# Terminal.app

> The terminal emulator bundled with macOS, with tabs, profiles, window groups and AppleScript support.

License: Proprietary · Platforms: macOS · Config: plist

Features: configurable

- Repository: https://support.apple.com/guide/terminal/welcome/mac
- Page: https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/terminal-app

## Overview

Terminal is the terminal emulator that ships with macOS. Apple's user guide describes it as an app for advanced users and developers that gives a command line interface to the operating system through shells such as zsh and bash. It is closed source and only runs on macOS. It suits people who want a terminal that is always present on a Mac and need nothing beyond tabs, profiles and AppleScript.

Settings are changed in the Settings window, which has General, Profiles, Window Groups and Encodings panes. A profile collects text, window, tab, shell, keyboard and advanced settings: colors, font, cursor style, scrollback, the option key, the terminfo type and bell behavior. Profiles and window groups are exported and imported as `.terminal` files, which are property lists, and the app's own preferences live in `~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Terminal.plist`. There is no documented text config file, but `defaults` and AppleScript can script most of it.

Windows hold tabs, and window groups save an arrangement of windows and tabs so it can be reopened, optionally on launch. Other features include a New Remote Connection dialog, an Inspector for changing a tab's title and background color, a tab overview, rectangular selection with Option-drag, paste-escaped-text commands, and AppleScript automation. In macOS Tahoe 26, Terminal 2.15 added 24-bit color, Powerline font support and new themes in the Liquid Glass design.

Terminal has limits that third-party terminals do not. Command-D splits a window into two panes, but both panes show the same session, so the split is for viewing scrollback and is not a way to run two shells side by side. It has no inline image protocol such as Sixel, the kitty graphics protocol or iTerm2's inline images. True color arrived only with macOS 26. Programming ligatures do render, and Fira Code's compatibility list includes Terminal.app.

## 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, 75.2k 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, 65.7k 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, 63.6k 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, 62.8k 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 macOS](https://www.trmn.sh/best/terminal-emulators-for-macos): Ranked terminal emulators for macOS: Ghostty, iTerm2, kitty, WezTerm, Alacritty, Warp and more, compared on features, config and trade-offs.
- [iTerm2 vs Terminal.app](https://www.trmn.sh/compare/iterm2-vs-terminal-app): iTerm2 vs Terminal.app: independent split panes, triggers and a Python API versus the macOS bundled terminal with AppleScript and window groups.

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Canonical: https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/terminal-app