Cathode icon

Cathode

Cathode is an open-source, modern terminal emulator for macOS with a focus on aesthetics, performance, and integration. It features GPU-accelerated rendering, support for ligatures and special glyphs, extensive theme support, tabs, splits and more.

What is Cathode?

Cathode is an open-source, modern terminal emulator for macOS that focuses on aesthetics, performance, and seamless integration with the macOS ecosystem. Developed by the creators of ITerm2, Cathode builds on years of terminal emulation experience to provide Mac users with a beautifully designed yet powerful terminal application.

Some key features of Cathode include:

  • GPU-accelerated text rendering for smooth scrolling and animations
  • Support for programming ligatures, emojis, and special glyphs
  • Extensive theme support to customize colors, fonts, transparency effects, and more
  • Advanced tabbed interface with flexible split pane designs
  • Sophisticated mouse mode with selection and clicking support
  • Integration with macOS services for access to the clipboard and other system functions
  • Scriptable using JavaScript for automation

While retaining all the flexibility and power expected from a modern terminal, Cathode places a strong emphasis on aesthetics and design to create a more enjoyable and visually pleasing terminal environment for Mac users. Its attention to detail and macOS integration makes it a native-feeling replacement for the default macOS Terminal app.

The Best Cathode Alternatives

Top Apps like Cathode

iTerm2, Terminator, GNOME Terminal, Fig Terminal, Konsole, Kitty terminal, Blink Shell, Cool Retro Term, WezTerm are some alternatives to Cathode.

ITerm2

iTerm2 is an open-source terminal emulator for macOS that serves as a replacement for the default Terminal application. It comes packed with useful features for developers, coders, and other power users.Some key features of iTerm2 include: - Split panes allow you to open multiple terminal sessions in one window...

Terminator

Terminator is an open source terminal emulator application for Linux/UNIX operating systems. It provides a way to access the UNIX shell and run command-line programs and shell scripts. Some key features of Terminator include:Ability to split the window horizontally or vertically into multiple terminal panels. You can customize...

GNOME Terminal

GNOME Terminal is a popular, free, and open source terminal emulator for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems. It comes pre-installed with most Linux distributions that use the GNOME desktop environment, such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Fedora. As a terminal emulator, GNOME Terminal provides access to the command line...

Fig Terminal

Fig is a popular open source terminal emulator for Linux and Windows that emphasizes aesthetics without compromising on functionality. Some key features of Fig include:GPU-accelerated text rendering using DirectX or OpenGL results in sharp, clear text at all font sizes.Highly customizable themes allow adjusting colors, background transparency, cursor...

Konsole

Konsole is a powerful and customizable terminal emulator for the KDE desktop environment on Linux operating systems. It provides access to the UNIX shell and enables running command-line programs, tools, and scripts.Some key features of Konsole include:Multiple tabbed terminalsSplit screen viewCustomizable appearance including fonts, color schemes, transparencyConfigurable keyboard...

Kitty terminal

Kitty is a terminal emulator that prioritizes speed, efficiency, and modern features. Some key aspects of Kitty:It utilizes GPU rendering to draw text, making everything from scrolling to opening new tabs much faster than traditional terminals.Supports Unicode and emoji out of the box with font ligatures for readability...

Blink Shell

Blink Shell is an SSH client application designed specifically for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. It provides secure command line interface access to remote servers over SSH (Secure Shell).Some of the key features of Blink Shell include:Intuitive terminal interface optimized for touchscreensSupport for public/private key authenticationFully...

Cool Retro Term

Cool Retro Term is a free, open source terminal emulator with a retro graphical user interface. It mimics the aesthetics of old cathode ray tube (CRT) terminals commonly associated with early personal computers of the 70s, 80s and 90s.Despite the old-school visual style, Cool Retro Term has support for...

WezTerm

WezTerm is a GPU-accelerated terminal emulator and multiplexer designed as an alternative to traditional terminal emulators like gnome-terminal, iTerm2, or the default terminal app in Windows. It is written in Rust and aims to provide performance and features not found in other terminals.Some key features of WezTerm include:Hardware-accelerated...