alacritty - Man Page

TOML configuration file format.

Syntax

Alacritty's configuration file uses the TOML format. The format's specification can be found at https://toml.io/en/v1.0.0.

Location

Alacritty doesn't create the config file for you, but it looks for one in the following locations on UNIX systems:

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/alacritty/alacritty.toml
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/alacritty.toml
$HOME/.config/alacritty/alacritty.toml
$HOME/.alacritty.toml

On Windows, the config file will be looked for in:

1.: %APPDATA%\alacritty\alacritty.toml

General

This section documents the [general] table of the configuration file.

import = ["<string>",]

Import additional configuration files.

Imports are loaded in order, skipping all missing files, with the importing file being loaded last. If a field is already present in a previous import, it will be replaced.

All imports must either be absolute paths starting with /, paths relative to the user's home directory starting with ~/, or paths relative from the current config file.

Example:: import = [
"~/.config/alacritty/base16-dark.toml",
"~/.config/alacritty/keybindings.toml",
"alacritty-theme/themes/gruvbox_dark.toml",
]

working_directory = "<string>" | "None"

Directory the shell is started in. When this is unset, or "None", the working directory of the parent process will be used.

Default: "None"

live_config_reload = true | false

Live config reload (changes require restart)

Default: true

ipc_socket = true | false # (unix only)

Offer IPC using alacritty msg

Default: true

All key-value pairs in the [env] section will be added as environment variables for any process spawned by Alacritty, including its shell. Some entries may override variables set by alacritty itself.

Example:

[env]
WINIT_X11_SCALE_FACTOR = "1.0"

Window

This section documents the [window] table of the configuration file.

dimensions = { columns = <integer>, lines = <integer> }

Window dimensions (changes require restart).

Number of lines/columns (not pixels) in the terminal. Both lines and columns must be non-zero for this to take effect. The number of columns must be at least 2, while using a value of 0 for columns and lines will fall back to the window manager's recommended size

Default: { columns = 0, lines = 0 }

position = "None" | { x = <integer>, y = <integer> } # (has no effect on Wayland)

Window startup position.

Specified in number of pixels.

If the position is "None", the window manager will handle placement.

Default: "None"

padding = { x = <integer>, y = <integer> }

Blank space added around the window in pixels. This padding is scaled by DPI and the specified value is always added at both opposing sides.

Default: { x = 0, y = 0 }

dynamic_padding = true | false

Spread additional padding evenly around the terminal content.

Default: false

decorations = "Full" | "None" | "Transparent" | "Buttonless"

Window decorations.

Full: Borders and title bar.
None: Neither borders nor title bar.
Transparent (macOS only): Title bar, transparent background and title bar buttons.
Buttonless (macOS only): Title bar, transparent background and no title bar buttons.

Default: "Full"

opacity = <float>

Background opacity as a floating point number from 0.0 to 1.0. The value 0.0 is completely transparent and 1.0 is opaque.

Default: 1.0

blur = true | false # (works on macOS/KDE Wayland)

Request compositor to blur content behind transparent windows.

Default: false

startup_mode = "Windowed" | "Maximized" | "Fullscreen" | "SimpleFullscreen"

Startup mode (changes require restart)

Windowed: Regular window.
Maximized: The window will be maximized on startup.
Fullscreen: The window will be fullscreened on startup.
SimpleFullscreen (macOS only): Same as Fullscreen, but you can stack windows on top.

Default: "Windowed"

title = "<string>"

Window title.

Default: "Alacritty"

dynamic_title = true | false

Allow terminal applications to change Alacritty's window title.

Default: true

class = { instance = "<string>", general = "<string>" } # (Linux/BSD only)

Window class.

On Wayland, general is used as app_id and instance is ignored.

Default: { instance = "Alacritty", general = "Alacritty" }

decorations_theme_variant = "Dark" | "Light" | "None"

Override the variant of the System theme/GTK theme/Wayland client side decorations. Set this to "None" to use the system's default theme variant.

Default: "None"

resize_increments = true | false # (works on macOS/X11)

Prefer resizing window by discrete steps equal to cell dimensions.

