# Terminal Capability Detector

> Detect terminal capabilities including color support, TTY status, size, and Unicode support for adaptive CLI output.

- Skill: `a5c-ai/terminal-capability-detector` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add a5c-ai/terminal-capability-detector`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/a5c-ai/terminal-capability-detector/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: AI & ML
- Author: a5c-ai (https://skillmd.com/u/a5c-ai)
- Updated: 2026-09-09
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/a5c-ai/terminal-capability-detector

---


# Terminal Capability Detector

Detect terminal capabilities for adaptive CLI output.

## Capabilities

- Detect color support levels
- Check TTY status
- Get terminal dimensions
- Detect Unicode support
- Check for CI environment
- Configure adaptive output

## Generated Patterns

```typescript
import process from 'process';
import tty from 'tty';

export interface TerminalCapabilities {
  isTTY: boolean;
  colorLevel: 0 | 1 | 2 | 3;
  supportsUnicode: boolean;
  columns: number;
  rows: number;
  isCI: boolean;
}

export function detectCapabilities(): TerminalCapabilities {
  const isTTY = tty.isatty(1);
  const isCI = Boolean(process.env.CI || process.env.CONTINUOUS_INTEGRATION);

  let colorLevel: 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 = 0;
  if (isTTY && !process.env.NO_COLOR) {
    if (process.env.COLORTERM === 'truecolor') colorLevel = 3;
    else if (process.env.TERM?.includes('256color')) colorLevel = 2;
    else if (process.env.TERM && process.env.TERM !== 'dumb') colorLevel = 1;
  }

  const supportsUnicode = process.platform !== 'win32' ||
    process.env.WT_SESSION ||
    process.env.TERM_PROGRAM === 'vscode';

  return {
    isTTY,
    colorLevel,
    supportsUnicode,
    columns: process.stdout.columns || 80,
    rows: process.stdout.rows || 24,
    isCI,
  };
}
```

## Target Processes

- cross-platform-cli-compatibility
- cli-output-formatting
- progress-status-indicators