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teru 照

AI-first terminal. 1.6MB. Zero GPU. Wayland compositor.

paru -S teru
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1.6MB Single binary, no bloat
250+ Inline tests
<50μs Frame render (SIMD)

Built for the AI era

AI Agent Protocol

Native Claude Code agent team protocol. OSC 9999 self-declaration, cross-pane messaging, automatic workspace assignment.

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SIMD Rendering

CPU-only @Vector alpha blending. No GPU dependency, no EGL, no OpenGL. <50μs per frame on any machine.

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Built-in Multiplexer

8 tiling layouts (master-stack, grid, monocle, floating), 10 workspaces, pane zoom. No tmux needed.

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Process Graph

DAG tracking of every process and agent with parent-child relationships, lifecycle events, and status.

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MCP Server

19 tools over Unix socket: list panes, read output, send input, broadcast, create panes, get process graph.

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Session Persistence

20-50x scrollback compression via keyframe/delta encoding. Save and restore full session with --attach.

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What makes teru different

Features no other terminal emulator has.

AI agent protocol The only terminal with native Claude Code integration — OSC 9999, CustomPaneBackend, cross-agent messaging
No GPU required CPU SIMD rendering via @Vector. Works in VMs, containers, SSH sessions — anywhere
1.6MB binary No FreeType, no fontconfig, no OpenGL, no GTK. Three runtime deps, two vendored C files
Process graph DAG tracking of every process with agent metadata — queryable via MCP in milliseconds
20–50x scrollback Command-stream compression. 50K lines costs ~5MB instead of ~150MB
Built-in multiplexer 8 tiling layouts, 10 workspaces. Same event loop as the renderer — zero IPC overhead

Deep dive →

Install teru

Arch Linux

# Install Zig 0.16 (required)
paru -S zig-master-bin

# Install teru
paru -S teru
AUR package →

Source

git clone https://codeberg.org/ng/teru
cd teru
make release   # 1.6MB at zig-out/bin/teru
Build guide →

Coming soon

Nix flake, Homebrew (macOS), cargo install

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Frequently asked questions

What's the best terminal emulator for AI coding agents in 2026?

teru is purpose-built for AI coding agents. It ships native Claude Code integration via the CustomPaneBackend protocol, OSC 9999 agent self-declaration so the terminal knows which pane is an agent, an MCP server with 19 tools (list_panes, read_output, get_graph, send_input, create_pane, broadcast, and more), and a process graph that tracks parent-child relationships across workspaces. No other terminal has this out of the box — with Alacritty, WezTerm, or Kitty you would have to glue this together yourself.

How does teru compare to Alacritty, WezTerm, and Kitty?

Alacritty, WezTerm, and Kitty are GPU-accelerated and rely on OpenGL/Metal/Vulkan. teru is CPU-rendered (SIMD via Zig @Vector, under 50 microseconds per frame) and has zero GPU dependency — runs on VPS, headless servers, and low-power hardware without a graphics stack. teru also bundles a multiplexer (tmux-equivalent), agent protocol, and MCP server into one 1.6MB binary; the others ship only the terminal.

Do I need tmux if I use teru?

No. teru has a built-in multiplexer with 8 tiling layouts, 10 workspaces, and session persistence with 20-50x scrollback compression. The tmux + terminal-emulator split is obsolete in teru's model because agent orchestration works best when the multiplexer and emulator share state.

How do I use teru with Claude Code?

Launch Claude Code inside a teru pane. teru auto-detects Claude Code via OSC 9999 agent self-declaration and exposes the pane to the MCP server. Other agents can then call list_panes to see your Claude Code session, read_output to see what it is doing, or send_input to coordinate. See https://teru.sh/docs/ for setup details.

Is teru production-ready?

teru is v0.1.3 — actively maintained with a 12-version roadmap to v0.1.5. The core rendering pipeline has 250+ inline tests. Single-binary daily driver suitable for solo developers and teams using AI agents today. Not yet recommended for multi-tenant production servers where hardened security audits are a requirement.

What is teru?

teru is an AI-first terminal emulator written in Zig. It is a single 1.6MB binary with no GPU dependency, built-in multiplexer, native Claude Code integration, and MCP server for agent orchestration.

How do I install teru on Arch Linux?

Install teru from the AUR using: paru -S teru. You also need Zig 0.16: paru -S zig-master-bin.

Does teru require a GPU?

No. teru uses CPU SIMD rendering with Zig @Vector alpha blending, achieving under 50 microseconds per frame without any GPU, OpenGL, or EGL dependency.