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Color palette (OSC 4)

Category: extensions · Tags: Operating System Commands (OSC), Xterm Extensions · Specification ↗

ESC ] 4 ; c ; spec BEL
OSC 4 changes or queries individual entries in the 256-color palette (indices 0-255). To set a color: ESC ] 4 ; c ; spec BEL where c is the palette index and spec is an X11 color specification (e.g. rgb:FF/00/00). To query: ESC ] 4 ; c ; ? BEL — the terminal responds with the current color in rgb:RR/GG/BB format. Applications use this to customize the terminal palette at runtime, e.g. for theme switching or to ensure specific colors match a design system.
How this is tested: Query palette color 0 with OSC 4 ; 0 ; ? BEL, verify response matches OSC 4 ; 0 ; rgb:... pattern.
Analysis2026-04-06

Supported by 3 of 8 terminals (38%). Not supported by: vterm.js, vt100.js, Alacritty, WezTerm, xterm.js. Part of the Modern TUI baseline.

Supported by 3 of 14 backends (21%)

Terminal Applications

TerminalVersionSupportNotes
iTerm23.6.9✓ yes
Ghostty1.3.1✓ yes
Kitty0.46.2✓ yesOSC 4 color query requires a real display — headless backends have no color palette to query
VS Code1.113.0? unknown
Warp0.2026.03.18.08.24.03? unknown
Cursor2.6.21? unknown
Terminal.app2.15? unknown

Headless Backends

Parser correctness only — a means the parser accepts the sequence.

BackendVersionSupportNotes
Alacritty0.26.0✗ noOSC 4 color query requires a real display — headless backends have no color palette to query
vt100.js0.2.1✗ noNot implemented — pure TypeScript emulator
vterm0.2.0✗ noOSC 4 color query not implemented in vterm.js
WezTerm0.1.0-fork.5✗ noOSC 4 color query requires a real display — headless backends have no color palette to query
xterm.js5.5.0✗ noOSC 4 color query requires a real display — headless backends have no color palette to query