# migueldeicaza/SwiftTerm

Xterm/VT100 Terminal emulator in Swift

Repository: https://github.com/migueldeicaza/SwiftTerm
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/swiftterm
Language: Swift
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: macos, ios, swift, xterm-256color, xterm, uikit, appkit, vt100, sixel, imgcat, terminal-engine, ssh-connection
Last push: 2026-08-25T20:38:57+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 99/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 98, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2716, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 15, "gap_med": 10.0, "n_releases_24m": 17}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1668, forks 451 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:19.619080+00:00)

## What it is
SwiftTerm is a VT100/Xterm terminal emulator library written in Swift, with a UI-agnostic engine plus front-ends for macOS (AppKit) and iOS (UIKit). It can be embedded into apps, SSH clients, and headless scenarios, and is used in commercial products like Secure ShellFish and La Terminal.

## Use cases
- embed a terminal emulator in a macOS app
- add an SSH terminal view to an iOS app
- build a custom Terminal.app replacement
- render xterm/VT100 escape sequences in Swift
- display sixel images and imgcat in an embedded terminal
- build a headless terminal engine for automation

## When to choose
- you need a terminal emulator embedded in a Swift macOS or iOS application
- you want a UI-agnostic terminal engine you can wire to your own front-end
- you need strong Unicode, UTF-8, and grapheme cluster handling in terminal rendering

## When to avoid
- you need a terminal emulator for Linux or Windows GUIs (front-ends here target Apple platforms)
- you want a ready-made standalone terminal application rather than a library
- your project is not in Swift or the Apple ecosystem

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: terminal-ui, developer-tools, ssh
- domain: developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: -
- tags: terminal-emulator, vt100, xterm, uikit, appkit, sixel, ssh-client, command-line, macos, ios, swift

## Member repositories
- migueldeicaza/SwiftTerm (main) score 99

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:19.619080+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 2026-08-30T03:42:50.409699+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/migueldeicaza/SwiftTerm (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:19.619080+00:00, sha 146a8583fb93)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.