tomevault-io Ghostty Skill
Overview
Ghostty is a fast, feature-rich, cross-platform terminal emulator that uses platform-native UI and GPU acceleration. It provides a CLI with +action commands for querying configuration, listing themes/fonts, validating config, and opening new windows via IPC. Window, tab, and split management are handled through keybind actions configured in the config file, not through CLI commands.
When to use: Configuring Ghostty themes, fonts, and keybinds; validating config files; querying available actions and themes; opening new windows from scripts; debugging terminal rendering issues.
When NOT to use: Managing other terminal emulators; tasks unrelated to terminal configuration.
Quick Reference
| Task | Command / Config | Key Points |
|---|---|---|
| List CLI actions | ghostty +list-actions |
Shows keybind actions, not CLI actions |
| List themes | ghostty +list-themes |
Interactive TUI preview; --color=dark to filter |
| List fonts | ghostty +list-fonts |
Uses Ghostty's font discovery |
| List keybinds | ghostty +list-keybinds |
Add --default for defaults only |
| List colors | ghostty +list-colors |
Named RGB colors available in config |
| Show config | ghostty +show-config |
Add --default --docs for all options |
| Validate config | ghostty +validate-config |
Check config file for errors |
| Edit config | ghostty +edit-config |
Opens config in $VISUAL or $EDITOR |
| New window (IPC) | ghostty +new-window |
Linux/GTK only via D-Bus; use -e for command |
| Run command | ghostty -e htop |
Arguments after -e are the command |
| Set working dir | ghostty --working-directory=/path |
Changes directory before running command |
| Custom config | ghostty --config-file=/path |
Load additional config file |
| Check version | ghostty --version |
Display version info |
| SSH terminfo | ghostty +ssh-cache |
Manage SSH terminfo cache for remote hosts |
| Show font face | ghostty +show-face <codepoint> |
Which font renders a specific Unicode codepoint |
| Crash reports | ghostty +crash-report |
Inspect and manage crash reports |
Common Mistakes
| Mistake | Correct Pattern |
|---|---|
Running ghostty +new-tab or +new-split as CLI commands |
These are keybind actions, not CLI actions; configure them in the config file with keybind = ... |
Running ghostty without full path when not symlinked on macOS |
Use /Applications/Ghostty.app/Contents/MacOS/ghostty or create a symlink |
Using +new-window on macOS expecting it to work |
+new-window uses D-Bus IPC and only works on Linux/GTK |
| Editing config without reloading | Use the reload_config keybind action (default: ctrl+shift+comma on Linux) |
Using --config-file with a relative path |
Use absolute paths for --config-file to avoid resolution issues |
| Passing unknown actions without checking available list | Run ghostty +help to see CLI actions or +list-actions for keybind actions |
| Confusing CLI actions with keybind actions | CLI actions use +action syntax; keybind actions are configured via keybind = key=action in config |
Delegation
- Discover available actions and themes: Use
Exploreagent to runghostty +list-actionsandghostty +list-themes - Automate terminal layouts: Use
Taskagent to script window creation and config changes - Plan configuration changes: Use
Planagent to design keybind and theme configurations before applying
References
- CLI actions, flags, and IPC commands
- Configuration file, themes, fonts, keybinds, and debugging
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