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Kitty graphics: display โ€‹

Category: extensions ยท Tags: Kitty ยท Specification โ†—

The display/placement action (a=p) places a previously transmitted image at a screen position. Supports specifying rows/columns, z-index, and cropping. This separation of transmit and display enables efficient re-use โ€” transmit once, place many times.
How this is tested: Transmit a test image, then place it with a=p. Check for acknowledgment.
Analysis2026-03-29

Supported by 6 of 13 terminals (46%). Part of the Rich TUI baseline.

Supported by 6 of 18 backends (33%)

Terminal Applications โ€‹

TerminalVersionSupportNotes
cmuxโœ“ yes
Ghostty1.3.1โœ“ yes
Kitty0.46.2โœ“ yes
Warp0.2026.03.18.08.24.03โœ“ yes
Terminal.app2.15โœ“ yes
iTerm23.6.9โœ— noNo kitty graphics display response
VS Code1.113.0โœ— noDisplay didn't render
Cursor2.6.21โœ— noDisplay didn't render

Headless Backends โ€‹

Parser correctness only โ€” a โœ“ means the parser accepts the sequence.

BackendVersionSupportNotes
vterm0.2.0โœ“ yes
Alacritty0.26.0โœ— noKitty graphics not implemented in alacritty
vt100.js0.2.1โœ— noNot implemented โ€” pure TypeScript emulator
WezTerm0.1.0-fork.5โœ— noKitty graphics not implemented in wezterm-term crate
xterm.js5.5.0? unknownKitty graphics protocol not implemented in xterm.js
xterm.js6.0.0? unknownKitty graphics protocol not implemented in xterm.js
xterm.js5.4.0? unknownKitty graphics protocol not implemented in xterm.js
xterm.js6.1.0-beta.195? unknownKitty graphics protocol not implemented in xterm.js

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