	✓	✓	✓	✗
Semantic prompts (OSC 133)	✓	✗	✓	✗
OSC 633 VS Code Integration	✓	✓	✓	✓
Desktop Notifications (OSC 9/777)	✓	✓	✓	✓
iTerm2 Inline Images	✓	✓	✓	✓
Tertiary Device Attributes (DA3)	✓	✗	✗	✗
DECRQSS (Request Setting)	✓	✗	✗	✗
XTGETTCAP (Query Terminfo)	✓	✗	✗	✗
Terminal Version (XTVERSION)	✓	✓	✓	✓
TERM_FEATURES env var	?	?	?	?
Cell Size Reporting (OSC 1337)	?	?	?	?
Capability Reporting (OSC 1337)	?	?	?	?

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