Termite - ArchWiki

# Termite

Termite is a minimal terminal emulator designed for use with tiling window managers. It is a modal application, similar to Vim, with an insert mode and command mode where keybindings have different functions.

The configuration file allows to change color and keybindings. Termite supports transparency along with both the 256 color and true color (16 million colors) palettes. It has a similar look and feel to urxvt.

## Installation

Termite is based on the vte terminal emulator library, and is available from the Arch User Repository in termite-git.

## Usage

Termite starts in insert mode by default. Text may be selected using the mouse, or by using command-mode keys. In insert mode, `Ctrl-Shift-c` is used to copy selected text to the X clipboard, `Ctrl-Shift-v` to paste. `Ctrl-tab` starts scrollback completion, and `Ctrl-Shift-up` / `Ctrl-Shift-down` scroll the screen up or down.

`Ctrl-Shift-space` enters command-mode. Many commands are borrowed from Vim, for example `v` for visual mode, `Shift-v` for visual line mode, `Ctrl-v` for visual block mode, `y` to copy ("yank") selected text, `/` and `?` for searching, `w`, `b`, `^`, `$` for movement, and `Escape` to go back to insert mode.

## Configuration

Termite looks for configuration files in `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/termite/config`, `~/.config/termite/config`, `$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/termite/config` and `/etc/xdg/termite.cfg`. The configuration file is used to change options such as font, colors, window hints, etc. The configuration file is in ini format, with three sections: options, colors, and hints.

### Font

Fonts are specified in the format `font=<font_name> <font_size>` under the options section. `<font_name>` is specified according to fontconfig, not Xft. Use `fc-list` to see which fonts are available on the system (see also Font_configuration#Font_paths).

    ~/.config/termite/config

    [options]
    font = Monospace 9
    font = Terminus (TTF) 8
    font = Droid Sans Mono 8

### Colors

Colors consist of either a 24-bit hex value (e.g. `#4a32b1`), or an rgba vector (e.g. `rgba(16, 32, 64, 0.5)`). Valid properties for colors are `foreground`, `foreground_bold`, `foreground_dim`, `background`, `cursor`, and `colorN` (where N is an integer from zero through 254; used to assign a 24-bit color value to terminal colorN).

    ~/.config/termite/config

    [colors]
    foreground = #dcdccc
    background  = #3f3f3f

## Transparency

As of version 9, Termite supports true transparency via color definitions that specify an alpha channel value [1]. This requires a compositor to be running, such as Compton or xcompmgr. Most compositors do not require special configuration for Termite to use transparency.

    ~/.config/termite/config

    [colors]
    background = rgba(63, 63, 63, 0.8)

Note: At least in i3, even in tiling mode, this shows all windows "stacked" on top of one another, in the order they were most recently in the foreground, rather than showing the desktop (aka. X "root window") directly behind Termite. This is probably due to i3 reordering windows rather than hiding invisible windows in tiling mode.

## Troubleshooting

### Colored ls output

For colored `ls` output it is necessary to use a custom LS_COLORS environment variable, which can be set with a `dircolors` file. Generate one with:

    $ dircolors -p > ~/.dircolors

Then edit `~/.dircolors` file, and append

    TERM xterm-termite

to the end of the list of terminals, and save the file.

For Bash in `~/.bashrc` and Zsh in `~/.zshrc`, add:

    eval $(dircolors ~/.dircolors)

and restart the terminal. For fish, add

    eval (dircolors -c ~/.dircolors | sed 's/>&\/dev\/null$//')

to `~/.config/fish/config.fish` and relogin or reload the config via:

    . ~/.config/fish/config.fish

### Ctrl-T not working

Ctrl-T should open a new tab, but it sometimes fails with certain shells. If the termite window outputs `no directory uri set` when this happens, the solution is to add

     . /etc/profile.d/vte.sh

to your `~/.zshrc`.

See this stackexchange question for more details.

## See also

- Termite readme

Category:

- Terminal emulators