TERMINAL · GTK4 · RUST

termilyon — a fast,
tiling terminal for Linux.

A modern terminal emulator built on GTK4 and VTE, with GPU-accelerated rendering, tabs and tiling splits, and a single readable TOML config. Tuned to stay smooth even when a build dumps thousands of lines a second.

~/.config/termilyon/config.toml
# tweak it in plain TOML
font = "JetBrains Mono 12"
opacity = 0.94
scrollback = 100000

[keys]
split_right = "Ctrl+Shift+D"
// THE PROBLEM

Terminals are either fast or friendly — rarely both

GPU-accelerated terminals are quick but often ship without tabs, splits, or sane configuration. Feature-rich ones lag the moment a process floods stdout. termilyon aims for the middle: GTK4 + VTE rendering that stays fluid under heavy output, with the panes, tabs, and keybindings you'd actually use day to day — all driven by one human-readable TOML file.

// CAPABILITIES

What termilyon does

GPU-accelerated rendering

Multi-threaded, hardware-accelerated drawing keeps scrolling and redraws smooth even when a compile or log stream floods the screen.

Tabs & tiling splits

Split panes horizontally and vertically, group work into tabs, and navigate it all from the keyboard — no external multiplexer required.

TOML configuration

Everything — fonts, colors, opacity, scrollback, keybindings — lives in one commented TOML file you can version-control and share, with no hidden GUI state.

Theming & deep customization

Full color-scheme control, ligature support, and per-pane theming let you tune the look exactly, including drop-in palette presets.

Vim / Tmux-friendly

Sensible defaults and configurable keys make it play nicely with Vim, Tmux, and keyboard-centric workflows instead of fighting them.

Native Linux integration

Built on the GTK4 stack, it fits naturally into Wayland and X11 desktops with proper HiDPI, clipboard, and font rendering.

// HOW IT WORKS

GTK4 shell, VTE core, TOML brain

1

GTK4 window shell

The outer application — windows, tabs, split panes, and input handling — is built with GTK4 for a native, HiDPI-aware desktop experience.

2

VTE terminal core

Each pane embeds a VTE widget that handles the PTY, escape sequences, and text grid, with rendering offloaded to the GPU for smoothness under load.

3

TOML configuration layer

On launch termilyon reads a single TOML file that defines fonts, colors, behavior, and keybindings — the one source of truth for how the terminal looks and acts.

4

Rust orchestration

A Rust core ties it together — managing panes, multi-threaded rendering, and config reloads — to keep the emulator fast and memory-lean.

// AT A GLANCE

Technical profile

Language
Rust — multi-threaded core, lean memory use
UI toolkit
GTK4 application shell with native desktop integration
Terminal core
VTE widget per pane, GPU-accelerated rendering
Layout
Tabs and tiling splits, fully keyboard-driven
Configuration
Single TOML file — fonts, colors, opacity, scrollback, keys
License
MIT — auditable and free to self-host
Rust GTK4 VTE TOML
// GET STARTED

Make the terminal yours

Build it, drop in a TOML config, and get a fast tiling terminal that stays smooth under heavy output.

github.com/alikaya/termilyon