Default: false

option_as_alt = "OnlyLeft" | "OnlyRight" | "Both" | "None" # (macOS only)

Make Option key behave as Alt.

Default: "None"

Example:

[window]
padding = { x = 3, y = 3 }
dynamic_padding = true
opacity = 0.9

Scrolling

This section documents the [scrolling] table of the configuration file.

history = <integer>

Maximum number of lines in the scrollback buffer.
Specifying 0 will disable scrolling.
Limited to 100000.

Default: 10000

multiplier = <integer>

Number of line scrolled for every input scroll increment.

Default: 3

Font

This section documents the [font] table of the configuration file.

normal = { family = "<string>", style = "<string>" }

Default:: Linux/BSD: { family = "monospace", style = "Regular" }
Windows: { family = "Consolas", style = "Regular" }
macOS: { family = "Menlo", style = "Regular" }

bold = { family = "<string>", style = "<string>" }

If the family is not specified, it will fall back to the value specified for the normal font.

Default: { style = "Bold" }

italic = { family = "<string>", style = "<string>" }

If the family is not specified, it will fall back to the value specified for the normal font.

Default: { style = "Italic" }

bold_italic = { family = "<string>", style = "<string>" }

If the family is not specified, it will fall back to the value specified for the normal font.

Default: { style = "Bold Italic" }

size = <float>

Font size in points.

Default: 11.25

offset = { x = <integer>, y = <integer> }

Offset is the extra space around each character. y can be thought of as modifying the line spacing, and x as modifying the letter spacing.

Default: { x = 0, y = 0 }

glyph_offset = { x = <integer>, y = <integer> }

Glyph offset determines the locations of the glyphs within their cells with the default being at the bottom. Increasing x moves the glyph to the right, increasing y moves the glyph upward.

builtin_box_drawing = true | false

When true, Alacritty will use a custom built-in font for box drawing characters (Unicode points U+2500 - U+259F), legacy computing symbols (U+1FB00 - U+1FB3B), and powerline symbols (U+E0B0 - U+E0B3).

Default: true

Colors

This section documents the [colors] table of the configuration file.

Colors are specified using their hexadecimal values with a # prefix: #RRGGBB.

primary

This section documents the [colors.primary] table of the configuration file.

foreground = "<string>"

Default: "#d8d8d8"

background = "<string>"

Default: "#181818"

dim_foreground = "<string>"

If this is not set, the color is automatically calculated based on the foreground color.

Default: "#828482"

bright_foreground = "<string>"

This color is only used when draw_bold_text_with_bright_colors is true.

If this is not set, the normal foreground will be used.

Default: "None"

cursor = { text = "<string>", cursor = "<string>" }

Colors which should be used to draw the terminal cursor.

Allowed values are hexadecimal colors like #ff00ff, or CellForeground/CellBackground, which references the affected cell.

Default: { text = "CellBackground", cursor = "CellForeground" }

vi_mode_cursor = { text = "<string>", cursor = "<string>" }

Colors for the cursor when the vi mode is active.

Allowed values are hexadecimal colors like #ff00ff, or CellForeground/CellBackground, which references the affected cell.

Default: { text = "CellBackground", cursor = "CellForeground" }

search

This section documents the [colors.search] table of the configuration.

Allowed values are hexadecimal colors like #ff00ff, or CellForeground/CellBackground, which references the affected cell.

matches = { foreground = "<string>", background = "<string>" }

Default: { foreground = "#181818", background = "#ac4242" }

focused_match = { foreground = "<string>", background = "<string>" }

Default: { foreground = "#181818", background = "#f4bf75" }

hints

This section documents the [colors.hints] table of the configuration.

start = { foreground = "<string>", background = "<string>" }

First character in the hint label.

Allowed values are hexadecimal colors like #ff00ff, or CellForeground/CellBackground, which references the affected cell.

Default: { foreground = "#181818", background = "#f4bf75" }

end = { foreground = "<string>", background = "<string>" }

All characters after the first one in the hint label.

Allowed values are hexadecimal colors like #ff00ff, or CellForeground/CellBackground, which references the affected cell.

