Ghostel

Emacs terminal emulator powered by libghostty-vt — the same VT engine that drives the Ghostty terminal.

Ghostel is inspired by emacs-libvterm: a native dynamic module handles terminal state and rendering, while Elisp manages the shell process, keymap, and buffer.

Requirements

Emacs 27.1+ with dynamic module support
macOS or Linux

The native module is automatically downloaded on first use. Pre-built binaries are available for:

aarch64-macos (Apple Silicon)
x86_64-macos (Intel Mac)
x86_64-linux
aarch64-linux

If you prefer to build from source or need a different platform, you'll also need Zig 0.15.2+ (see Building from source).

Installation

MELPA

(use-package ghostel
  :ensure t)

use-package with vc (Emacs 30+)

(use-package ghostel
  :vc (:url "https://github.com/dakra/ghostel"
       :lisp-dir "lisp"
       :rev :newest))

NOTE: :lisp-dir "lisp" is only required on Emacs <31.1

use-package with load-path

(use-package ghostel
  :load-path "/path/to/ghostel")

Manual

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/ghostel")
(require 'ghostel)

Then M-x ghostel to open a terminal.

Native module

When the native module is missing, Ghostel will offer to download a pre-built binary or compile from source (controlled by ghostel-module-auto-install, default ask). You can also trigger these manually:

M-x ghostel-download-module — download the minimum supported pre-built binary
C-u M-x ghostel-download-module — choose a specific release tag (leave blank for latest)
M-x ghostel-module-compile — build from source via zig build

Building from source

Building is only needed if you don't want to use the pre-built binaries. Ghostel vendors a generated vendor/emacs-module.h, so normal builds do not require local Emacs headers. If you want to override the vendored header, set EMACS_INCLUDE_DIR to a directory containing emacs-module.h, or set EMACS_BIN_DIR to an Emacs bin/ directory and Ghostel will look for ../include and ../share/emacs/include.

git clone https://github.com/dakra/ghostel.git
cd ghostel

# Build everything (fetches ghostty automatically via Zig package manager)
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast

To override the vendored Emacs header, set EMACS_INCLUDE_DIR to a directory containing emacs-module.h, or set EMACS_BIN_DIR to an Emacs bin/ directory.

To build against a local ghostty checkout, temporarily point the dependency at your local path:

zig fetch --save=ghostty /path/to/ghostty
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast

Building from source (MELPA install)

When installed from MELPA, M-x ghostel-module-compile builds the native module from source using zig build. Zig's package manager fetches the ghostty dependency automatically.

Alternatively, download a pre-built binary via M-x ghostel-download-module (or C-u M-x ghostel-download-module to pick a specific release).

The compiled xterm-ghostty terminfo entry ships pre-built in etc/terminfo/ and is identical to what tic would produce locally — no build step needed, and the file format is portable across BSD and ncurses systems. Maintainers regenerate it via make regen-terminfo after bumping libghostty.

Shell Integration

Shell integration (directory tracking via OSC 7, prompt navigation via OSC 133, etc.) is automatic for bash, zsh, and fish. No changes to your shell configuration files are needed.

This is controlled by ghostel-shell-integration (default t). Set it to nil to disable auto-injection and source the scripts manually instead:

Manual shell integration

bash — add to ~/.bashrc:

[[ "$INSIDE_EMACS" = 'ghostel' ]] && source "$EMACS_GHOSTEL_PATH/etc/shell/ghostel.bash"

zsh — add to ~/.zshrc:

[[ "$INSIDE_EMACS" = 'ghostel' ]] && source "$EMACS_GHOSTEL_PATH/etc/shell/ghostel.zsh"

fish — add to ~/.config/fish/config.fish:

test "$INSIDE_EMACS" = 'ghostel'; and source "$EMACS_GHOSTEL_PATH/etc/shell/ghostel.fish"

Key Bindings

Terminal mode

Key	Action
Most keys	Sent directly to the terminal
`C-c C-c`	Send interrupt (C-c)
`C-c C-z`	Send suspend (C-z)
`C-c C-d`	Send EOF (C-d)
`C-c C-\`	Send quit (C-)
`C-c C-t`	Enter copy mode
`C-c M-w`	Copy entire scrollback to kill ring
`C-y`	Yank from kill ring (bracketed paste)
`M-y`	Yank-pop (cycle through kill ring)
`C-c C-y`	Paste from kill ring
`C-c C-l`	Clear scrollback
`C-c C-n`	Jump to next hyperlink
`C-c C-p`	Jump to previous hyperlink
`C-c M-n`	Jump to next prompt
`C-c M-p`	Jump to previous prompt
`C-c C-q`	Send next key literally (escape hatch)
Mouse wheel	Scroll through scrollback

Keys listed in ghostel-keymap-exceptions (default: C-c, C-x, C-u, C-h, C-g, M-x, M-o, M-:, C-\) pass through to Emacs.

Copy mode

Enter with C-c C-t. Standard Emacs navigation works. Normal letter keys exit copy mode and send the key to the terminal.

