ghostty-code-patterns

name	ghostty-code-patterns
description	Ghostty codebase coding patterns for Zig (core, C API, termio) and Swift (macOS app). Load when reading or writing Zig or Swift files in this repo. Covers naming, error handling, logging, config, memory, imports, tests, C interop, and state restoration conventions.

Ghostty Codebase Patterns

Conventions extracted from the upstream Ghostty maintainers' code. Follow these when contributing Zig or Swift changes to this repo.

Rule Strength

Use this priority when applying guidance:

• Required: must follow for consistency, correctness, or API safety.
• Preferred: default style; deviate only when the surrounding file/module has an established pattern.
• Direction: migration target for new code; existing code may still use older patterns.

Zig Conventions

Imports

Preferred: order imports consistently across all files:

1. std and stdlib extractions (Allocator, posix, assert)
2. Internal project imports (termio, terminal, renderer, apprt, configpkg)
3. Local/sibling imports (snapshot, shell_integration)
4. const log = std.log.scoped(.scope_name); — always last among imports

File Structure

• Preferred: File-is-struct idiom: files that define a primary struct use const X = @This(); at the top.
• Preferred: Private helpers: free functions (no self), no pub, placed near related code.
• Preferred: Init pattern: pub fn init(self: *Self, alloc: Allocator, ...) !void with self.* = .{ ... } assignment.
• Preferred: Labeled blocks: use break :label value for complex initialization inside init.

Naming

• Required: @"" syntax for hyphenated config keys: config.@"window-save-state".
• Required: preserve established naming in the file/module; do not rename public APIs just to normalize style.
• Preferred: local/private Zig identifiers are generally snake_case.
• Current practice: some long-lived/public APIs use camelCase; match adjacent code.
• Preferred: common abbreviations: alloc, cfg, td, io, gpa, env.

Error Handling

• Required: handle all errors explicitly.
• Preferred: use errdefer immediately after fallible allocations/resource acquisition.
• Preferred: CAPI export functions: complex ones use a two-function split (public export wrapper catches errors + logs, private _ suffixed inner function returns !T). Simpler ones handle errors inline.
• Preferred: catch |err| { log.warn/err(...); return ...; } for inline error handling.
• Preferred: prefer const over var; use var when mutation is required.

Logging

Format: log.level("description key={fmt}", .{value}).

log.err("error initializing app err={}", .{err});
log.warn("snapshot restore skipped path={s} err={}", .{ path, err });
log.info("deleting widget id={d}", .{id});

• Preferred: log.err for initialization failures and critical errors.
• Preferred: log.warn for recoverable issues, bad input, skipped operations.
• Preferred: log.info for state changes.
• Preferred: log.debug for internal diagnostics.
• Preferred: key-value pairs: err={}, path={s}, id={d}, dir={s} (no quotes, no space around =).

Memory

• Required: ownership must be explicit and deinit/free paths must be obvious.
• Preferred: pass allocators explicitly.
• Scope note: runtime bridge/CAPI layers may intentionally use shared runtime allocators (for example global.alloc) where ownership is process-global and crosses FFI boundaries.
• Preferred: defer immediately after acquiring a resource.
• Preferred: arena allocators for batch/scoped allocations (ArenaAllocator.init / defer arena.deinit()).
• Required (tests): std.testing.allocator for leak detection.

Config Options (src/config/Config.zig)

• Required: doc comments use /// in Pandoc-flavored Markdown.
• Preferred: first paragraph is a concise summary.
• Preferred: valid values as bullet list with * \value`` format.
• Preferred: cross-references use backtick-quoted option names.
• Preferred: platform notes at end (for example: "This is currently only supported on macOS. This has no effect on Linux.").
• Required: field names use @"kebab-case-name".

Tests

• Preferred: descriptive string names: test "snapshot header roundtrip".
• Preferred: first line in test blocks: const testing = std.testing;.
• Required: use std.testing.allocator for leak detection.
• Preferred: assertions: try testing.expectEqual(...), try testing.expectEqualSlices(...), try testing.expectError(...).
• Preferred: module test block uses refAllDecls(@This()) plus explicit _ = @import(...) for otherwise-unreferenced modules.

