Appearance
Kitty graphics: Unicode placeholders
Unicode placeholders (
U=1) allow images to be placed using special Unicode characters in the text grid rather than absolute positioning. The terminal replaces placeholder characters with image content. This enables images to participate in text reflow, scrolling, and selection — unlike absolutely-positioned images which are fixed to screen coordinates.How this is tested: Transmit a test image with
U=1 (Unicode placeholder mode). Check response for success.Analysis2026-03-29
Supported by 2 of 13 terminals (15%). Part of the Rich TUI baseline.
Supported by 2 of 18 backends (11%)
Terminal Applications
| Terminal | Version | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal.app | 2.15 | ✓ yes | |
| iTerm2 | 3.6.9 | ✗ no | No response with U=1 |
| cmux | ✗ no | U=1 didn't render | |
| Ghostty | 1.3.1 | ✗ no | U=1 didn't render |
| Kitty | 0.46.2 | ✗ no | U=1 didn't render |
| VS Code | 1.113.0 | ✗ no | U=1 didn't render |
| Warp | 0.2026.03.18.08.24.03 | ✗ no | U=1 didn't render |
| Cursor | 2.6.21 | ✗ no | U=1 didn't render |
Headless Backends
Parser correctness only — a ✓ means the parser accepts the sequence.
| Backend | Version | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| vterm | 0.2.0 | ✓ yes | |
| Alacritty | 0.26.0 | ✗ no | Kitty graphics not implemented in alacritty |
| vt100.js | 0.2.1 | ✗ no | Not implemented — pure TypeScript emulator |
| WezTerm | 0.1.0-fork.5 | ✗ no | Kitty graphics not implemented in wezterm-term crate |
| xterm.js | 5.5.0 | ? unknown | Kitty graphics protocol not implemented in xterm.js |
| xterm.js | 6.0.0 | ? unknown | Kitty graphics protocol not implemented in xterm.js |
| xterm.js | 5.4.0 | ? unknown | Kitty graphics protocol not implemented in xterm.js |
| xterm.js | 6.1.0-beta.195 | ? unknown | Kitty graphics protocol not implemented in xterm.js |