BourgeoisBear/rasterm

encode images to iTerm / Kitty / SIXEL (terminal) inline graphics protocols

112

44 commits

updated Dec 21, 2025

See the code

README

rasterm

Encodes images to iTerm / Kitty / SIXEL (terminal) inline graphics protocols.

rasterm sample output

Supported Image Encodings

Kitty
iTerm2 / WezTerm
Sixel

TODO

mintty:
- detection for iTerm format: https://github.com/mintty/mintty/issues/881
iTerm2:
- support: name, width, height, preserveAspectRatio options
perhaps query tmux directly: TMUX=/tmp/tmux-1000/default,3218,4
improve terminal identification 19:VT340 ESC[>0c = 19;344:0c https://invisible-island.net/xterm/ctlseqs/ctlseqs-contents.html

TESTING

test sixel with
- https://domterm.org/
- https://www.macterm.net/
test wez/iterm img with
- iterm2
- https://www.macterm.net/

Notes

terminal features matrix

terminal	sixel	iTerm2 format	kitty format
ghostty			Y
iterm2	Y	Y
kitty			Y
rio	Y	Y
mintty	Y	Y
mlterm	Y	Y
putty
rlogin	Y	Y
wezterm	Y	Y
xterm	Y

known responses

CSI 0 c

terminal	response
apple terminal	`\x1b[?1;2c`
ghostty	`\x1b[?62;22c`
guake	`\x1b[?65;1;9c`
iterm2	`\x1b[?62;4c`
kitty	`\x1b[?62;c`
rio	`\x1b[?62;4;6;22c`
mintty	`\x1b[?64;1;2;4;6;9;15;21;22;28;29c`
mlterm	`\x1b[?63;1;2;3;4;7;29c`
putty	`\x1b[?6c`
rlogin	`\x1b[?65;1;2;3;4;6;7;8;9;15;18;21;22;29;39;42;44c`
st	`\x1b[?6c`
terminology	`\x1b[?64;1;9;15;18;21;22c`
vimterm	`\x1b[?1;2c`
wez	`\x1b[?65;4;6;18;22c`
xfce	`\x1b[?65;1;9c`
xterm	`\x1b[?63;1;2;4;6;9;15;22c`

CSI > 0 c

terminal	response
apple terminal	`\x1b[>1;95;0c`
ghostty	`\x1b[>1;10;0c`
guake	`\x1b[>65;5402;1c`
iterm2	`\x1b[>0;95;0c`
rio	`\x1b[>0;95;0c`
kitty	`\x1b[>1;4000;19c`
mintty	`\x1b[>77;30104;0c`
mlterm	`\x1b[>24;279;0c`
putty	`\x1b[>0;136;0c`
rlogin	`\x1b[>65;331;0c`
st	NO RESPONSE
vimterm	`\x1b[>0;100;0c`
wez	`\x1b[>0;0;0c`
xfce	`\x1b[>65;5402;1c`
xterm	`\x1b[>19;344;0c`

identifications

terminal	values
apple terminal	`TERM_PROGRAM="Apple_Terminal"`
apple terminal	`__CFBundleIdentifier="com.apple.Terminal"`
ghostty	`TERM="xterm-ghostty"`
rio	`TERM="rio"`
guake
iterm2	`LC_TERMINAL="iTerm2"`
kitty	`TERM="xterm-kitty"`
mintty	`TERM="mintty"`
mlterm
putty
rlogin
st
terminology	`TERM_PROGRAM=terminology`
vimterm	`VIM_TERMINAL is set`
wez	`TERM_PROGRAM="wezterm"`
xfce
xterm

opinions

Sixel is a primitive and wasteful format. Most sixel terminals also support the iTerm2 format--fewer bytes, full color instead of paletted, and no pixel re-processing required. Much better!

go stuff

go tool pprof -http=:8080 ./name.prof
godoc -http=:8099 -goroot="$HOME/go"
go test -v
go mod tidy
https://blog.golang.org/pprof

Project health

Go module

github.com/BourgeoisBear/rasterm

Latest release

v1.1.2 · Jan 6, 2025

Releases this year

Significant stargazers

Ayman Bagabas

613 followers · starred Mar 2022

Paul m. p. Peny

148 followers · starred Mar 2024

Akhil Indurti

116 followers · starred Jan 2022

antichris

6 followers · starred Mar 2026

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