Writer/Reader API

Current practice: codebase contains both std.Io and std.io usage.

Direction (new code): prefer std.Io.Writer, std.Io.Reader (uppercase I) unless you're touching code that is still centered on older std.io stream APIs; in that case, stay consistent within the file/change.

var vt: std.Io.Writer.Allocating = .init(alloc);
var reader: std.Io.Reader = .fixed(data);

CAPI Functions (src/apprt/embedded.zig)

• Required: live inside pub const CAPI = struct { ... }.
• Required: export name prefix ghostty_ with snake_case (for example ghostty_surface_export_snapshot).
• Required: return bool or ?*T for fallible operations (no Zig errors cross FFI boundary).
• Preferred: parameter naming: c_path, c_input for C-originated pointers; surface, app for Ghostty objects.
• Required: use std.mem.sliceTo(c_ptr, 0) to convert sentinel-terminated C strings to slices.

Swift Conventions (macOS App)

Naming

• Required: Swift camelCase for properties, methods, local variables.
• Required: C struct fields stay snake_case (e.g., config.working_directory).
• Required: config keys use kebab-case in C API strings, camelCase as Swift computed properties.
• Preferred: CodingKeys enum cases are camelCase; append new keys at end for stable ordering.

File Organization

• Preferred: one major type per file.
• Current practice: cohesive files may contain multiple related types/protocols/extensions (especially restoration/state modules). Keep related pieces together when it improves cohesion.
• Preferred: extension Ghostty { ... } namespace for Ghostty-specific types.
• Preferred: // MARK: - section dividers for protocol conformances and logical sections.

Access Control

• Preferred: private(set) for externally-readable/internally-writable.
• Preferred: @Published private(set) for observable state.
• Preferred: private static for internal helpers.
• Preferred: rely on default internal access unless explicit visibility is needed.

Error Handling

• Preferred: guard ... else { return } for early returns.
• Preferred: do/catch with logger.warning(...) for non-fatal errors.
• Preferred: throws propagation for fatal errors.

Logging

Apple OSLog framework via Logger:

static let logger = Logger(
    subsystem: Bundle.main.bundleIdentifier!,
    category: String(describing: MyType.self)
)

Called as Self.logger.warning("description key=\(value)") or AppDelegate.logger.warning(...).

Config Access

Preferred: access config through computed properties (ghostty.config.propertyName or appDelegate.ghostty.config.propertyName). Config values are String, Bool, etc., returned by ghostty_config_get calls inside the computed var.

Async / Dispatch

Current practice: mixed model. The macOS app uses both GCD (DispatchQueue) and structured concurrency (async/await, Task).

Preferred: follow the surrounding module's established pattern and actor constraints:

• Use DispatchQueue for callback-based/legacy flows and AppKit scheduling.
• Use async/await + Task in async workflows (for example App Intents, Swift concurrency-native paths).
• Capture weak references when escaping closures can outlive object ownership and self retention would be problematic.

DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + .seconds(3)) { [weak self] in
    guard let self else { return }
    // ...
}

C Interop

• Required: preserve C string lifetime safety with withCString/withCValue wrappers.
• Preferred: Optional<String>.withCString passes nil for .none.
• Preferred: each optional C string field adds one nesting level in withCValue.

Codable / State Restoration

• Required: state versioning via class var version: Int where restoration models require version checks.
• Preferred: CodingKeys enum with camelCase cases.
• Preferred: decodeIfPresent for newer/optional fields (backward compatibility).
• Current practice: Codable models may use required convenience init(from decoder:); NSCoding restoration paths may use init?(coder:) wrappers around codable bridges.

Stores / Managers

• Preferred: caseless enum with static methods (not class) for stateless namespaces.
• Preferred: NSLock() for thread safety on shared mutable state.
• Preferred: FileManager + URL APIs for filesystem operations.
• Required: XDG compliance: respect XDG_STATE_HOME, default to ~/.local/state/ghostty/.