> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/ghostty-org/ghostty/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction to Ghostty

> A fast, native, feature-rich terminal emulator pushing modern features

# Welcome to Ghostty

Ghostty is a terminal emulator that differentiates itself by being **fast**, **feature-rich**, and **native**. While there are many excellent terminal emulators available, they all force you to choose between speed, features, or native UIs. Ghostty provides all three.

<Note>
  Ghostty is competitive in all three categories and doesn't make you choose between them. It aims to be one of the best fully standards-compliant terminal emulators while remaining compatible with all existing shells and software.
</Note>

## Why Ghostty?

Ghostty was built to push the boundaries of what is possible with a terminal emulator by exposing modern, opt-in features that enable CLI tool developers to build more feature-rich, interactive applications.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Lightning Fast" icon="bolt" href="/features/performance">
    GPU-accelerated rendering with Metal on macOS and OpenGL on Linux. Maintains 60fps under heavy load with dedicated IO threading.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Standards Compliant" icon="check-circle">
    One of the most compliant terminal emulators available, implementing comprehensive xterm behavior and supporting all latest terminal innovations.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Native Experience" icon="desktop">
    True SwiftUI app on macOS with Metal renderer and CoreText. GTK-based on Linux. No least-common-denominator compromises.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Feature Rich" icon="sparkles" href="/features/splits-tabs">
    Multi-window support, tabbing, splits, shell integration, custom themes, and extensive customization options.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Key Features

### Performance That Scales

* **Metal on macOS**: Direct Metal rendering with full ligature support (the only terminal besides iTerm with Metal)
* **OpenGL on Linux**: Hardware-accelerated rendering with minimal overhead
* **Dedicated IO Thread**: Very little jitter under heavy IO load
* **Optimized Text Rendering**: 4x faster than iTerm and Kitty, 2x faster than Terminal.app for plain text

### Cross-Platform Native

Ghostty is truly cross-platform but doesn't compromise on native experiences:

* **macOS**: SwiftUI-based application with native menu bars, settings GUI, and Metal renderer
* **Linux**: GTK-based application with native windowing
* **Shared Core**: Large shared codebase written in Zig for consistency

<Info>
  The macOS app is a native Swift application that uses `libghostty` through its C API. This architecture enables embedding Ghostty in any third-party project.
</Info>

### Richer Windowing

* Multi-window support
* Native tabbing interface
* Window splits for side-by-side terminals
* Cross-platform consistency

### Modern Terminal Standards

Ghostty implements:

* ECMA-48 standard compliance
* Comprehensive xterm compatibility
* Support for popular terminal innovations
* Drop-in replacement for existing terminal emulators

## Get Started

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quick Start" icon="rocket" href="/quickstart">
    Get up and running with Ghostty in under 5 minutes
  </Card>

  <Card title="Installation" icon="download" href="/installation">
    Install Ghostty on macOS or Linux
  </Card>

  <Card title="Configuration" icon="sliders" href="/config/overview">
    Customize fonts, colors, keybindings, and more
  </Card>

  <Card title="Building from Source" icon="code" href="/guides/building-from-source">
    Build Ghostty yourself from the source code
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Community and Development

Ghostty is open source and actively developed. The project welcomes contributions through:

* Bug reports and feature requests
* Pull requests for improvements
* Documentation contributions
* Translation and localization

For more details on contributing, see the [Contributing Guide](/guides/contributing).

<Warning>
  Ghostty is under active development. While it's production-ready and used daily by thousands of users, some features are still being refined.
</Warning>

## Next Steps

<Steps>
  <Step title="Install Ghostty">
    Follow the [installation guide](/installation) to get Ghostty running on your system
  </Step>

  <Step title="Complete the Quickstart">
    Run through the [quickstart guide](/quickstart) to learn the basics
  </Step>

  <Step title="Customize Your Setup">
    Explore the [configuration options](/config/overview) to make Ghostty your own
  </Step>

  <Step title="Learn Advanced Features">
    Discover [shell integration](/features/shell-integration), [themes](/features/themes), and [performance tuning](/features/performance)
  </Step>
</Steps>