> This feature exists because: - Many iTerm2 features translate well to web browsing - It provides a unified terminal and browser experience - A former colleague suggested this idea in 2014 and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. - I am maybe having a midlife crisis and this is cheaper than a sports car.
I can't put my finger on why, but this might be the most refreshing thing I've seen in a README in years.
nickdothutton · 2h ago
I’m convinced that a term/browser can somehow help in the fight against ensh*ttification and general spoiling of the internet experience for certain classes of user.
Edited for typo.
sceptic123 · 50m ago
except:
> AI Integration
dgl · 3h ago
> A former colleague suggested this idea in 2014 and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. - I am maybe having a midlife crisis and this is cheaper than a sports car.
It's quite a treat going through iTerm changelogs and finding new gems. For example, this sounds nice:
> [Timestamps] can be configured to be relative to a particular line by right-clicking and selecting "Set Baseline for Relative Timestamps"
The following is interesting too, because it seems to work on an individual cell basis and not just one overall background colour:
> [in editors and other TUIs] Detect when there is a non-default background color and extend it into the margins. In Minimal [theme], it is also extended into window chrome.
adamddev1 · 45m ago
More than this feature I'm super happy to have RTL text support. There are still a few little rough edges but I haven't found anything else on MacOS that can handle it and finally I can use NeoVim with RTL/bidi support! George is fantastic and his passion shines through this project.
otikik · 2h ago
I love iTerm2 and if the author wants to experiment, I'm fine with it having some ... "extravagant" features. I will definitely not use it at all but as long as it doesn't stand in my way, he can have some fun, after all he's helping me for free.
hn_throw2025 · 3h ago
Amazing terminal, it has served me so well over the years.
I wouldn’t consider anything else.
If you lean in to the advanced features, there’s nothing to touch it.
Can’t believe it’s free, but I am very grateful for the fact.
Thanks, George!
colinb · 2h ago
It is free, but it's also easy to throw money at George, as you've probably already done. The About menu has links for Patreon and Github Sponsors. I've only ever used the former. Given how much of my time is spent in the terminal, and how good it is, it seems like some money well spent to me.
Perz1val · 3h ago
First I thought "WTF why". Then "WTF it's actually quite nice, why do I like this"
ukoki · 2h ago
First I thought "WTF why" and I'm still thinking "WTF why"
rekoil · 2h ago
First I thought "WTF why?", and then it appeared in my terminal and then I thought "what the hell, I thought I turned this stuff off!?!"
semi-extrinsic · 3h ago
When the window management and UI/UX of your OS is so bad the terminal emulator devs decide they can do a better job themselves...
nixpulvis · 3h ago
Problems we wouldn't have if more people used i3/sway.
wewewedxfgdf · 2h ago
If you're a Mac user and not using iTerm2 then run don't walk to download it.
jillesvangurp · 1h ago
It's one of the first things I install on a new mac. Along with Firefox. So the browser is a bit redundant for me.
I actually only use a fraction of the features but the ones I do use seem to be lacking in the few linux terminals I've used.
Things I like:
- easy to switch between tabs (command + arrow), use this all the time
- easy to copy paste (command+c, command+v, same as in the rest of the OS).
- easy to scroll (just passes through scroll events to things like less and bat)
- looks alright with the right font setup
- right click split horizontally/vertically; easy and I do this all the time. And no need to remember the key combos for that.
- it remembers the directory of each tab when I restart it. Simple feature but so nice.
There are a lot of smaller features that you won't notice until they aren't there.
The keybindings are of course a nice side effect of not having to use ctrl for everything, which conflicts with a lot of stuff in terminals (e.g. ctrl+c aborts stuff). There is the "windows" key of course for the last few decades but somehow using that as a modifier never caught on in the Linux world. So keybindings are a bit more awkward. So you have to remember to press ctrl+shift+c, depending on what window you are looking at. Which is something I get wrong every few times I do it.
Anyway, iterm2 is the best terminal across all operating systems I'm aware off. I have a linux laptop as well and I haven't really found anything I liked so far. And I tried essentially all the popular ones.
IMHO the main issue in this space is people geeking out on configuration languages but then forgetting to add a nice usable preference screen in their ultimate iterm2 killer (which seems to set the bar for a lot of these things). I'm sure it's great if you take a sabbatical and make a deep study of the freaking manual to program your settings correctly. But that just makes for a really high barrier of entry. Iterm2 in comparison is very easy to configure but even if you don't do that, it just generally does a lot of things right out of the box that don't need micromanaging.