Key	Action
`C-SPC`	Set mark
`M-w` / `C-w`	Copy selection and exit
`C-n` / `C-p`	Move line (scrolls at edges)
`M-v` / `C-v`	Scroll page up / down
`M-<` / `M->`	Jump to top / bottom of buffer
`C-c C-n`	Jump to next hyperlink
`C-c C-p`	Jump to previous hyperlink
`C-c M-n`	Jump to next prompt
`C-c M-p`	Jump to previous prompt
`C-l`	Recenter viewport
`C-c C-t`	Exit without copying
`a`–`z`	Exit and send key to terminal

Soft-wrapped newlines are automatically stripped from copied text.

The full scrollback is always rendered into the buffer as styled text, so isearch, consult-line, occur, M-x flush-lines, C-x h to select all, and any other buffer-based command work across the full history — even outside copy mode.

Features

Terminal Emulation

Full VT terminal emulation via libghostty-vt
256-color and RGB (24-bit true color) support
TERM=xterm-ghostty with bundled terminfo — apps that consult terminfo for capabilities (Claude Code, neovim, tmux, modern TUIs) discover synchronized output (DEC 2026), Kitty keyboard protocol, true color, colored underlines, focus reporting, etc., and use their fast paths. Synchronized output in particular eliminates the choppy partial-redraw effect when Claude Code repaints over a large scrollback. OSC 52 (clipboard) is supported but intentionally not advertised in the bundled terminfo — see Clipboard below. Override via ghostel-term.
OSC 4 / 10 / 11 color queries — TUI programs can query the current palette, foreground, and background colors, so tools like duf, btop, delta, and anything else using termenv auto-detect the right light/dark theme from the Emacs face colors
OSC 9 / OSC 777 — desktop notifications and ConEmu progress reports (percentage shown in the mode line; see Notifications and Progress)
Text attributes: bold, italic, faint, underline (single/double/curly/dotted/dashed with color), strikethrough, inverse
Cursor styles: block, bar, underline, hollow block
Alternate screen buffer (for TUI apps like htop, vim, etc.)
Scrollback buffer (configurable, default 5 MB (~5,000 lines), materialized into the Emacs buffer so isearch/consult-line work over history)

Links and File Detection

OSC 8 hyperlinks — clickable URLs emitted by terminal programs (click or RET to open)
Plain-text URL detection — automatically linkifies http:// and https:// URLs even without OSC 8 (toggle with ghostel-enable-url-detection)
File path detection — patterns like /path/to/file.el:42 become clickable, opening the file at the given line (toggle with ghostel-enable-file-detection)

Clipboard

OSC 52 clipboard — terminal programs can set the Emacs kill ring and system clipboard (opt-in via ghostel-enable-osc52, useful for remote SSH sessions). Note: the bundled xterm-ghostty terminfo intentionally does not advertise the Ms capability, so apps don't auto-discover it. This avoids silent clipboard drops when ghostel-enable-osc52 is at its default nil. If you enable OSC 52 and want apps (neovim, tmux) to auto-detect, install upstream Ghostty's terminfo on the same path or override TERMINFO.
Bracketed paste — yank from kill ring sends text as a bracketed paste so shells handle it correctly

Input

Full keyboard input with Ghostty key encoder (respects terminal modes, Kitty keyboard protocol)
Mouse tracking (press, release, drag) via SGR mouse protocol — TUI apps receive full mouse input
Focus events gated by DEC mode 1004
Drag-and-drop (file paths and text)

Shell Integration

Automatic injection for bash, zsh, and fish — no shell RC edits needed
OSC 7 — directory tracking (default-directory follows the shell's cwd, TRAMP-aware for remote hosts)
OSC 133 — semantic prompt markers, enabling prompt-to-prompt navigation with C-c M-n / C-c M-p
OSC 2 — title tracking (buffer is renamed from the terminal title)
OSC 51 — call whitelisted Emacs functions from shell scripts (see Calling Elisp from the Shell)
OSC 52 — clipboard support (opt-in, for remote sessions)
INSIDE_EMACS and EMACS_GHOSTEL_PATH environment variables

TRAMP (Remote Terminals)

When default-directory is a TRAMP path (e.g. /ssh:host:/home/user/), M-x ghostel spawns a shell on the remote host via TRAMP's process machinery. The ghostel-tramp-shells variable controls which shell to use per TRAMP method:

;; Default configuration
(setq ghostel-tramp-shells
      '(("ssh" login-shell)          ; auto-detect via getent
        ("scp" login-shell)
        ("docker" "/bin/sh")))       ; fixed shell for containers

Each entry is (METHOD SHELL [FALLBACK]). SHELL can be a path like "/bin/bash" or the symbol login-shell to auto-detect the remote user's login shell via getent passwd. FALLBACK is used when detection fails.

OSC 7 directory tracking is TRAMP-aware: when the shell reports a remote hostname, default-directory is set to the corresponding TRAMP path, reusing the existing TRAMP prefix (method, user, multi-hop) when available. When no prefix exists, the method defaults to tramp-default-method; set ghostel-tramp-default-method to override it for ghostel specifically (e.g. "scp", or "rpc" with emacs-tramp-rpc).

