xterm.js
A front-end component that puts a fully featured terminal inside a web page.
- Stars
- 21.3k
- Forks
- 2k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- TypeScript
- Last update
- 7 days ago
- Type
- Library
What it is
Xterm.js is a JavaScript and TypeScript component that lets a web app show a working terminal to its users in the browser. It handles display and keyboard input, while a separate process such as a shell is connected through a pseudoterminal library like node-pty. It is used by VS Code, Tabby and Hyper to provide their built-in terminals.
- Embed a terminal in a web page and write colored output to it with term.write
- Connect the terminal to a shell through node-pty so users can type commands in the browser
- Add clickable web links, search, or image support using the official addons
- Save and restore terminal state across reconnects with the serialize addon and headless package
Great for
- Developers building a browser-based IDE or cloud workspace that needs an integrated terminal
- Teams adding a web console to a server or device management tool
- Projects that already use Node.js and npm and want a terminal component
- Developers who need to run headless terminal state tracking in Node.js via @xterm/headless
Not ideal for
- People who want a terminal app to install on their computer, since the README says xterm.js is not a terminal application
- Users who only want to run bash or tmux directly, since xterm.js needs a host app and a backend process to be useful
- Non-developers, because it is a library that must be wired into code
How to get it
- 1
Install with a package manager
You'll need: npm
Install the module
npm install --save @xterm/xterm - 2
Run it
- Install the package with npm install --save @xterm/xterm
- Import Terminal from '@xterm/xterm' and create a new Terminal object
- Call term.open() on a DOM element and include css/xterm.css
- Use term.write() to display output and term.onData() to send input to a process
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Load the official addons such as fit, webgl, search, and web-links with terminal.loadAddon
- Use the beta build with npm install --save @xterm/xterm@beta if you want to test upcoming features, understanding the stability trade-off in the README
- Use @xterm/headless in Node.js with the serialize addon to keep terminal state for reconnection
- Read the TypeScript declaration file for the full API
Downloads
Strengths
- The README says it works with common terminal apps such as bash, vim, and tmux, including mouse events
- The core library has zero dependencies, according to the README
- Supports CJK, emoji, and IME input, plus an optional GPU-accelerated renderer
Trade-offs
- The README says it is only officially supported in the latest evergreen browsers, so older browsers may not work
- Experimental APIs can change between versions without the usual semver guarantees
- It ships only through npm, so it is not a standalone download
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| xterm.js (this) | 21.3k | Library | intermediate | 7 days ago | Developers building a browser-based IDE or cloud workspace that needs an integrated terminal |
| ttyd | 12.6k | Dev tool | intermediate | 3 months ago | Developers who want to open a shell on a home server or device from a browser |
| upterm | 19k | App | intermediate | 7.5 years ago | Developers who want to try an Electron-based terminal with autocompletion |
| chalk | 23.3k | Library | beginner | 14 days ago | Node.js developers building command-line tools that print colored output |
| Terminal.Gui | 11.3k | Library | intermediate | 7 days ago | C# / .NET developers building terminal tools with forms, tables or menus |
| FTXUI | 10.9k | Library | intermediate | 5 days ago | C++ developers who want interactive text-based tools in the terminal |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.