libghostty-vt

# libghostty-vt Zero-dependency VT sequence parser from Ghostty. Mitchell Hashimoto's embeddable terminal core. ## Status **NOT YET RELEASED** (as of 2025-09) - Zig API available for testing, C API coming. ## What It Is `libghostty-vt` extracts Ghostty's proven VT parsing into a standalone library: - Parse ANSI/VT sequences - Maintain terminal state - Zero dependencies (no libc required!) - SIMD-optimized (>100 MB/s plain text) ## Architecture ``` Raw Bytes → UTF8Decoder → Parser (DFA) → Stream → Actions │ State Machine (14 states) ``` ### Parser States | State | Purpose | |-------|---------| | `ground` | Normal text printing | | `escape` | ESC detected (0x1B) | | `csi_entry` | CSI sequence start | | `csi_param` | Parsing CSI parameters | | `osc_string` | OSC data collection | | `dcs_passthrough` | DCS data collection | ### Action Types ```zig const Action = union(enum) { print: u21, // Unicode codepoint execute: u8, // C0/C1 control csi_dispatch: CSI, // Control Sequence Introducer esc_dispatch: ESC, // Escape sequence osc_dispatch: *osc.Parser, dcs_hook: DCS, dcs_put: u8, dcs_unhook: void, }; ``` ## Key Files (ghostty-org/ghostty) ``` src/terminal/Parser.zig # State machine src/terminal/stream.zig # Stream wrapper + SIMD src/terminal/osc.zig # OSC parser src/terminal/parse_table.zig # Compile-time transition table src/simd/vt.zig # SIMD acceleration ``` ## Performance | Optimization | Impact | |--------------|--------| | Pre-computed state table | O(1) transitions | | SIMD text processing | 10-100x for plain text | | Fast-path CSI parsing | Skips state machine | | Fixed-size buffers | No allocation | ## Use Cases - Terminal emulators (tmux, zellij, Ghostty) - IDE terminals (VS Code, JetBrains) - Cloud terminals (Vercel, Render) - TUI frameworks - Terminal recording/playback ## When Available ```bash # Future installation (not yet available) # Zig zig fetch --save git+https://github.com/ghostty-org/libghostty-vt # C (when released) # pkg-config --cflags --libs libghostty-vt ``` ## Example (Future API) ```zig const vt = @import("libghostty-vt"); var parser = vt.Parser.init(); var stream = vt.Stream(MyHandler).init(&parser, &handler); // Process bytes for (input) |byte| { if (stream.next(byte)) |action| { switch (action) { .print => |cp| handler.print(cp), .csi_dispatch => |csi| handler.handleCSI(csi), // ... } } } ``` ## Sources - https://mitchellh.com/writing/libghostty-is-coming - https://ghostty.org/docs/about - https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty - https://vt100.net/emu/dec_ansi_parser ## GF(3) Assignment ``` Trit: +1 (PLUS) - Generator/Parser Hue: 180° (cyan - terminal green vibes) ``` Triads: - `libghostty-vt (+1)` × `vterm (0)` × `terminfo (-1)` = 0 ✓ - `libghostty-vt (+1)` × `tmux (0)` × `escape-sequence-validator (-1)` = 0 ✓