# cmder

> Portable console emulator for Windows with Unix tools

Stars: 27.0k · License: MIT · Platforms: Windows

Features: configurable

- Repository: https://github.com/cmderdev/cmder
- Page: https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/cmder

## Overview

Cmder is a console package for Windows, not a terminal emulator written from scratch. It bundles ConEmu, with a heavily reworked configuration and a Monokai color scheme, together with Clink (GNU Readline-style editing for `cmd.exe`, extended by clink-completions) and a custom prompt. The full edition also includes a vendored Git for Windows installation, which provides the bash tabs. It is for Windows users who want a more Unix-like command line without installing anything system-wide.

Portability is the main selling point. Cmder is self-contained with no external dependencies, so you extract the archive somewhere without admin restrictions (not `C:\Program Files`) and run `Cmder.exe`, from a USB stick or cloud storage if you like, taking your aliases and binaries such as `git`, `curl` and `wget` with you. Executables placed in `%cmder_root%\bin` are added to the PATH, and `opt` holds app folders that are not. For shared installs, `Cmder.exe /C %userprofile%\cmder_config` keeps per-user config separate from the shared program folder. `/REGISTER ALL` adds a "Cmder Here" entry to the Explorer context menu.

Tabs can run several shells side by side: Cmder (an enhanced `cmd.exe` with Git, a Git-aware prompt, Clink and aliases), PowerShell, bash and mintty, each also available as an administrator tab. Shift+Alt+1 and Shift+Alt+2 open new CMD and PowerShell tabs, Ctrl+Alt+U moves up a directory, and Ctrl+R searches history. Startup scripts dropped into `config\profile.d` run for each shell type (`.cmd`/`.bat`, `.ps1` and `.sh`). Aliases created with `alias name=command` support `$1`-`$9` and `$*` parameters and are saved to `config\user_aliases.cmd`. The `cmd.exe` prompt is configured in `cmder_prompt_config.lua`, with options for colors, single or multi-line layout, full path and `user@host`.

Because Cmder is a wrapper, most terminal behavior and settings come from ConEmu and its settings dialog. Mintty tabs are the exception: they support xterm and xterm-256color TERM types but ignore ConEmu's color schemes and key bindings and are configured through `.minttyrc` instead. The mini edition has no bundled bash, so its bash tabs need an external installation such as WSL or Cygwin. Cmder runs only on Windows.

## Alternatives

- [Windows Terminal](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/windows-terminal.md): Microsoft's terminal for Windows that hosts PowerShell, cmd and WSL shells in tabs and panes, with GPU text rendering and JSON settings. (Windows, 105.3k stars)
- [Tabby](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/tabby.md): Cross-platform Electron terminal with a built-in SSH, Telnet and serial client, saved connection profiles and a plugin system. (Linux/macOS/Windows, 75.3k stars)
- [Alacritty](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/alacritty.md): Cross-platform OpenGL terminal emulator written in Rust, configured with a TOML file and leaving tabs and splits to a multiplexer like tmux. (Linux/macOS/Windows/BSD, 66.1k stars)
- [Warp](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/warp.md): Terminal written in Rust with an IDE-style command editor, command output grouped into blocks, and built-in AI agents. (macOS/Linux/Windows, 65.8k stars)
- [Termux](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/termux.md): Android terminal emulator and Linux environment that installs packages through its own apt repository, no root required. (Android, 64.0k stars)
- [Ghostty](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/ghostty.md): Terminal emulator written in Zig with GPU rendering and a native UI on each platform: Swift/AppKit on macOS, GTK on Linux. (Linux/macOS, 63.3k stars)
- [Hyper](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/hyper.md): Electron terminal built on HTML, CSS and JavaScript, themed and extended through npm plugins. (Linux/macOS/Windows, 44.8k stars)
- [Kitty](https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/kitty.md): GPU-rendered terminal written in C and Python, with its own graphics protocol, built-in tabs and splits, and scriptable 'kittens'. (Linux/macOS/BSD, 35.5k stars)

## Guides

- [cmder Alternatives](https://www.trmn.sh/alternatives/cmder): cmder alternatives for Windows: Windows Terminal, WezTerm, and Tabby compared by shells, multiplexing, SSH, and configuration.
- [Tabby Alternatives](https://www.trmn.sh/alternatives/tabby): Tabby alternatives: WezTerm, Kitty, Windows Terminal and Wave compared by platform, scripting, SSH handling and plugin support.
- [Windows Terminal Alternatives](https://www.trmn.sh/alternatives/windows-terminal): Windows Terminal alternatives compared: WezTerm, Tabby, Alacritty, cmder, Hyper and Contour, with platform, config and multiplexing differences.

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Canonical: https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/cmder