Terminals

tackline runs in any modern terminal. A few features depend on what the terminal supports.

Shift+Enter #

Most terminals send the same thing for Shift+Enter as for Enter, so an app can’t tell them apart. tackline asks for the kitty keyboard protocol, which fixes that, in terminals that have it:

\ then Enter works everywhere; Alt+Enter does too where Option sends Meta. The note popup’s title shows the newline key that works in your terminal.

Mouse #

tackline takes over the mouse for scrolling, clicking and dragging. To select terminal text the usual way while it runs, hold a key while dragging: Option in iTerm2 and Terminal.app, Shift in most others.

Clipboard over ssh and tmux #

y normally uses your system clipboard. Over ssh, that clipboard belongs to the remote machine, so tackline asks your terminal to copy instead (OSC 52), and the prompt lands on your own computer. The same happens if the system clipboard isn’t available.

In tmux, allow it in ~/.tmux.conf:

set -g set-clipboard on

Light and dark #

Code colors come from a syntax theme. tackline picks a dark one, or a light one when the terminal says its background is light (the COLORFGBG variable). Choose any theme with --theme:

tackline --theme InspiredGitHub
tackline --theme nope        # lists the available themes

The Themes page shows every theme side by side.

Borders, the status bar and markers use your terminal’s own color palette, so they follow its light or dark scheme. Diff backgrounds pick a light or dark pair to match the syntax theme.

Speed #

Drawing is done by your terminal. GPU-accelerated terminals (Ghostty, WezTerm, Kitty, Alacritty, iTerm2) scroll smoothest; tackline itself handles every key press and wheel step in well under a frame.