256-color fg (SGR 38;5)

Category: sgr · Tags: Xterm Extensions · Specification ↗

SGR 38;5;N sets the foreground to one of 256 colors. The sequence is ESC [ 38;5;N m where N is 0-255. Colors 0-7 are the standard colors, 8-15 are bright, 16-231 are a 6x6x6 color cube, and 232-255 are a grayscale ramp. This palette provides a reasonable range of colors that works across most modern terminals without requiring truecolor support.

Supported by 5 of 6 backends (83%)

Support Matrix

Backend	Version	Support	Notes
Alacritty	0.26.0	✓ yes
Ghostty	1.3.1	✓ yes
Kitty	0.40.0	✓ yes
vt100	0.1.0	✓ yes
xterm.js	5.5.0	✓ yes
WezTerm	0.1.0-fork.5	~ partial	Backend returns palette index instead of resolved RGB

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