# Konsole

> KDE's terminal emulator, with tabs, split views, profiles, bookmarks and Plasma desktop integration.

Stars: 721 · Language: C++ · License: GPL-2.0 · Platforms: Linux, BSD · Config: GUI

Features: built-in multiplexer, ligatures, inline images, configurable

- Repository: https://github.com/KDE/konsole
- Page: https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/konsole

## Overview

Konsole is the terminal emulator of the KDE project, written in C++. Besides running as a standalone app, it is embedded as the terminal component in other KDE programs such as the Kate editor and the KDevelop IDE. It is built for the KDE Plasma desktop on Linux and the BSDs, and the KDE apps site also lists macOS and Windows builds.

Each window holds tabs, and views can be split left/right (Ctrl+() or top/bottom (Ctrl+)). A split view can be detached into its own window (Ctrl+Shift+H), and a tab layout can be saved to a JSON layout file and restored with `konsole --layout FILE`. Copy Input To sends what you type in one session to every tab in the window or to tabs you pick, which is useful for running the same command on several machines. Each tab can be monitored for silence, activity or process completion, with notifications when the condition is met. Bookmarks save locations, and Bookmark Tabs as Folder saves all open tabs at once.

Configuration is mostly graphical. Profiles bundle a command, appearance, scrolling, mouse and keyboard settings, and can automate tasks such as opening an SSH session or tailing a file. A profile can be chosen at launch with `--profile`. With semantic shell integration, the shell marks prompts, input and output, so Ctrl+Shift+PgUp and PgDown jump between prompts and prompts get visual separators. The Complex Text Layout settings include a word mode that renders programming ligatures for fonts that have them, plus grouping for Brahmic scripts.

Other features include search through the scrollback, a keyboard selection mode (Ctrl+Shift+D) for moving through the scrollback and selecting text without the mouse, saving the scrollback as text or HTML (Ctrl+Shift+S), printing the screen, a read-only mode that blocks input and drag and drop, and a context menu for files and URLs dropped onto the window. Notification types for these events are set through KDE's standard Configure Notifications dialog.

## 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

- [Best Terminal Emulators for Linux](https://www.trmn.sh/best/terminal-emulators-for-linux): Best terminal emulators for Linux compared: Ghostty, kitty, foot, Alacritty, WezTerm, Konsole and Ptyxis, by rendering, splits and config.
- [Best Terminals with Inline Image Support](https://www.trmn.sh/best/terminals-with-image-support): Terminals that show images inline: kitty, WezTerm and Rio compared by protocol support (kitty graphics, Sixel, iTerm2) and platform.

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