# Xfce Terminal

> The Xfce desktop's GTK and VTE terminal, with tabs, a built-in drop-down mode, Sixel images and settings stored in Xfconf.

Stars: 44 · Language: C · License: GPL-2.0 · Platforms: Linux, BSD · Config: xfconf

Features: inline images, configurable

- Repository: https://gitlab.xfce.org/apps/xfce4-terminal
- Page: https://www.trmn.sh/terminals/xfce-terminal

## Overview

Xfce Terminal (`xfce4-terminal`) is the terminal emulator of the Xfce desktop, written in C on GTK 3 and the VTE terminal widget, the same library GNOME Terminal uses, and licensed under GPL-2.0. It is developed on Xfce's own GitLab, with a read-only mirror on GitHub. It suits Xfce users and anyone who wants a light GTK terminal with tabs and a drop-down mode built in.

Since version 1.1.0 settings are stored in Xfconf, Xfce's configuration system, and edited in a preferences dialog that includes an embedded shortcuts editor. The preferences cover fonts, colors and transparent backgrounds, scrollback (which can be unlimited), and the drop-down window's size, position and monitor. Some options are hidden settings without a control in the dialog. By default new windows open in a single running process, which `--disable-server` turns off.

Windows hold tabs, which can be detached into new windows. `xfce4-terminal --drop-down` opens a drop-down terminal that is toggled by running the same command again, typically from a keyboard shortcut, and it has worked on Wayland as well as X11 in recent releases. Other features include search, clickable URLs and OSC 8 hyperlinks, an unsafe-paste warning dialog, and Sixel image support, added in 1.1.0, which depends on VTE being built with Sixel enabled.

There are no split panes, no GPU renderer and no programming-font ligatures. The README notes that VTE is not the fastest terminal library but has good Unicode support, and the documentation suggests turning off font anti-aliasing if rendering is slow. Version 1.2.0, released in March 2026, switched the build entirely to Meson.

## Alternatives

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- [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)

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