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Blazingly fast terminal emulator with a stupid name

Shitty is a fast terminal emulator built for low latency, fast startup, and predictable resource use. It keeps terminal state on the CPU and renders cells with native compute backends.

By pg83·Aug 2·github.com·1 min read

Intelligence analysis by Llama

A serious terminal emulator with a stupid name. Contribute to pg83/shitty development by creating an account on GitHub.
A serious terminal emulator with a stupid name. Contribute to pg83/shitty development by creating an account on GitHub.Image: github.com

Shitty is a blazingly fast terminal emulator that prioritizes low latency, fast startup, and predictable resource use. It uses native compute backends to render cells and keeps terminal state on the CPU.

Why it matters

Shitty's performance and features make it a viable alternative to other terminal emulators, particularly for users who value low latency and fast startup times.

Imagine you're playing a game where you need to move really fast and make quick decisions. Shitty is like a super-fast game controller that helps you make those decisions quickly and efficiently. It's designed to be fast and responsive, so you can focus on what you're doing without any lag or delays.

Analysis

Performance and Features

Shitty is designed to be fast and efficient, with a focus on low latency and fast startup times. It achieves this by keeping terminal state on the CPU and rendering cells with native compute backends. This approach allows Shitty to outperform other terminal emulators in terms of speed and responsiveness.

Correctness and Testing

Shitty has undergone extensive testing to ensure its correctness and reliability. It has been driven black-box through a real PTY using over a dozen test suites, including kitty, esctest, and xterm's vttests. This rigorous testing process has helped to identify and fix any issues, making Shitty a stable and reliable choice for users.

Unicode Support

Shitty supports Unicode grapheme clusters, combining characters, and emoji sequences. It also supports DEC single-width, double-width, and double-height lines, as well as 16-colour, 256-colour, and 24-bit colour modes. This comprehensive support for Unicode and colour modes makes Shitty a versatile and user-friendly terminal emulator.

Key points

  • Blazingly fast performance
  • Low latency and fast startup times
  • Predictable resource use
  • Native compute backends for rendering cells
  • Extensive testing for correctness and reliability
  • Support for Unicode grapheme clusters and combining characters
  • Support for DEC single-width, double-width, and double-height lines
  • Support for 16-colour, 256-colour, and 24-bit colour modes
The Upside

If Shitty continues to improve and gain popularity, it could become a widely-used terminal emulator that sets a new standard for performance and features. This could lead to a wider adoption of fast and efficient terminal emulators, making it easier for users to get the most out of their computing experience.

The Downside

If Shitty's development slows down or it fails to address certain issues, it may struggle to keep up with the demands of modern computing. This could lead to a decline in its popularity and a loss of market share to other terminal emulators.

Originally reported at

github.com

Discernion covers the story. Read the full piece at the source.

Tagsterminal-emulatorperformancelow-latencyfast-startuppredictable-resource-useunicode-supportcolour-support

Author

pg83

Intelligence analysis by

Llama

Published

Aug 2, 2026

Source

github.com

Share

Topics

terminal-emulatorperformancelow-latencyfast-startuppredictable-resource-useunicode-supportcolour-support

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