# Terminator

> Python/GTK terminal emulator for arranging several terminals in a grid of split panes within one window.

Stars: 2.7k · Language: Python · License: GPL-2.0 · Platforms: Linux · Config: ini

Features: built-in multiplexer, configurable

- Repository: https://github.com/gnome-terminator/terminator
- Page: https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/terminator

## Overview

Terminator is a terminal emulator for arranging many terminals in one window. It is written in Python on the VTE terminal widget and licensed GPL-2.0-only. Chris Jones started it in 2007 as a roughly 300-line script, and it has been maintained on GitHub by the gnome-terminator team since 2020. It is packaged by most Linux distributions and is also available on FreeBSD. It suits people who are logged into several machines at once or want to watch many shells side by side.

The core workflow is splitting. Ctrl-Shift-O splits horizontally and Ctrl-Shift-E vertically, Ctrl-Shift-N and Ctrl-Shift-P move focus between terminals, Ctrl-Shift-T opens a tab, and Ctrl-Shift-I opens a new window. Each terminal has a title bar that updates as programs set their titles, with a small button that opens the grouping menu. Terminals can be placed in groups, and input can be broadcast to all terminals, only to grouped terminals, or turned off, with the default set by `broadcast_default`. Keybindings exist for grouping all terminals, the terminals in a window, or the terminals in a tab.

Configuration lives in `~/.config/terminator/config`, a human-editable INI-style file handled by the ConfigObj library and documented in `man terminator_config`. You rarely need to edit it by hand because the Preferences dialog (right-click, Preferences) writes it for you. The file has sections for global settings, keybindings, profiles (fonts, colors, scrollback and so on), saved layouts and plugins. A saved layout can be launched with `terminator --layout NAME` (`-l`), and `enabled_plugins` lists the plugins to load. A running instance uses DBus, which can be turned off with `--no-dbus`.

Terminator has no GPU acceleration or ligature support. Its strength is layout and broadcasting, not rendering features. It is Linux-focused, and `man terminator` covers the remaining shortcuts and command-line options.

## 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.
- [Tilix vs Terminator](https://www.trmn.sh/compare/tilix-vs-terminator): Tilix (D, GTK 3, dconf settings) vs Terminator (Python, INI config, broadcast groups): layout, config and maintenance compared.

---

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