# vercel-labs/wterm

A terminal emulator for the web

Repository: https://github.com/vercel-labs/wterm
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/wterm
Homepage: https://wterm.dev
Language: TypeScript
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-25T22:33:56+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 80/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 97, longevity 10
- inputs: {"age_days": 141, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 20, "gap_med": 0.0, "n_releases_24m": 17}
- flags: young
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3402, forks 154 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:02.925776+00:00)

## What it is
wterm is a terminal emulator for the web with a Zig-compiled WASM core that parses VT100/VT220/xterm escape sequences and renders to the DOM. It ships as modular packages including headless core, DOM renderer, React and Vue components, a libghostty-powered emulation core, and an in-browser bash shell.

## Use cases
- embed a terminal emulator in a web app
- render terminal output in the browser with native text selection
- connect a browser terminal to a remote PTY over WebSocket
- run a bash shell in the browser
- build an accessible web-based terminal with screen reader support
- add a React or Vue terminal component to a frontend
- display vim or htop correctly in a browser terminal

## When to choose
- you need a web terminal with native selection, clipboard, find, and accessibility instead of canvas rendering
- you want a tiny (~12 KB) WASM terminal core with optional full VT compliance via libghostty
- you use React or Vue and want an idiomatic terminal component
- you need WebSocket transport to a PTY backend with reconnection

## When to avoid
- you need a native desktop terminal emulator rather than an in-browser one
- you require xterm.js's mature plugin ecosystem and battle-tested compatibility
- your project cannot use WASM or Zig toolchains for builds

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: terminal-ui, http-server, websocket, parser, wasm
- domain: web-development, frontend, developer-tools
- platform: browser, wasm
- tags: terminal-emulator, vt100, xterm, dom-rendering, react, vue, zig, pty, accessibility, escape-sequences, command-line, web-server, nodejs, typescript

## Member repositories
- vercel-labs/wterm (main) score 80

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:02.925776+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 2026-08-29T18:38:39.116749+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/vercel-labs/wterm (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:02.925776+00:00, sha 8fd60ecccff5)
  - homepage: https://wterm.dev (fetched 2026-08-29T09:32:46.423733+00:00, sha ad351317f5e8)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.