Overview
Kitty is a fast, feature-rich, GPU-accelerated terminal emulator written in C and Python. It offloads rendering to the GPU using OpenGL, resulting in extremely smooth scrolling and low input latency. Kitty supports modern terminal features including true color, ligatures, Unicode, image display (via its graphics protocol), tabs, window splits, and remote control.
Kitty is cross-platform (Linux, macOS) and highly extensible through “kittens” — small Python programs that add functionality like SSH integration, diff viewing, Unicode input, and clipboard management. Its configuration is file-based with no GUI settings, making it ideal for developers who prefer text-based configuration.
Installation
# macOS
brew install --cask kitty
# Linux (binary installer)
curl -L https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/installer.sh | sh /dev/stdin
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install kitty
# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S kitty
# Fedora
sudo dnf install kitty
# Add to PATH (Linux binary install)
ln -sf ~/.local/kitty.app/bin/kitty ~/.local/bin/
ln -sf ~/.local/kitty.app/bin/kitten ~/.local/bin/
# Verify
kitty --version
Key Bindings
Window Management
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+Shift+Enter | New window (split) |
Ctrl+Shift+N | New OS window |
Ctrl+Shift+W | Close window |
Ctrl+Shift+] | Next window |
Ctrl+Shift+[ | Previous window |
Ctrl+Shift+F | Move window forward |
Ctrl+Shift+B | Move window backward |
Ctrl+Shift+R | Resize window mode |
Ctrl+Shift+L | Next layout |
Ctrl+Shift+1-9 | Switch to window N |
Tab Management
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+Shift+T | New tab |
Ctrl+Shift+Q | Close tab |
Ctrl+Shift+Right | Next tab |
Ctrl+Shift+Left | Previous tab |
Ctrl+Shift+. | Move tab forward |
Ctrl+Shift+, | Move tab backward |
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+T | Set tab title |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+Shift+Up | Scroll up |
Ctrl+Shift+Down | Scroll down |
Ctrl+Shift+Page_Up | Scroll page up |
Ctrl+Shift+Page_Down | Scroll page down |
Ctrl+Shift+Home | Scroll to top |
Ctrl+Shift+End | Scroll to bottom |
Ctrl+Shift+H | Browse scrollback in pager |
Ctrl+Shift+C | Copy to clipboard |
Ctrl+Shift+V | Paste from clipboard |
Ctrl+Shift+S | Paste from selection |
Font Size
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|
Ctrl+Shift+Equal | Increase font size |
Ctrl+Shift+Minus | Decrease font size |
Ctrl+Shift+Backspace | Reset font size |
Configuration
# Config file location
# Linux: ~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf
# macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/kitty/kitty.conf
# Generate default config
kitty +runpy "from kitty.options.definition import *; print(option_spec())" > ~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf
# ~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf
# Font settings
font_family JetBrains Mono
bold_font auto
italic_font auto
bold_italic_font auto
font_size 13.0
disable_ligatures never
# Cursor
cursor_shape beam
cursor_blink_interval 0.5
cursor_stop_blinking_after 15.0
# Scrollback
scrollback_lines 10000
scrollback_pager less --chop-long-lines --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS +INPUT_LINE_NUMBER
# Mouse
copy_on_select clipboard
mouse_map left click ungrabbed mouse_handle_click selection link prompt
strip_trailing_spaces smart
# Performance
repaint_delay 10
input_delay 3
sync_to_monitor yes
# Window layout
remember_window_size yes
initial_window_width 120c
initial_window_height 35c
window_padding_width 4
window_margin_width 0
enabled_layouts tall,fat,grid,splits,stack
# Tab bar
tab_bar_style powerline
tab_powerline_style slanted
tab_bar_min_tabs 2
tab_title_template "{index}: {title}"
# Color scheme
background #1e1e2e
foreground #cdd6f4
selection_background #585b70
selection_foreground #cdd6f4
cursor #f5e0dc
# Bell
enable_audio_bell no
visual_bell_duration 0.1
# URLs
url_style curly
detect_urls yes
open_url_with default
# macOS specific
macos_option_as_alt yes
macos_titlebar_color background
# SSH kitten (replaces ssh with improved terminal features)
kitten ssh user@server
# Diff kitten
kitten diff file1.txt file2.txt
kitten diff dir1/ dir2/
# Unicode input
# Press Ctrl+Shift+U in terminal
# Clipboard kitten
echo "text" | kitten clipboard
kitten clipboard --get-clipboard
# Image display (icat)
kitten icat image.png
kitten icat --place 80x24@0x0 image.png
# Transfer files (via SSH)
kitten transfer file.txt remote:~/file.txt
# Themes
kitten themes
kitten themes --reload-in=all Catppuccin-Mocha
# Hints (extract URLs, paths, etc.)
# Ctrl+Shift+E to open URLs
# Ctrl+Shift+P>F to insert file path
# Ctrl+Shift+P>H to insert line from scrollback
Remote Control
# Enable remote control in kitty.conf
allow_remote_control yes
listen_on unix:/tmp/kitty
# Control kitty from scripts
kitten @ launch --title "Build" --cwd ~/project make build
kitten @ set-tab-title "Development"
kitten @ focus-window --match title:Build
kitten @ send-text --match title:Build "npm run dev\n"
kitten @ close-window --match title:Build
kitten @ set-font-size 14
kitten @ set-colors background=#282828
kitten @ ls # List all windows and tabs
Layouts
# Available layouts
enabled_layouts tall,fat,grid,horizontal,vertical,splits,stack
# Layout-specific settings
# Tall layout: one main window on left, stack on right
# Fat layout: one main window on top, stack on bottom
# Grid layout: windows in a grid
# Splits layout: arbitrary splits
# Stack layout: one window at a time (like tmux zoom)
Advanced Usage
Custom Key Mappings
# Custom mappings in kitty.conf
map ctrl+shift+enter new_window_with_cwd
map ctrl+shift+t new_tab_with_cwd
map f1 launch --type=overlay --stdin-source=@screen_scrollback less
map f5 launch --location=hsplit --cwd=current
map f6 launch --location=vsplit --cwd=current
map f11 toggle_fullscreen
map ctrl+shift+z toggle_layout stack
# Open URLs with specific apps
map ctrl+shift+e open_url_with_hints
map ctrl+shift+p>f kitten hints --type path --program -
map ctrl+shift+p>l kitten hints --type line --program -
Session Startup
# ~/.config/kitty/sessions/dev.conf
new_tab Development
cd ~/project
launch zsh
layout splits
launch --location=hsplit zsh -c "npm run dev"
new_tab Monitoring
cd ~/project
launch zsh -c "htop"
# Start with a session
kitty --session ~/.config/kitty/sessions/dev.conf
Custom Kittens
# ~/.config/kitty/mykitten.py
from kittens.tui.handler import result_handler
def main(args):
pass
@result_handler(no_ui=True)
def handle_result(args, answer, target_window_id, boss):
boss.call_remote_control(None, ('send-text', f'Hello from kitten!\n'))
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
|---|
| Fonts not rendering | Install font; run kitty +list-fonts to verify detection |
| Ligatures not showing | Set disable_ligatures never; ensure font supports ligatures |
| Images not displaying | Use kitten icat; ensure GPU drivers are working |
| Slow rendering | Check GPU drivers; try LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 kitty |
| SSH features missing | Use kitten ssh instead of plain ssh command |
| Key bindings not working | Check for conflicts; use kitty --debug-input to test |
| Colors wrong | Run kitten themes to apply a theme; check color settings |
| High memory usage | Reduce scrollback_lines; check for memory leaks in shell |
