Contour

Contour is a modern, GPU-accelerated terminal emulator built with C++23 that prioritizes both performance and power user features. What sets Contour apart is its focus on being "actually fast" through hardware acceleration while offering unique productivity features like vertical line markers for quick navigation through command history, vi-like input modes for improved text selection, and a built-in Fira Code-inspired progress bar support.

The terminal excels in visual capabilities with comprehensive Unicode support including emoji with ZWJ sequences, font ligatures, sixel inline images, and advanced transparency effects with blurred backgrounds on supported platforms. It supports modern terminal features like synchronized rendering, text reflow, clickable hyperlinks via OSC 8, and clipboard integration via OSC 52. Contour also includes practical features like terminal tabs, runtime configuration reload, customizable key bindings, color schemes, and profiles for different use cases.

Designed for power users who want a modern feature set, Contour is available across all major platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD, OpenBSD) and requires OpenGL 3.3 support and modern hardware with AES-NI or ARM crypto extensions. The terminal targets users who need advanced terminal capabilities without sacrificing performance, making it ideal for developers, system administrators, and anyone who spends significant time in terminal environments.

Installation

# via Fedora
dnf install contour-terminal

# via Arch Linux
pacman -S contour

# via Flatpak
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo && flatpak install flathub org.contourterminal.Contour