April 2, 2026
Vim inside Emacs, drama inside comments
Emacs-libgterm: Terminal emulator for Emacs using libghostty-vt
Emacs gets a new turbo terminal — cheers, side‑eyes, and vim jokes
TLDR: A new Emacs add-on embeds Ghostty’s fast terminal engine into Emacs, promising smoother text and graphics but warning it’s an early, “vibe-coded” prototype. Commenters joke about running vim inside Emacs, argue for one unified terminal backend, and raise security eyebrows about using a fresh build for passwords.
A new plug-in called emacs-libgterm drops a slick, speed-boosted terminal inside Emacs by borrowing the engine from Ghostty, a popular terminal app. Think: a faster, better-behaved command line window with nicer emoji/Unicode, smarter resizing, and even image support — all from your favorite everything-editor. It’s an early prototype, “fully vibe coded,” only tested on Apple Silicon Macs, and the dev warns “here be dragons.”
The community reaction? Absolute chaos in the funniest way. One joker immediately celebrated the obvious: “Emacs OS now has a terminal — time to run vim inside Emacs.” Meanwhile, power users dream of harmony. One comment pleads for a future where Emacs’ many terminals (old built-ins and new add-ons) share a single backend so you can pick your favorite face, same brain underneath. Another lightweight crowd shouts out MisTTY as a simpler win.
But the spiciest thread is security. Critics bristled at the “vibe coded” line: this is where you type passwords, launch servers, and handle keys — not exactly the place to YOLO. Old-schoolers chimed in too, saying they’re over the “everything machine” and crave a simpler, “pure Emacs” life. And for dessert, someone dropped a self-fulfilling prophecy link, declaring their wish granted. New toy, old debates, premium memes — the Emacs saga continues.
Key Points
- •emacs-libgterm is a new Emacs terminal emulator module using Ghostty’s libghostty-vt engine.
- •The prototype supports ANSI colors, full key handling, scrollback, cursor sync, drag-and-drop, and Kitty graphics, with improved Unicode handling and text reflow.
- •It requires Emacs 25.1+ with modules, Zig 0.15.2+, and Git; tested only on macOS (Apple Silicon).
- •First load auto-clones Ghostty, applies a macOS compatibility patch if needed, compiles the Zig module, and loads it; multiple installation methods are documented.
- •Manual build commands and build options are provided, alongside usage keybindings and customization variables for shell, TERM, and auto-compile behavior.