# Hyper — Hackable Electron-Based Terminal Emulator

> A cross-platform terminal emulator built on web technologies that supports plugins and themes via npm packages for full customization.

## Install

Save as a script file and run:

# Hyper — Hackable Electron-Based Terminal Emulator

## Quick Use
```bash
# macOS
brew install --cask hyper
# Windows
winget install Vercel.Hyper
# Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)
sudo dpkg -i hyper_latest_amd64.deb
```
Launch Hyper from your applications menu. Configuration lives in ~/.hyper.js.

## Introduction
Hyper is an Electron-based terminal emulator built by Vercel that treats terminal UI as a web rendering surface. It uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for its interface, making it extensible through a rich plugin ecosystem distributed via npm.

## What Hyper Does
- Provides a fully functional terminal emulator with tabs, splits, and session management
- Supports themes and plugins installed through hyper CLI or configuration file
- Renders terminal output using xterm.js with GPU-accelerated WebGL
- Offers cross-platform consistency across macOS, Windows, and Linux
- Enables deep customization of appearance and behavior via JavaScript config

## Architecture Overview
Hyper runs on Electron with a React-based UI layer. The terminal backend uses node-pty to spawn shell processes, while xterm.js handles terminal emulation and rendering in a WebGL canvas. Plugins hook into the Redux store and React component tree, allowing them to modify any aspect of the UI or behavior.

## Self-Hosting & Configuration
- Edit ~/.hyper.js to configure font, colors, shell, and plugins
- Install plugins via command line: hyper install hyper-snazzy
- Set shell and shellArgs to customize the default shell program
- Configure webGLRenderer: true for GPU-accelerated rendering
- Keymaps are fully configurable in the keymaps section of .hyper.js

## Key Features
- npm-based plugin ecosystem with hundreds of community extensions
- Hot-reloading configuration without restarting the terminal
- Built-in update mechanism for seamless version upgrades
- Vibrancy and transparency support on macOS
- Full Unicode and emoji rendering through web font stack

## Comparison with Similar Tools
- **Alacritty** — GPU-native, faster but no plugin system or tabs built-in
- **kitty** — C-based with better performance but less web-ecosystem integration
- **WezTerm** — Lua-configured with multiplexing; more resource-efficient
- **Windows Terminal** — Microsoft-native, faster on Windows but no cross-platform
- **iTerm2** — macOS-only with more mature features but not extensible via npm

## FAQ
**Q: Is Hyper slower than native terminal emulators?**
A: Electron adds overhead compared to GPU-native terminals, but WebGL rendering in recent versions significantly improved performance.

**Q: How do I install themes?**
A: Run hyper install theme-name or add the package name to the plugins array in ~/.hyper.js.

**Q: Can I use Hyper as my daily driver for development?**
A: Yes, many developers use it daily. For heavy terminal workloads (large log streams), GPU-native alternatives may feel smoother.

**Q: Does Hyper support tmux?**
A: Yes, tmux runs inside Hyper like any other terminal program. Hyper also has its own split-pane plugins.

## Sources
- https://github.com/vercel/hyper
- https://hyper.is/

---
Source: https://tokrepo.com/en/workflows/asset-182e2362
Author: Script Depot