# contour-terminal/contour

Modern C++ Terminal Emulator

Repository: https://github.com/contour-terminal/contour
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/contour-terminal-contour
Homepage: http://contour-terminal.org/
Language: C++
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: vte, terminal-emulators, library, console, xterm, sixel-graphics, unicode-support, unicode, linux, emoji, grapheme-cluster, terminal, hacktoberfest, windows-terminal
Last push: 2026-08-24T15:42:54+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 86, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2576, "days_push": 9, "days_rel": 16, "gap_med": 88.5, "n_releases_24m": 7}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3009, forks 148 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:37.732507+00:00)

## What it is
Contour is a modern, GPU-accelerated terminal emulator written in C++23 for everyday use by power users. It offers advanced features such as font ligatures, full Unicode/emoji support, sixel images, persistent sessions, and vi-like input modes across Linux, macOS, BSD, and Windows.

## Use cases
- fast gpu-accelerated terminal emulator
- terminal with font ligatures support
- terminal emulator with sixel image support
- terminal with emoji and unicode grapheme cluster support
- persistent terminal sessions that survive window close
- vi-like keybindings in a terminal emulator
- cross-platform terminal emulator for windows linux mac

## When to choose
- you want a fast, GPU-rendered terminal with modern rendering features like synchronized output and text reflow
- you need font ligatures, emoji, and sixel/ReGIS graphics in your terminal
- you want persistent sessions with local or network reattach and tmux interop
- you prefer vi-like modes, hint mode, and deep customization via profiles and keybindings

## When to avoid
- you need a minimal, ultra-lightweight terminal with a small dependency footprint
- you rely on a terminal emulator deeply integrated with a specific desktop environment like GNOME Terminal or Konsole
- you need a terminal that runs in a browser or over SSH-only environments

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: terminal-ui, graphics, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cross-platform, cpp
- tags: terminal-emulator, gpu-accelerated, sixel, unicode, font-ligatures, vt100, tmux, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- contour-terminal/contour (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:37.732507+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:30:17.833080+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/contour-terminal/contour (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:37.732507+00:00, sha 24a406c48c05)
  - homepage: http://contour-terminal.org/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:45:32.418457+00:00, sha c344085a2da2)
  - site_page: http://contour-terminal.org/install (fetched 2026-08-29T09:45:32.428248+00:00, sha 1e44479b2f8d)
  - site_page: http://contour-terminal.org/features (fetched 2026-08-29T09:45:32.430284+00:00, sha cc6f55529777)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.