Anyway, nice upgrade and just generally nice to see this oss product stay fresh and relevant over the years.
skydhash · 50m ago
> There is the "windows" key of course for the last few decades but somehow using that as a modifier never caught on in the Linux world.
In the window manager side of linux, Super ("Mod4") is often used for the windows manager level keybindings.
As for the configuration thing, those things are usually checked in into the dotfiles. So you've done it once four years ago, and you never think about it again. iterm2 is nice, but I'm not sure about the ergonomics advantage for a power user.
sceptic123 · 27m ago
The only one of the things on your list that Terminal.app doesn't do is the split tabs, although tab switching there is using the more traditional cmd+shift+[]
feketegy · 48m ago
I would use any other emulator than iTerm2. They are much more capable and more performant even if they are not as feature rich as iTerm2.
whirlwin · 1h ago
Would be nice if the browser tabs had a terminal pane inside. Usually I'm reading something in the browser that I want to immediately run via the terminal.
mechanicum · 24m ago
You can have that. Cmd-Opt-Shift-V or H to split with a different profile, or use the move/swap options in the context menu to put any panes in the same tab after creation.
actionfromafar · 2h ago
View files on remote hosts via SSH Integration using URLs like: iterm2-ssh://example.com/home/user/file.jpg
That's oddly compelling.
egorfine · 2h ago
> Note for Enterprise Users: Administrators can block the browser plugin by restricting bundle ID com.googlecode.iterm2.iTermBrowserPlugin.
I am genuinely curious what the corporate thread models look like that allow running a terminal but not rendering anything in a browser.
mugsie · 2h ago
it would generally be for environments where the browser is locked down as well, or has a special extension installed for "security". In a lot of those cases the shell is recorded and send to a central tool, but the webview would not be logged
egorfine · 2h ago
> the shell is recorded and send to a central tool
Challenge accepted. And it's not a huge challenge. I'd say not even a mild one.
mugsie · 58m ago
yup, its really not that hard to break, but to break without the tool noticing is harder.
Based on experiences with my current corporate security group, everything is a threat.
egorfine · 2h ago
But somehow iTerm is not.
openmarkand · 2h ago
First, we got 3D accelerated terminals, then AI assisted terminals, now web browser enabled terminals.
Tomorrow we have operating system in the terminal.
mafro · 2h ago
There are only two essential apps on my Mac. iTerm2, and a browser
carlhjerpe · 59m ago
When I quit my job and had to get my own laptop I bought a Chromebook. If your usecase is Terminal + Browser they're really very good.
I don't like that I'm supporting the Browser monopoly, but the battery life is supreme++(ARM versions at least), the Linux integration is great, I can run Android apps too(rarely though).
PWA's are integrated really well into ChromeOS so you won't be running one Electron instance per webapp. (My PWA's are Kagi Assistant, WhatsApp, SchildiChat(Element), Discord)
ekianjo · 2h ago
> Tomorrow we have operating system in the terminal.
That's called emacs
oliviergg · 3h ago
thank you iterm2 team to continue to try things !
I give it a try this morning. I can't decide if I'm confortable with it or no.
Having multiple webpage combined with your front and back process traces is nice.
You can move to each panel with the same shortcuts like a sort of simplified linux tile manager within a terminal on mac.
It's also a good idea to interact less with the weird liquid glass redesign.
You can uninstall it and re-install the latest version from here to be double sure
VVilhelmsen · 47m ago
Ah , thank you! Uninstalling , update and re-installing fixed it.
raffael_de · 2h ago
How is this different from using lynx or w3m?
freetonik · 2h ago
This is a full browser rendering using WKWebView, not a terminal text-based browser like lynx.
imgyuri · 3h ago
does anyone know how the new window shows the original terminal instead of the browser? do i need to switch the profile each time?
Perz1val · 3h ago
I didn't switch any profile, I just clicked a link in terminal and it opened as a tab in the same window. I then dragged this tab to be split view with the original terminal
oulipo2 · 2h ago
Would it make it possible to have light "CLI-like" interfaces which span a browser in the same tab and give a proper UI?
Could be interesting to replace htop or other monitoring tools with graphs
ilaksh · 3h ago
> Passkeys Not supported due to Apple-imposed WKWebView restrictions.
Advanced ad blocking: Limited by Apple's resource fetching API restrictions.