Default: { foreground = "#181818", background = "#ac4242" }

line_indicator = { foreground = "<string>", background = "<string>" }

Color used for the indicator displaying the position in history during search and vi mode.

Setting this to "None" will use the opposing primary color.

Default: { foreground = "None", background = "None" }

footer_bar = { foreground = "<string>", background = "<string>" }

Color used for the footer bar on the bottom, used by search regex input, hyperlink URI preview, etc.

Default: { foreground = "#181818", background = "#d8d8d8" }

selection = { text = "<string>", background = "<string>" }

Colors used for drawing selections.

Allowed values are hexadecimal colors like #ff00ff, or CellForeground/CellBackground, which references the affected cell.

Default: { text = "CellBackground", background = "CellForeground" }

normal

This section documents the [colors.normal] table of the configuration.

black = "<string>": Default: "#181818"
red = "<string>": Default: "#ac4242"
green = "<string>": Default: "#90a959"
yellow = "<string>": Default: "#f4bf75"
blue = "<string>": Default: "#6a9fb5"
magenta = "<string>": Default: "#aa759f"
cyan = "<string>": Default: "#75b5aa"
white = "<string>": Default: "#d8d8d8"

bright

This section documents the [colors.bright] table of the configuration.

black = "<string>": Default: "#6b6b6b"
red = "<string>": Default: "#c55555"
green = "<string>": Default: "#aac474"
yellow = "<string>": Default: "#feca88"
blue = "<string>": Default: "#82b8c8"
magenta = "<string>": Default: "#c28cb8"
cyan = "<string>": Default: "#93d3c3"
white = "<string>": Default: "#f8f8f8"

dim

This section documents the [colors.dim] table of the configuration.

If the dim colors are not set, they will be calculated automatically based on the normal colors.

black = "<string>": Default: "#0f0f0f"
red = "<string>": Default: "#712b2b"
green = "<string>": Default: "#5f6f3a"
yellow = "<string>": Default: "#a17e4d"
blue = "<string>": Default: "#456877"
magenta = "<string>": Default: "#704d68"
cyan = "<string>": Default: "#4d7770"
white = "<string>": Default: "#8e8e8e"

indexed_colors = [{ index = <integer>, color = "<string>" },]

The indexed colors include all colors from 16 to 256. When these are not set, they're filled with sensible defaults.

Default: []

transparent_background_colors = true | false

Whether or not window.opacity applies to all cell backgrounds, or only to the default background. When set to true all cells will be transparent regardless of their background color.

Default: false

draw_bold_text_with_bright_colors = true | false

When true, bold text is drawn using the bright color variants.

Default: false

Bell

This section documents the [bell] table of the configuration file.

Visual bell animation effect for flashing the screen when the visual bell is rung.

Default: "Linear"

duration = <integer>

Duration of the visual bell flash in milliseconds. A `duration` of `0` will disable the visual bell animation.

Default: 0

color = "<string>"

Visual bell animation color.

Default: "#ffffff"

command = "<string>" | { program = "<string>", args = ["<string>",] }

This program is executed whenever the bell is rung.

When set to "None", no command will be executed.

Default: "None"

Selection

This section documents the [selection] table of the configuration file.

semantic_escape_chars = "<string>"

This string contains all characters that are used as separators for "semantic words" in Alacritty.

Default: ",│`|:\"' ()[]{}<>\t"

save_to_clipboard = true | false

When set to true, selected text will be copied to the primary clipboard.

Default: false

Cursor

This section documents the [cursor] table of the configuration file.

style = { <shape>, <blinking> }

shape = "Block" | "Underline" | "Beam"

Default: "Block"

blinking = "Never" | "Off" | "On" | "Always"

Never: Prevent the cursor from ever blinking
Off: Disable blinking by default
On: Enable blinking by default
Always: Force the cursor to always blink

Default: "Off"

vi_mode_style = { <shape>, <blinking> } | "None"

If the vi mode cursor style is "None" or not specified, it will fall back to the active value of the normal cursor.

Default: "None"

blink_interval = <integer>

Cursor blinking interval in milliseconds.

