supports-terminal-graphics

Detect which terminal graphics protocols are supported (Kitty, iTerm2, Sixel)

Detects support for terminal graphics protocols using environment variables. This allows apps to choose the best available protocol for displaying images in the terminal.

Protocols

| Protocol | Quality | Description | |----------|---------|-------------| | Kitty | Best | Truecolor RGBA, transparency, animation support | | iTerm2 | Good | Full color, native macOS rendering | | Sixel | Basic | Palette-based, widely supported legacy protocol |

Install

npm install supports-terminal-graphics

Usage

import supportsTerminalGraphics from 'supports-terminal-graphics';

if (supportsTerminalGraphics.stdout.kitty) {
	// Use Kitty graphics protocol (best quality)
} else if (supportsTerminalGraphics.stdout.iterm2) {
	// Use iTerm2 inline images protocol
} else if (supportsTerminalGraphics.stdout.sixel) {
	// Use Sixel protocol
} else {
	// Fall back to ANSI block characters
}

You can also check stderr:

if (supportsTerminalGraphics.stderr.kitty) {
	// Use Kitty graphics protocol on stderr
}

API

supportsTerminalGraphics

Returns an object with stdout and stderr properties, each containing:

• kitty - boolean - Whether Kitty graphics protocol is supported
• iterm2 - boolean - Whether iTerm2 inline images protocol is supported
• sixel - boolean - Whether Sixel protocol is supported

createSupportsTerminalGraphics(stream?)

Create a custom check for a specific stream.

import {createSupportsTerminalGraphics} from 'supports-terminal-graphics';

const support = createSupportsTerminalGraphics(process.stdout);

console.log(support.kitty);  // true or false
console.log(support.iterm2); // true or false
console.log(support.sixel);  // true or false

Terminal Support

| Terminal | Kitty | iTerm2 | Sixel | |----------|-------|--------|-------| | Kitty | ✓ | | | | Ghostty | ✓ | | | | WezTerm | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | iTerm2 (v3.6+) | ✓ | ✓ | | | iTerm2 (v2.9.20150512+) | | ✓ | | | Konsole (22.04+) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | VS Code (v1.80+) | | ✓ | ✓ | | Rio | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | | Warp | ✓ | | | | mintty | | ✓ | ✓ | | mlterm | | | ✓ |

Related

• supports-color - Detect whether a terminal supports color
• supports-hyperlinks - Detect whether a terminal supports hyperlinks
• terminal-image - Display images in the terminal