Remote Shell Integration

By default, shell integration scripts are not injected for remote sessions. There are two ways to enable it:

Option 1: Automatic injection (recommended for convenience)

Set ghostel-tramp-shell-integration to t to have ghostel automatically transfer integration scripts to the remote host:

(setq ghostel-tramp-shell-integration t)

This creates small temporary files on the remote host (cleaned up when the terminal exits). You can also enable it for specific shells only:

(setq ghostel-tramp-shell-integration '(bash zsh))

Option 2: Manual setup (recommended for permanent remote hosts)

Copy the integration scripts from ghostel's etc/shell/ directory to each remote host (e.g. ~/.local/share/ghostel/) and source them from your shell configuration:

bash — add to ~/.bashrc on the remote host:

[[ "$INSIDE_EMACS" = 'ghostel' ]] && source ~/.local/share/ghostel/ghostel.bash

zsh — add to ~/.zshrc on the remote host:

[[ "$INSIDE_EMACS" = 'ghostel' ]] && source ~/.local/share/ghostel/ghostel.zsh

fish — add to ~/.config/fish/config.fish on the remote host:

test "$INSIDE_EMACS" = 'ghostel'; and source ~/.local/share/ghostel/ghostel.fish

The integration scripts provide directory tracking (OSC 7), prompt navigation (OSC 133), and ghostel_cmd for calling Elisp from the shell.

Remote `xterm-ghostty` terminfo

Ghostel sets TERM=xterm-ghostty so apps inside the buffer get the full capability set (synchronized output, Kitty keyboard, etc.). That same TERM value gets inherited by anything spawned inside the buffer — including ssh REMOTE and M-x ghostel from a TRAMP default-directory. Remote hosts without the xterm-ghostty entry will then print Error opening terminal: xterm-ghostty.

ghostel-ssh-install-terminfo (default auto) handles both cases. auto is enabled when ghostel-tramp-shell-integration is on, so turning on remote integration also turns on terminfo install — one switch.

TRAMP-launched ghostel

M-x ghostel from a TRAMP path (/ssh:host:/path/) spawns the shell on the remote. Ghostel pushes the bundled compiled terminfo to a remote temp dir over the existing TRAMP connection (no extra ssh round-trip), sets TERMINFO=<that dir> in the remote shell's env, and cleans up on exit. Both Linux (x/, g/) and macOS (78/, 67/) layouts are written so any ncurses or BSD libcurses finds it. Nothing persists on the remote.

Outbound `ssh` from a local ghostel buffer

The bundled bash/zsh/fish integration shadows ssh with a function that:

Resolves the canonical target via ssh -G (normalises ssh_config aliases).
Looks up the target in ~/.cache/ghostel/ssh-terminfo-cache. The cache key includes a hash of the local terminfo, so libghostty bumps automatically invalidate it. Cache hit → connect with the remembered TERM.
On miss, runs a single setup ssh that probes whether the entry already exists on the remote, and if not, installs it via tic -x - into ~/.terminfo/. Records ok (use xterm-ghostty) or skip (use xterm-256color) in the cache.
Runs the user's actual ssh with the resolved TERM.

The setup ssh is one extra connection per new host. Without ControlMaster you'll see two auth prompts the first time. Strongly recommended:

# ~/.ssh/config
Host *
    ControlMaster auto
    ControlPath   ~/.ssh/cm-%r@%h:%p
    ControlPersist 60s

With this, the setup connection and the real connection share a single auth. Subsequent connections within ControlPersist are free.

The cache key includes a hash of the local terminfo, so libghostty bumps automatically invalidate the cache. It does NOT notice when a remote's terminfo changes out-of-band (system update, manual tic). Run M-x ghostel-ssh-clear-terminfo-cache to force re-probe.

Verified working from macOS to Linux remotes. Mixed macOS-to-macOS or BSD targets inherit tic's native hashed-dir layout (~/.terminfo/<hex>/); infocmp reads the same path so they pair correctly.

Skip-install heuristics:

ssh HOST cmd (user passes a remote command): wrapper skips install for that call to avoid clashing with the user's command. Connects with cached TERM if known, otherwise xterm-256color. The next interactive ssh HOST triggers install.
ssh -V, ssh -h, etc. (no host resolved): pass through.
No infocmp locally: pass through.

Per-call escape: prefix with GHOSTEL_SSH_KEEP_TERM=1 to bypass the wrapper entirely.

Manual install (no auto-machinery)

If you'd rather not have ghostel touch remote hosts (and don't want the auto-cache), set (setq ghostel-ssh-install-terminfo nil) and install the entry yourself once per host.

Pipe the local entry across:

infocmp -x xterm-ghostty | ssh REMOTE 'mkdir -p ~/.terminfo && tic -x -'

Or copy the bundled compiled binary from the package directory:

ssh REMOTE 'mkdir -p ~/.terminfo/x'
scp <package-dir>/etc/terminfo/x/xterm-ghostty REMOTE:~/.terminfo/x/
# Ghostty also looks in 78/ on macOS:
ssh REMOTE 'uname' | grep -q Darwin && {
    ssh REMOTE 'mkdir -p ~/.terminfo/78'
    scp <package-dir>/etc/terminfo/78/xterm-ghostty REMOTE:~/.terminfo/78/
}

After this, every shell on the remote sees xterm-ghostty and ghostel's outbound ssh wrapper is unnecessary.

