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How teru stacks up against other terminal emulators. teru trades breadth for depth in AI-native workflows.
| Feature | teru | Ghostty | Alacritty | WezTerm | Zellij | Warp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Zig | Zig | Rust | Rust | Rust | Rust |
| Binary size | 1.3MB | 30MB | 6MB | 25MB | 12MB | 80MB+ |
| GPU required | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Built-in multiplexer | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Tabs only |
| AI agent protocol | Yes | No | No | No | No | Cloud |
| Process graph | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Claude Code native | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Cross-agent messaging | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Scrollback compression | 20–50× | Paged | Ring | Ring | Host | Block |
| Config format | key=value | Dhall | TOML | Lua/WML | YAML/KDL | GUI |
| License | MIT | MIT | Apache | MIT | MIT | Proprietary |
teru's unique advantages
Only terminal with AI agent protocol
teru implements the CustomPaneBackend protocol and OSC 9999 agent self-declaration. Claude Code agent teams organize into teru workspaces automatically. No other terminal emulator has native AI agent integration.
1.3MB — the smallest full-featured terminal
The release binary is 1.3MB. Ghostty is 30MB. Warp is 80MB+. teru achieves this through minimal dependencies: no FreeType, no fontconfig, no OpenGL, no GTK — just three runtime libs and two vendored C files.
CPU rendering that works everywhere
GPU-accelerated terminals fail in VMs, containers, remote servers, and CI environments. teru's SIMD CPU renderer works everywhere — same binary, same performance, no GPU driver headaches.
Process graph — see what's running
teru tracks every process in a DAG with parent-child relationships and agent metadata. Query it via MCP, watch status in pane borders, correlate tool activity to output. No other terminal gives you this visibility.
20–50× scrollback compression
Command-stream compression (keyframe/delta encoding) means a 50,000-line scrollback costs ~5MB instead of ~150MB. Never lose terminal history to memory limits again.
MCP server built in
Multiple Claude Code instances can connect to teru's MCP server to read each other's output, send input to any pane, and broadcast to workspaces. Cross-agent communication with zero configuration.
Current limitations
teru is v0.1.x — it works as a daily driver but has gaps compared to mature terminals:
- No full Unicode: emoji and CJK characters not yet supported (planned v0.3.0)
- No detach/attach daemon mode: sessions don't survive terminal restarts (planned v0.2.0)
- Linux only: macOS and Windows platform stubs compile but are not functional
- Wayland keyboard: currently raw passthrough; proper keymap integration pending (v0.1.4)
- No shell integration scripts: OSC 133 works but bash/zsh/fish injection is manual (v0.1.5)