Ember started with a simple question, where's iTerm2 for Linux?, and grew into its own thing: a native terminal emulator, built from scratch in Rust for macOS and Linux. Not a port of the macOS source, not an extension of an existing terminal, but a daily-driver replacement in its own right.
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brew install --cask kingb/ember/ember # macOS
brew install kingb/ember/ember # LinuxOr grab a signed, notarized build from the releases page, or build from source.
- GPU-rendered, wgpu end to end: text, chrome, and effects in one pipeline.
- Splits and tabs with iTerm2-familiar keys, drop-zone splitting, and drag-to-reorder tabs.
- Shell integration out of the box: exit-status marks in the gutter and jump-to-previous-command, no shell config required.
- A campfire built in: a warm gradient backdrop out of the box, and opt-in drifting ember sparks, live-tunable in Settings.
- One codebase, two platforms: the same terminal on macOS and Linux.
Layered, single-process Rust workspace. The daemon/multi-process split is deferred, but its boundary is front-loaded. Full picture in the design doc.
| Crate | Responsibility |
|---|---|
ember-core |
Pure domain: the neutral grid model (NeutralCell/GridDelta, engine-agnostic), SessionBackend trait, layout tree, focus/layout, profiles, OSC/trigger matching. No IO. |
ember-session |
Backend impls: LocalPty (v1, wraps alacritty_terminal's parser and grid as the VT engine, then projects it into the neutral grid), TmuxControlMode (phase 2), a future out-of-process backend (future). |
ember-render |
wgpu + glyphon text, plus a hand-rolled quad pass for backgrounds, cursor, box-drawing sprites, and all chrome (tabs, Settings, About, overlays). |
ember-platform |
winit + PlatformBackend, the clipboard/open-path seam. Real MacBackend and LinuxBackend impls, both backed by arboard. Global hotkey isn't implemented yet. |
ember-app |
Binary: event loop, input routing, layout, config; trigger dispatch. |
The render layer only ever sees the neutral grid, never a specific VT engine's
own types. That's what makes SessionBackend genuinely swappable: any backend
(local PTY today, tmux control mode or an out-of-process bus later) just has to
translate into NeutralCell/GridDelta, and every other crate keeps working
unchanged. Two extension seams overall: SessionBackend (tmux / daemon /
bus) and PlatformBackend (macOS and Linux).
winit · wgpu · glyphon/cosmic-text · alacritty_terminal (swappable) ·
portable-pty.
Everyday development is cargo build / cargo run -p ember-app. Packaging,
signing, notarization, and the Homebrew release flow live in
BUILDING.md.
Ember's terminal parsing and grid engine is built on
alacritty_terminal, the library
behind Alacritty, one of the fastest terminal
emulators out there. Ember wouldn't exist without it. If you haven't tried
Alacritty itself, go give it a look. It's excellent. Thank you to its
maintainers and contributors.
Beyond that dependency, Ember owes a debt of inspiration to the terminals that came before it. iTerm2 set the bar for the splits and shell integration Ember treats as a baseline; Ghostty reshaped what a modern GPU terminal should feel like. Building Ember gave me real appreciation for how much careful work a good terminal takes, and for the people who did it first. If Ember isn't your fit, one of them likely is.
Dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0, at your option.