Drop the Ghostty advertisement entirely

Set (setq ghostel-term "xterm-256color") to drop TERM=xterm-ghostty locally. No advertisement, no terminfo gymnastics, no synchronized output fast-path either.

Rendering

Incremental redraw — only dirty rows are re-rendered
Timer-based batched updates with adaptive frame rate
Immediate redraw for interactive typing echo — small PTY output arriving shortly after a keystroke bypasses the timer, eliminating 16–33ms of latency per keypress
Input coalescing — rapid keystrokes are batched into a single PTY write to reduce syscall overhead
Cursor position updates even without cell changes
Theme-aware color palette (syncs with Emacs theme via ghostel-sync-theme)

Calling Elisp from the Shell

Shell scripts running inside ghostel can call whitelisted Elisp functions via the ghostel_cmd helper (provided by the shell integration scripts):

ghostel_cmd find-file "/path/to/file"
ghostel_cmd message "Hello from the shell"

This uses OSC 51 escape sequences (the same protocol as vterm). Only functions listed in ghostel-eval-cmds are allowed.

Default whitelisted commands:

find-file, find-file-other-window, dired, dired-other-window, message.

Add your own with:

(add-to-list 'ghostel-eval-cmds '("magit-status-setup-buffer" magit-status-setup-buffer))

Example shell aliases (add to your .bashrc / .zshrc):

if [[ "$INSIDE_EMACS" = 'ghostel' ]]; then
    # Open a file in Emacs from the terminal
    e()   { ghostel_cmd find-file-other-window "$@"; }

    # Open dired in another window, defaulting to the current directory
    dow() { ghostel_cmd dired-other-window "${1:-$PWD}"; }

    # Open magit for the current directory
    gst() { ghostel_cmd magit-status-setup-buffer "$(pwd)"; }
fi

Notifications and Progress

Ghostel recognises two notification protocols used by terminal programs:

OSC 9 (iTerm2 form): ESC ] 9 ; BODY ST — body only.
OSC 777 (rxvt notify): ESC ] 777 ; notify ; TITLE ; BODY ST — title + body.

Both route to ghostel-notification-function with (TITLE BODY). The default handler, ghostel-default-notify, uses the alert package when installed — it picks a sensible backend per platform (osascript on macOS, libnotify on Linux, Growl, terminal-notifier, etc.) and is configurable via alert-default-style. Install it from MELPA with M-x package-install RET alert RET.

When alert isn't available, ghostel falls back to message, which only appears in the echo area. Set ghostel-notification-function to nil to silence notifications entirely, or to your own function to route them elsewhere.

ConEmu's OSC 9;4 progress protocol is also recognised: build tools, AI agents like Claude Code, and other long-running commands emit it to report completion percentage. Ghostel dispatches these to ghostel-progress-function with (STATE PROGRESS) where STATE is one of remove, set, error, indeterminate, pause and PROGRESS is an integer 0-100 or nil. The default handler, ghostel-default-progress, updates mode-line-process in the terminal buffer:

[42%] — running at 42% done
[...] — indeterminate progress
[err 73%] — error (shown in the error face)
[paused 25%] — paused
(cleared) — removed

Example: spinner.el in the mode line

For a fancier visual indicator during indeterminate progress, swap ghostel-progress-function for a handler backed by spinner.el:

(require 'spinner)
(defvar-local my/ghostel-spinner nil)
(defun my/ghostel-progress (state progress)
  (pcase state
    ((or 'set 'indeterminate)
     (unless my/ghostel-spinner
       (setq my/ghostel-spinner (spinner-create 'progress-bar t))
       (spinner-start my/ghostel-spinner))
     (when (eq state 'set)
       (setq mode-line-process (format " [%d%%]" (or progress 0)))))
    ((or 'remove 'error 'pause)
     (when my/ghostel-spinner
       (spinner-stop my/ghostel-spinner)
       (setq my/ghostel-spinner nil)))))
(setq ghostel-progress-function #'my/ghostel-progress)

Color Palette

The 16 ANSI colors are defined as Emacs faces inheriting from term-color-*:

ghostel-color-black         ghostel-color-bright-black
ghostel-color-red           ghostel-color-bright-red
ghostel-color-green         ghostel-color-bright-green
ghostel-color-yellow        ghostel-color-bright-yellow
ghostel-color-blue          ghostel-color-bright-blue
ghostel-color-magenta       ghostel-color-bright-magenta
ghostel-color-cyan          ghostel-color-bright-cyan
ghostel-color-white         ghostel-color-bright-white

Themes that customize term-color-* faces automatically apply. Customize individual faces with M-x customize-face.

