Terminal Emulators¶

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The arch-dotfiles ecosystem provides three pre-configured terminal emulators: Ghostty, Kitty, and Foot. Each is tuned to deliver identical typography, window transparency, and Catppuccin Mocha color fidelity.

Shared Aesthetic Standards¶

Regardless of which terminal emulator is active, you experience consistent visual behavior:

🎨 Palette: Official Catppuccin Mocha pastel colors (#1e1e2e base, #cdd6f4 text, #89b4fa pastel blue selection, #f5e0dc rosewater block cursor).
🪟 Transparency: Uniform 0.90 background opacity for smooth compositing on Wayland.
🔤 Typography: JetBrainsMonoNL Nerd Font (10.5pt, No Ligatures variant) with 8px window padding, complete Powerline/Nerd Font glyphs, and zero operator ligatures (==, ->, * remain unmodified).
🐚 Default Shell: Automatically launches into /usr/bin/zsh with Oh My Zsh (see Shell Guide).
🔔 Bell: Audio bell disabled across all emulators (enable_audio_bell no, urgent=no).

Terminal Comparison & Documentation Links¶

Feature	Ghostty	Kitty	Foot
Engine / Architecture	Zig + OpenGL/Vulkan	C/Python + OpenGL	C + Wayland Native
Memory Footprint	Low (~35 MB)	Moderate (~50 MB)	Ultra-Low (~15 MB)
Wayland Support	Native Wayland (GTK4)	Native Wayland	Native Wayland
Tab Management	Native GTK4 tabs	Powerline tabs	Multiplexer (tmux)
Config Reload Shortcut	`Ctrl+Shift+,`	`Ctrl+Shift+F5`	Automatic / restart
Repository	MichaelWeissDEV/ghostty-config	MichaelWeissDEV/kitty-config	MichaelWeissDEV/foot-config
Documentation	ghostty-config.readthedocs.io	kitty-config.readthedocs.io	Foot section · built-in man pages (`man foot.ini`)

Terminal Details¶

1. Ghostty (`~/.config/ghostty/config`)¶

Managed via the Git subtree MichaelWeissDEV/ghostty-config (adot update ghostty; see Git Subtrees). Ghostty is a modern GPU-accelerated terminal written in Zig featuring native GTK4/Wayland rendering and zero window decorations (window-decoration = none).

Config path: ~/.config/ghostty/config
GitHub Repository: MichaelWeissDEV/ghostty-config
Full Documentation: ghostty-config.readthedocs.io

2. Kitty (`~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf`)¶

Managed via the Git subtree MichaelWeissDEV/kitty-config (adot update kitty; see Git Subtrees). Kitty provides mature graphics protocols, kitten automation scripts, dynamic background opacity, and a custom Catppuccin Powerline tab bar.

Config path: ~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf
GitHub Repository: MichaelWeissDEV/kitty-config
Full Documentation: kitty-config.readthedocs.io

3. Foot (`~/.config/foot/foot.ini`)¶

Managed via the Git subtree MichaelWeissDEV/foot-config (adot update foot; see Git Subtrees). Foot is an ultra-lightweight terminal designed strictly for Wayland. It starts instantaneously and operates with minimal CPU and memory overhead.

Config path: ~/.config/foot/foot.ini
GitHub Repository: MichaelWeissDEV/foot-config
Documentation: This guide and the built-in man foot.ini reference

Selecting Your Default Terminal in Hyprland¶

In Hyprland (~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua), the default terminal shortcut (Super + Return or Super + Q) is bound to Kitty (see Hyprland Keybindings):

-- ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua
local terminal = "kitty"

To switch your default terminal to Ghostty or Foot, change local terminal = "ghostty" (or "foot") in hyprland.lua.

Connected Dotfiles Ecosystem¶

Component	Repository	Documentation
Arch Dotfiles Hub (Main System)	MichaelWeissDEV/dotfiles	arch-dotfiles.readthedocs.io
Neovim (`nvim-config`)	MichaelWeissDEV/nvim-config	nvim-config.readthedocs.io
tmux (`tmux-config`)	MichaelWeissDEV/tmux-config	tmux-config.readthedocs.io
Ghostty (`ghostty-config`)	MichaelWeissDEV/ghostty-config	ghostty-config.readthedocs.io
Kitty (`kitty-config`)	MichaelWeissDEV/kitty-config	kitty-config.readthedocs.io
Foot (`foot-config`)	MichaelWeissDEV/foot-config	Terminals Guide
Vim (`vim-config`)	MichaelWeissDEV/vim-config	vim-config.readthedocs.io