This is why people should buy Linux computers.
oefrha · 2h ago
On Linux you get to have the “fun” decision of which UI toolkit to use, and pretty sure neither WebkitGTK nor QTWebengine support passkeys or ad blocking extensions anyway, and I doubt more obscure toolkits somehow have more featureful webviews. This might be one of the worst examples of why you should buy Linux. It’s a case of having good building blocks on macOS that are easy to implement but have some restrictions, vs having shitty building blocks (if at all) on Linux.
t-sauer · 2h ago
A non-Apple solution (without these restrictions) could also be implemented on MacOS. I don't see why this makes using Linux computers more compelling. WKWebView is simply a convenient solution I guess but it could have also be implemented through CEF for example.
As I see it, if I was using a Linux computer I wouldn't have access to a terminal with such a feature at all.
egorfine · 2h ago
Because browsers built in terminals in Linux do support adblocking extensions?
5d41402abc4b · 2h ago
Because of the restrictions apple place on the computer that i purchased.
t-sauer · 2h ago
It's not a restriction of the computer. It's a restriction of the API they provide. You can simply use another solution and don't have that restriction.
egorfine · 2h ago
Yeah. Fully agree.
I am this close to throwing away my MacBook and migrating back to sane Linux. For the last 20 years.
keyle · 2h ago
When you find "sane Linux" could you do a write up for me? Ta!
egorfine · 1h ago
Not Ubuntu anymore, sadly. I have tried Debian after like 15 years pause and I loved it so much more. Note: we're talking server-side Linux here. Desktop wise I would stay on Ubuntu.
keyle · 1h ago
Debian has been my attempt to desktop linux (in the olden days, Slackware!), but for the server I've always preferred OpenBSD.
pjmlp · 2h ago
Still waiting for it at the common computer stores, unless you mean something with ChromeOS/WebOS/Android as Linux distributions.
factorialboy · 3h ago
Yes, and I am more convinced that the market for non-iOS and non-Android mobile devices will grow.
Not sure if its going to be GrapheneOS, or Linux — But we can witness the growing trend of privacy-focus — especially after AI being introduced on the OS layer — grabbing recurring screenshots, uploading to clouds, and essentially destroying E2E encryption.
walthamstow · 2h ago
It'll grow, but its share of the market probably won't. People don't care. Anyone who cares enough to do something is a minority of a minority.
sschueller · 2h ago
It is becoming very expensive and difficult as the moats these companies have been able to build are enormous.
One upside I see is that phone hardware slowed in innovation and most changes are now software. This allows a new comer to build a phone over 2 years and have specs that are still good enough. This was a huge issue back a few years ago when a "kickstarter" was created and two years later the phone was unusable because of the poor hardware specs.
leakycap · 2h ago
The market you describe only exists if there's a wide swath of people who are informed enough about their data privacy that they care enough to act.
Look around. This isn't going to happen, unfortunately.
johnisgood · 2h ago
I think you are too hopeful. I doubt the majority cares, will know about it, or even believe it. They will not care until it bites them in the ass and they know why it was.
keyle · 2h ago
haaaaaave you looked at Firefox/Chrome recently?
PS: I agree.
esskay · 2h ago
I mean, the developer chose to use Apples limiting browser, that was a choice not a requirement.
pasc1878 · 1h ago
Did he have a choice? Is there an non Apple API that could be used here?
frou_dh · 1h ago
Yes - Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) as used by some popular applications e.g. Spotify and Steam.
Personally I am completely uninterested in using this feature, but I really like iTerm2 overall.
semiinfinitely · 2h ago
what is a linux computer
adammarples · 2h ago
Set Profile Type to Web Browser
Can't see this option so no idea if this works or not
I can't put my finger on why, but this might be the most refreshing thing I've seen in a README in years.
Edited for typo.
> AI Integration
I love the honesty.
https://iterm2.com/downloads/stable/iTerm2-3_6_1.changelog
It's quite a treat going through iTerm changelogs and finding new gems. For example, this sounds nice:
> [Timestamps] can be configured to be relative to a particular line by right-clicking and selecting "Set Baseline for Relative Timestamps"
The following is interesting too, because it seems to work on an individual cell basis and not just one overall background colour:
> [in editors and other TUIs] Detect when there is a non-default background color and extend it into the margins. In Minimal [theme], it is also extended into window chrome.
Thanks, George!
I actually only use a fraction of the features but the ones I do use seem to be lacking in the few linux terminals I've used.
Things I like:
- easy to switch between tabs (command + arrow), use this all the time
- easy to copy paste (command+c, command+v, same as in the rest of the OS).
- easy to scroll (just passes through scroll events to things like less and bat)
- looks alright with the right font setup
- right click split horizontally/vertically; easy and I do this all the time. And no need to remember the key combos for that.