Default foreground/background are read from the ghostel-default face, which inherits from default. Customize it to give ghostel terminals different default colors than the rest of Emacs (e.g. a dark terminal inside a light Emacs):

(set-face-attribute 'ghostel-default nil
                    :foreground "#cdd6f4"
                    :background "#1e1e2e")

Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
`ghostel-module-auto-install`	`ask`	What to do when native module is missing (`ask`, `download`, `compile`, `nil`)
`ghostel-shell`	`$SHELL`	Shell program to run
`ghostel-term`	`"xterm-ghostty"`	Value of `TERM` for spawned processes. Default uses the bundled terminfo so apps can detect ghostel's full capability set. Set to `"xterm-256color"` to fall back (drops `TERMINFO` and `TERM_PROGRAM=ghostty` too)
`ghostel-environment`	`nil`	Extra env vars for spawned processes (list of `"KEY=VALUE"` strings).
`ghostel-ssh-install-terminfo`	`auto`	Install `xterm-ghostty` terminfo on remote hosts as needed. `auto` follows `ghostel-tramp-shell-integration`. Affects both TRAMP-launched ghostel (push terminfo over the existing TRAMP connection) and outbound `ssh` from a local buffer (install via `tic` on first connection, cache in `~/.cache/ghostel/ssh-terminfo-cache`). Per-call ssh override: `GHOSTEL_SSH_KEEP_TERM=1`
`ghostel-tramp-shells`	`(see below)`	Shell to use per TRAMP method (with login-shell detection)
`ghostel-shell-integration`	`t`	Auto-inject shell integration
`ghostel-tramp-default-method`	`nil`	TRAMP method for new remote paths from OSC 7 (nil uses `tramp-default-method`)
`ghostel-tramp-shell-integration`	`nil`	Auto-inject shell integration for remote TRAMP sessions
`ghostel-buffer-name`	`"ghostel"`	Default buffer name
`ghostel-max-scrollback`	`5MB`	Maximum scrollback size in bytes (materialized into the Emacs buffer; ~5,000 rows on 80-col terminals)
`ghostel-timer-delay`	`0.033`	Base redraw delay in seconds (~30fps)
`ghostel-adaptive-fps`	`t`	Adaptive frame rate (shorter delay after idle, stop timer when idle)
`ghostel-immediate-redraw-threshold`	`256`	Max output bytes to trigger immediate redraw (0 to disable)
`ghostel-immediate-redraw-interval`	`0.05`	Max seconds since last keystroke for immediate redraw
`ghostel-input-coalesce-delay`	`0.003`	Seconds to buffer rapid keystrokes before sending (0 to disable)
`ghostel-full-redraw`	`nil`	Always do full redraws instead of incremental updates
`ghostel-kill-buffer-on-exit`	`t`	Kill buffer when shell exits
`ghostel-eval-cmds`	`(see above)`	Whitelisted functions for OSC 51 eval
`ghostel-enable-osc52`	`nil`	Allow apps to set clipboard via OSC 52
`ghostel-notification-function`	`ghostel-default-notify`	Handler for OSC 9 / OSC 777 desktop notifications (nil disables)
`ghostel-progress-function`	`ghostel-default-progress`	Handler for OSC 9;4 ConEmu progress reports (nil disables)
`ghostel-enable-url-detection`	`t`	Linkify plain-text URLs in terminal output
`ghostel-enable-file-detection`	`t`	Linkify file:line references in terminal output
`ghostel-ignore-cursor-change`	`nil`	Ignore terminal-driven cursor shape/visibility changes
`ghostel-keymap-exceptions`	`("C-c" "C-x" ...)`	Keys passed through to Emacs
`ghostel-exit-functions`	`nil`	Hook run when the shell process exits

Evil-mode

Ghostel includes optional evil-mode support via evil-ghostel.el. It synchronizes the terminal cursor with Emacs point during evil state transitions so that normal-mode navigation (hjkl etc.) works correctly.

evil-ghostel is distributed as an independent MELPA package that depends on ghostel. Install it alongside ghostel:

(use-package evil-ghostel
  :ensure t
  :after (ghostel evil)
  :hook (ghostel-mode . evil-ghostel-mode))

Or from source (Emacs 30+); :lisp-dir points package-vc at this extension's subdirectory inside the ghostel monorepo:

(use-package evil-ghostel
  :vc (:url "https://github.com/dakra/ghostel"
       :lisp-dir "extensions/evil-ghostel"
       :rev :newest)
  :after (ghostel evil)
  :hook (ghostel-mode . evil-ghostel-mode))

When evil-ghostel-mode is active:

Ghostel starts in insert state (terminal input works normally)
Pressing ESC enters normal state and snaps point to the terminal cursor
Normal-mode navigation (h, j, k, l, w, b, e, 0, $, ...) works as expected
Insert/append (i, a, I, A) sync the terminal cursor to point before entering insert state
Delete (d, dw, dd, D, x, X) yanks text to the kill ring and deletes via the shell
Change (c, cw, cc, C, s, S) deletes then enters insert state
Replace (r) replaces the character under the cursor
Paste (p, P) pastes from the kill ring via bracketed paste
Undo (u) sends readline undo (Ctrl+_)
Cursor shape follows evil state (block for normal, bar for insert)
Alt-screen programs (vim, less, htop) are unaffected