Default: 750

blink_timeout = <integer>

Time after which cursor stops blinking, in seconds.

Specifying 0 will disable timeout for blinking.

Default: 5

unfocused_hollow = true | false

When this is true, the cursor will be rendered as a hollow box when the window is not focused.

Default: true

thickness = <float>

Thickness of the cursor relative to the cell width as floating point number from 0.0 to 1.0.

Default: 0.15

Terminal

This section documents the [terminal] table of the configuration file.

shell = "<string>" | { program = "<string>", args = ["<string>",] }

You can set shell.program to the path of your favorite shell, e.g. /bin/zsh. Entries in shell.args are passed as arguments to the shell.

Default:: Linux/BSD/macOS: $SHELL or the user's login shell, if $SHELL is unset
Windows: "powershell"

Example:

[shell]
program = "/bin/zsh"
args = ["-l"]

osc52 = "Disabled" | "OnlyCopy" | "OnlyPaste" | "CopyPaste"

Controls the ability to write to the system clipboard with the OSC 52 escape sequence. While this escape sequence is useful to copy contents from the remote server, allowing any application to read from the clipboard can be easily abused while not providing significant benefits over explicitly pasting text.

Default: "OnlyCopy"

Mouse

This section documents the [mouse] table of the configuration file.

hide_when_typing = true | false

When this is true, the cursor is temporarily hidden when typing.

Default: false

bindings = [{ <mouse>, <mods>, <mode>, <command> | <chars> | <action> },]

See keyboard.bindings for full documentation on mods, mode, command, chars, and action.

When an application running within Alacritty captures the mouse, the `Shift` modifier can be used to suppress mouse reporting. If no action is found for the event, actions for the event without the `Shift` modifier are triggered instead.

Mouse button which needs to be pressed to trigger this binding.

action = <keyboard.bindings.action> | "ExpandSelection"

ExpandSelection: Expand the selection to the current mouse cursor location.

Example:

[mouse]
bindings = [
{ mouse = "Right", mods = "Control", action = "Paste" },
]

Hints

This section documents the [hints] table of the configuration file.

Terminal hints can be used to find text or hyperlinks in the visible part of the terminal and pipe it to other applications.

alphabet = "<string>"

Keys used for the hint labels.

Default: "jfkdls;ahgurieowpq"

enabled = [{ <regex>, <hyperlinks>, <post_processing>, <persist>, <action>, <command>, <binding>, <mouse> },]

Array with all available hints.

Each hint must have at least one of regex or hyperlinks and either an action or a command.

regex = "<string>": Regex each line will be compared against.
hyperlinks = true | false: When this is true, all OSC 8 escape sequence hyperlinks will be included in the hints.
post_processing = true | false: When this is true, heuristics will be used to shorten the match if there are characters likely not to be part of the hint (e.g. a trailing .). This is most useful for URIs and applies only to regex matches.
persist = true | false: When this is true, hints remain persistent after selection.

action = "Copy" | "Paste" | "Select" | "MoveViModeCursor"

Copy: Copy the hint's text to the clipboard.
Paste: Paste the hint's text to the terminal or search.
Select: Select the hint's text.
MoveViModeCursor: Move the vi mode cursor to the beginning of the hint.

command = "<string>" | { program = "<string>", args = ["<string>",] }

Command which will be executed when the hint is clicked or selected with the binding.

The hint's text is always attached as the last argument.

binding = { key = "<string>", mods = "<string>", mode = "<string>" }

See keyboard.bindings for documentation on available values.

This controls which key binding is used to start the keyboard hint selection process.

mouse = { mods = "<string>", enabled = true | false }

See keyboard.bindings for documentation on available mods.

The enabled field controls if the hint should be underlined when hovering over the hint text with all mods pressed.