- it remembers the directory of each tab when I restart it. Simple feature but so nice.
There are a lot of smaller features that you won't notice until they aren't there.
The keybindings are of course a nice side effect of not having to use ctrl for everything, which conflicts with a lot of stuff in terminals (e.g. ctrl+c aborts stuff). There is the "windows" key of course for the last few decades but somehow using that as a modifier never caught on in the Linux world. So keybindings are a bit more awkward. So you have to remember to press ctrl+shift+c, depending on what window you are looking at. Which is something I get wrong every few times I do it.
Anyway, iterm2 is the best terminal across all operating systems I'm aware off. I have a linux laptop as well and I haven't really found anything I liked so far. And I tried essentially all the popular ones.
IMHO the main issue in this space is people geeking out on configuration languages but then forgetting to add a nice usable preference screen in their ultimate iterm2 killer (which seems to set the bar for a lot of these things). I'm sure it's great if you take a sabbatical and make a deep study of the freaking manual to program your settings correctly. But that just makes for a really high barrier of entry. Iterm2 in comparison is very easy to configure but even if you don't do that, it just generally does a lot of things right out of the box that don't need micromanaging.
Anyway, nice upgrade and just generally nice to see this oss product stay fresh and relevant over the years.
In the window manager side of linux, Super ("Mod4") is often used for the windows manager level keybindings.
As for the configuration thing, those things are usually checked in into the dotfiles. So you've done it once four years ago, and you never think about it again. iterm2 is nice, but I'm not sure about the ergonomics advantage for a power user.
That's oddly compelling.
I am genuinely curious what the corporate thread models look like that allow running a terminal but not rendering anything in a browser.
Challenge accepted. And it's not a huge challenge. I'd say not even a mild one.
they usually work in kernel extensions or use https://developer.apple.com/documentation/endpointsecurity - which gives them pretty good coverage of all the processes running, and arguments etc
Tomorrow we have operating system in the terminal.
I don't like that I'm supporting the Browser monopoly, but the battery life is supreme++(ARM versions at least), the Linux integration is great, I can run Android apps too(rarely though).
PWA's are integrated really well into ChromeOS so you won't be running one Electron instance per webapp. (My PWA's are Kagi Assistant, WhatsApp, SchildiChat(Element), Discord)
That's called emacs
I give it a try this morning. I can't decide if I'm confortable with it or no.
Having multiple webpage combined with your front and back process traces is nice.
You can move to each panel with the same shortcuts like a sort of simplified linux tile manager within a terminal on mac.
It's also a good idea to interact less with the weird liquid glass redesign.
(Yes, I put the browser into my Application folder first & restarted everything)
https://iterm2.com/downloads.html
You can uninstall it and re-install the latest version from here to be double sure
Could be interesting to replace htop or other monitoring tools with graphs
This is why people should buy Linux computers.
As I see it, if I was using a Linux computer I wouldn't have access to a terminal with such a feature at all.
I am this close to throwing away my MacBook and migrating back to sane Linux. For the last 20 years.
Not sure if its going to be GrapheneOS, or Linux — But we can witness the growing trend of privacy-focus — especially after AI being introduced on the OS layer — grabbing recurring screenshots, uploading to clouds, and essentially destroying E2E encryption.
One upside I see is that phone hardware slowed in innovation and most changes are now software. This allows a new comer to build a phone over 2 years and have specs that are still good enough. This was a huge issue back a few years ago when a "kickstarter" was created and two years later the phone was unusable because of the poor hardware specs.
Look around. This isn't going to happen, unfortunately.
PS: I agree.
Personally I am completely uninterested in using this feature, but I really like iTerm2 overall.
Can't see this option so no idea if this works or not
No comments yet
https://iterm2.com/features.html
If you spend a significant time in the terminal, those are very nice.
Iterm2 used to be one if my first installs, but these days I find myself in the old grumpy programmer bucket.
Things that should connect to the internet:
- my browser
- applications
- anything I explicitly launch
Things that should not connect to the internet:
- my shell
- my “save as” dialog
- my start menu
:(
> Click hamburger menu → Ask AI to create a new AI chat with the reader-mode content of the current page attached
Yeah yeah cool.
I guess were back into the days of more web browsers with arc and whatever.
I suppose I should just smile and nod; if chrome introduced a terminal would I batt an eyelid?
Still, I dont like it.
I dont want ls to query some external api.
I dont want grep to search the internet.
These these are domain bounded for a reason; Im not a fan of iterms kitchen sync future.
…but I suppose, nice technical work on it, it works quite well. I hope it makes people who are into it happy.