Commands

Command	Description
`M-x ghostel`	Open a new terminal (create new buffer with prefix arg)
`M-x ghostel-project`	Open a terminal in the current project root (create new buffer with prefix arg)
`M-x ghostel-other`	Switch to next terminal or create one
`M-x ghostel-clear`	Clear screen and scrollback
`M-x ghostel-clear-scrollback`	Clear scrollback only
`M-x ghostel-copy-mode`	Enter copy mode
`M-x ghostel-copy-all`	Copy entire scrollback to kill ring
`M-x ghostel-paste`	Paste from kill ring
`M-x ghostel-send-next-key`	Send next key literally
`M-x ghostel-next-prompt`	Jump to next shell prompt
`M-x ghostel-previous-prompt`	Jump to previous shell prompt
`M-x ghostel-next-hyperlink`	Jump to next hyperlink (OSC 8, URL, file ref)
`M-x ghostel-previous-hyperlink`	Jump to previous hyperlink
`M-x ghostel-force-redraw`	Force a full terminal redraw
`M-x ghostel-debug-typing-latency`	Measure per-keystroke typing latency
`M-x ghostel-sync-theme`	Re-sync color palette after theme change
`M-x ghostel-ssh-clear-terminfo-cache`	Clear outbound-ssh terminfo install cache (force re-probe)
`M-x ghostel-download-module`	Download pre-built native module
`M-x ghostel-module-compile`	Compile native module from source

Sending input from Lisp

For packages that need to inject input into a running ghostel buffer (agent integrations, custom keymaps, Swerty-style bindings, …) two public functions are provided:

(ghostel-send-string "ls -la\n")      ; send raw bytes, newline included
(ghostel-send-key "return")           ; send a named key through the encoder
(ghostel-send-key "a" "ctrl")         ; C-a — respects the current terminal mode
(ghostel-send-key "up" "shift,ctrl")  ; modifiers are comma-separated

Both operate on the current buffer; wrap in with-current-buffer when driving another ghostel buffer. Calling either outside a ghostel buffer signals a user-error.

Project integration

ghostel-project opens a terminal in the current project's root directory with a project-prefixed buffer name. To make it available from project-switch-project (C-x p p):

(add-to-list 'project-switch-commands '(ghostel-project "Ghostel") t)

Compilation mode

ghostel-compile runs a shell command in a ghostel buffer and presents the result like M-x compile — compilation-mode-style header, footer, error highlighting, and next-error navigation — but backed by a real TTY so programs that probe isatty(3) (coloured output, progress bars, curses tools) behave as they do in a normal shell.

Each invocation spawns a fresh process via shell-file-name -c COMMAND through a PTY owned by the ghostel renderer — no interactive shell sits between the command and the user, so multi-line shell scripts are passed through verbatim and no shell-integration setup is required. The process sentinel delivers the real exit status.

ghostel-compile inherits the same TERM=xterm-ghostty and TERMINFO=... env as M-x ghostel, so build output gets synchronized output, true color, etc. If a test runner or build tool gets confused by the unfamiliar TERM, set (setq ghostel-term "xterm-256color").

(require 'ghostel-compile)

(global-set-key (kbd "C-c c") #'ghostel-compile)

Commands:

Command	Description
`M-x ghostel-compile`	Prompt for a command and run it (uses `compile-command`)
`M-x ghostel-recompile`	Re-run the last command in its original directory
`M-x ghostel-compile-global-mode`	Route all `compile`-style calls through ghostel (opt-in)

What a run looks like — the buffer text matches M-x compile:

-*- mode: ghostel-compile -*-
Compilation started at Wed Apr 15 08:30:11

make -j4 test

...command output (live, with full TTY)...

Compilation finished at Wed Apr 15 08:30:19, duration 8.20 s

When the command finishes, the live process and ghostel renderer are torn down and the buffer's major mode is switched to ghostel-compile-view-mode (derived from compilation-mode). The buffer becomes a regular, read-only Emacs buffer with compile-mode's coloured error / line-number faces; the buffer never returns to an interactive ghostel terminal — a recompile discards it and starts fresh in the original directory. mode-line-process shows :run while the command is running and :exit [N] afterwards, using the same faces M-x compile uses.

Keybindings (in ghostel-compile-view-mode):

Key	Action
`g`	Re-run via `ghostel-recompile`
`n` / `p`	Move point to next / previous error (no auto-open)
`RET` / `mouse-2`	Jump to the source of the error under point
`M-g n` / `M-g p`	Standard `next-error` / `previous-error`
`C-c C-c`	`compile-goto-error` (same as RET)

These standard compile options are honoured:

compile-command / compile-history — shared with M-x compile. The prompt defaults to compile-command, the chosen command is written back, and the history list is compile-history, so recent commands round-trip between the two commands.
compilation-read-command — when nil, ghostel-compile runs compile-command silently; pass a prefix arg to force the prompt.
compilation-ask-about-save — modified buffers are offered for saving before launching.
compilation-auto-jump-to-first-error — jumps to the first error after parsing.
compilation-finish-functions — runs with (buffer msg) just like with M-x compile.
Output scrolling is always on (terminal behaviour — equivalent to compilation-scroll-output non-nil).

ghostel-recompile runs in the directory the original ghostel-compile was invoked from, regardless of which buffer you're in when you press g.

Make `compile` / `recompile` / `project-compile` use ghostel

Enable ghostel-compile-global-mode to advise compilation-start so every caller that goes through it — M-x compile, M-x recompile, M-x project-compile, and any third-party command that uses compilation-start under the hood — runs in a ghostel buffer automatically.

(require 'ghostel-compile)
(ghostel-compile-global-mode 1)

grep-mode falls through to the stock compilation-start implementation by default, because its output parsing and window-management conventions don't fit a live TTY. Extend ghostel-compile-global-mode-excluded-modes to opt other modes out.

Ghostel-specific customisation:

Option	Effect
`ghostel-compile-buffer-name`	Buffer name (default `ghostel-compile`)
`ghostel-compile-finished-major-mode`	Major mode to switch to after each run (default `ghostel-compile-view-mode`; set to nil to stay in `ghostel-mode`)
`ghostel-compile-finish-functions`	Ghostel-specific finish hook (runs alongside `compilation-finish-functions`)
`ghostel-compile-global-mode-excluded-modes`	Modes for which the global advice falls through to stock `compile` (default `(grep-mode)`)
`ghostel-compile-debug`	Log lifecycle events to `Messages` (default `nil`)

Hooks for your own integrations

Outside of a compile buffer, two hooks let you react to any shell command in any ghostel buffer:

ghostel-command-start-functions — called with (BUFFER) when the shell emits OSC 133 C (a command starts running).
ghostel-command-finish-functions — called with (BUFFER EXIT-STATUS) when the shell emits OSC 133 D (a command finishes).

Errors raised by individual hook functions are caught and logged so one bad consumer can't break the rest.

Eshell integration

ghostel-eshell-visual-command-mode makes eshell run "visual" commands — programs in eshell-visual-commands, eshell-visual-subcommands, and eshell-visual-options (vim, htop, less, top, git log's pager, …) — inside a dedicated ghostel buffer instead of the default term-mode fallback, so they get a real terminal emulator.

(require 'ghostel-eshell)
(add-hook 'eshell-load-hook #'ghostel-eshell-visual-command-mode)

When the program exits, the buffer stays on [Process exited] so you can read any remaining output (window point snaps to the end so it's visible without scrolling). Press q to dismiss the dead buffer. Set eshell-destroy-buffer-when-process-dies to t to kill the buffer automatically on exit instead.

To run an ad-hoc command in a ghostel buffer without editing eshell-visual-commands, use the ghostel eshell built-in:

~ $ ghostel nethack

Add a shorter alias if you like:

(defalias 'eshell/v 'eshell/ghostel)    ;; then:  ~ $ v nethack

Customisation:

Option	Effect
`ghostel-eshell-track-title`	When non-nil, let programs rename the visual-command buffer via OSC title escapes. Default `nil` (keeps `vim` stable).

The public primitive behind the mode is ghostel-exec BUFFER PROGRAM &optional ARGS, which launches an arbitrary program in a ghostel buffer with no shell integration applied. Useful for building your own integrations.

Running Tests

Tests use ERT. The Makefile provides convenient targets:

make test        # pure Elisp tests (no native module required)
make all         # build + test + lint
make bench-quick # quick benchmark sanity check

You can also run tests directly:

# Pure Elisp tests (no native module required)
emacs --batch -Q -L . -l ert -l test/ghostel-test.el -f ghostel-test-run-elisp

# Full test suite (requires built native module)
emacs --batch -Q -L . -l ert -l test/ghostel-test.el -f ghostel-test-run

Performance

Ghostel includes a benchmark suite comparing throughput against other Emacs terminal emulators: vterm (native module), eat (pure Elisp), and Emacs built-in term.

The primary benchmark streams 5 MB of data through a real process pipe, matching actual terminal usage. All backends are configured with ~1,000 lines of scrollback (matching vterm's default). Results on Apple M4 Max, Emacs 31.0.50:

Backend	Plain ASCII	URL-heavy
ghostel	87 MB/s	64 MB/s
ghostel (no detect)	86 MB/s	86 MB/s
vterm	35 MB/s	27 MB/s
eat	4.7 MB/s	3.5 MB/s
term	5.7 MB/s	4.7 MB/s

Ghostel scans terminal output for URLs and file paths, making them clickable. The "no detect" row shows throughput with this detection disabled (ghostel-enable-url-detection / ghostel-enable-file-detection). The other emulators do not have this feature, so their numbers are comparable to the "no detect" row.

Typing latency

Interactive keystrokes are optimized separately from bulk throughput. When you type a character, the PTY echo is detected and rendered immediately (bypassing the 33ms redraw timer), so the character appears on screen with minimal delay. Use M-x ghostel-debug-typing-latency to measure the end-to-end latency on your system — it reports per-keystroke PTY, render, and total latency with min/median/p99/max statistics.

Run the benchmarks yourself:

bench/run-bench.sh              # full suite (throughput)
bench/run-bench.sh --quick      # quick sanity check

The typing latency benchmark can be run from Elisp:

(require 'ghostel-debug)
M-x ghostel-debug-typing-latency    ; interactive measurement

Ghostel vs vterm

Both ghostel and vterm are native module terminal emulators for Emacs. Ghostel uses libghostty-vt (Zig) as its VT engine; vterm uses libvterm (C), the same library powering Neovim's built-in terminal.

Feature comparison

Feature	ghostel	vterm
True color (24-bit)	Yes	Yes
OSC 4/10/11 color queries	Yes	No
Bold / italic / faint	Yes	Yes
Underline styles (5 types)	Yes	No
Underline color	Yes	No
Strikethrough	Yes	Yes
Cursor styles	4 types	3 types
OSC 8 hyperlinks	Yes	No
Plain-text URL/file detection	Yes	No
OSC 9 / 777 notifications	Yes	No
OSC 9;4 progress reports	Yes	No
Kitty keyboard protocol	Yes	No
Mouse passthrough (SGR)	Yes	No
Bracketed paste	Yes	Yes
Alternate screen	Yes	Yes
Shell integration auto-inject	Yes	No
Prompt navigation (OSC 133)	Yes	Yes
Elisp eval from shell	Yes	Yes
TRAMP remote terminals	Yes	Yes
OSC 52 clipboard	Yes	Yes
Copy mode	Yes	Yes
Drag-and-drop	Yes	No
Auto module download	Yes	No
Scrollback default	~5,000	1,000
PTY throughput (plain ASCII)	70 MB/s	34 MB/s
Default redraw rate	~30 fps	~10 fps

Key differences

Terminal engine. libghostty-vt comes from Ghostty, a modern GPU-accelerated terminal, and supports Kitty keyboard/mouse protocols, rich underline styles, and OSC 8 hyperlinks. libvterm targets VT220/xterm emulation and is more conservative in protocol support.

Mouse handling. Ghostel encodes mouse events (press, release, drag) and passes them through to the terminal via SGR mouse protocol. TUI apps like htop or lazygit receive full mouse input. vterm intercepts mouse clicks for Emacs point movement and does not forward them to the terminal.

Rendering. Both use text properties (not overlays) and batch consecutive cells with identical styles. Ghostel's engine provides three-level dirty tracking (none / partial / full) with per-row granularity. vterm uses damage-rectangle callbacks and redraws entire invalidated rows. Ghostel defaults to ~30 fps redraw; vterm defaults to ~10 fps.

Shell integration. Ghostel auto-injects shell integration scripts for bash, zsh, and fish — no shell RC changes needed. vterm requires manually sourcing scripts in your shell configuration. Both support Elisp eval from the shell and TRAMP-aware remote directory tracking.

Performance. In PTY throughput benchmarks (5 MB streamed through cat, both backends configured with ~1,000 lines of scrollback), ghostel is roughly 2x faster than vterm on plain ASCII data (70 vs 34 MB/s). On URL-heavy output ghostel pulls further ahead of vterm (56 vs 27 MB/s); with link detection disabled ghostel reaches 70 MB/s regardless of input. See the Performance section above for full numbers and how to run the benchmark suite yourself.

Installation. Ghostel can automatically download a pre-built native module or compile from source with Zig. vterm uses CMake with a single C dependency (libvterm) and can auto-compile on first load from Elisp.

For a detailed architectural comparison, see design.org.

Architecture

ghostel.el          Elisp: keymap, process management, mode, commands
src/module.zig      Entry point: emacs_module_init, function registration
src/terminal.zig    Terminal struct wrapping ghostty handles
src/render.zig      RenderState -> Emacs buffer with styled text
src/input.zig       Key and mouse encoding via ghostty encoders
src/emacs.zig       Zig wrapper for the Emacs module C API
src/ghostty.zig     Re-exports and constants for the ghostty C API

License

GPL-3.0-or-later

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 271 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
bench		bench
etc		etc
extensions/evil-ghostel		extensions/evil-ghostel
lisp		lisp
src		src
test		test
vendor		vendor
.elpaignore		.elpaignore
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md
build.zig		build.zig
build.zig.zon		build.zig.zon
symbols.map		symbols.map

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Ghostel

Table of Contents

Requirements

Installation

MELPA

use-package with vc (Emacs 30+)

use-package with load-path

Manual

Native module

Building from source

Building from source (MELPA install)

Shell Integration

Key Bindings

Terminal mode

Copy mode

Features

Terminal Emulation

Links and File Detection

Clipboard

Input

Shell Integration

TRAMP (Remote Terminals)

Remote Shell Integration

Remote xterm-ghostty terminfo

TRAMP-launched ghostel

Outbound ssh from a local ghostel buffer

Manual install (no auto-machinery)

Drop the Ghostty advertisement entirely

Rendering

Calling Elisp from the Shell

Notifications and Progress

Example: spinner.el in the mode line

Color Palette

Configuration

Evil-mode

Commands

Sending input from Lisp

Project integration

Compilation mode

Make compile / recompile / project-compile use ghostel

Hooks for your own integrations

Eshell integration

Running Tests

Performance

Typing latency

Ghostel vs vterm

Feature comparison

Key differences

Architecture

License

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Remote `xterm-ghostty` terminfo

Outbound `ssh` from a local ghostel buffer

Make `compile` / `recompile` / `project-compile` use ghostel

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