Default:

[[hints.enabled]]
command = "xdg-open" # On Linux/BSD
# command = "open" # On macOS
# command = { program = "cmd", args = [ "/c", "start", "" ] } # On Windows
hyperlinks = true
post_processing = true
persist = false
mouse.enabled = true
binding = { key = "O", mods = "Control|Shift" }
regex = "(ipfs:|ipns:|magnet:|mailto:|gemini://|gopher://|https://|http://|news:|file:|git://|ssh:|ftp://)[^\u0000-\u001F\u007F-\u009F<>\"\\s{-}\\^⟨⟩`]+"

Keyboard

This section documents the [keyboard] table of the configuration file.

bindings = [{ <key>, <mods>, <mode>, <command> | <chars> | <action> },]

To unset a default binding, you can use the action "ReceiveChar" to remove it or "None" to inhibit any action.

Multiple keybindings can be triggered by a single key press and will be executed in the order they are defined in.

key = "<string>"

The regular keys like "A", "0", and "Я" can be mapped directly without any special syntax. Full list of named keys like "F1" and the syntax for dead keys can be found here:

https://docs.rs/winit/latest/winit/keyboard/enum.NamedKey.html
https://docs.rs/winit/latest/winit/keyboard/enum.Key.html#variant.Dead

The key field also supports using scancodes, which are specified as a decimal number.

Multiple modifiers can be combined using |, like this: "Control | Shift".

mode = "AppCursor" | "AppKeypad" | "Search" | "Alt" | "Vi"

This defines a terminal mode which must be active for this binding to have an effect.

Prepending ~ to a mode will require the mode to not = be active for the binding to take effect.

Multiple modes can be combined using |, like this: "~Vi|Search".

command = "<string>" | { program = "<string>", args = ["<string>",] }

Fork and execute the specified command.

chars = "<string>"

Writes the specified string to the terminal.

action

ReceiveChar: Allow receiving char input.
None: No action.
Paste: Paste contents of system clipboard.
Copy: Store current selection into clipboard.
IncreaseFontSize: Increase font size.
DecreaseFontSize: Decrease font size.
ResetFontSize: Reset font size to the config value.
ScrollPageUp: Scroll exactly one page up.
ScrollPageDown: Scroll exactly one page down.
ScrollHalfPageUp: Scroll half a page up.
ScrollHalfPageDown: Scroll half a page down.
ScrollLineUp: Scroll one line up.
ScrollLineDown: Scroll one line down.
ScrollToTop: Scroll all the way to the top.
ScrollToBottom: Scroll all the way to the bottom.
ClearHistory: Clear the display buffer(s) to remove history.
Hide: Hide the Alacritty window.
Minimize: Minimize the Alacritty window.
Quit: Quit Alacritty.
ClearLogNotice: Clear warning and error notices.
SpawnNewInstance: Spawn a new instance of Alacritty.
CreateNewWindow: Create a new Alacritty window.
ToggleFullscreen: Toggle fullscreen.
ToggleMaximized: Toggle maximized.
ClearSelection: Clear active selection.
ToggleViMode: Toggle vi mode.
SearchForward: Start a forward buffer search.
SearchBackward: Start a backward buffer search.

Vi mode actions:

Up: Move up.
Down: Move down.
Left: Move left.
Right: Move right.
First: First column, or beginning of the line when already at the first column.
Last: Last column, or beginning of the line when already at the last column.
FirstOccupied: First non-empty cell in this terminal row, or first non-empty cell of the line when already at the first cell of the row.
High: Move to top of screen.
Middle: Move to center of screen.
Low: Move to bottom of screen.
SemanticLeft: Move to start of semantically separated word.
SemanticRight: Move to start of next semantically separated word.
SemanticLeftEnd: Move to end of previous semantically separated word.
SemanticRightEnd: Move to end of semantically separated word.
WordLeft: Move to start of whitespace separated word.
WordRight: Move to start of next whitespace separated word.
WordLeftEnd: Move to end of previous whitespace separated word.
WordRightEnd: Move to end of whitespace separated word.
Bracket: Move to opposing bracket.
ToggleNormalSelection: Toggle normal vi selection.
ToggleLineSelection: Toggle line vi selection.
ToggleBlockSelection: Toggle block vi selection.
ToggleSemanticSelection: Toggle semantic vi selection.
SearchNext: Jump to the beginning of the next match.
SearchPrevious: Jump to the beginning of the previous match.
SearchStart: Jump to the next start of a match to the left of the origin.
SearchEnd: Jump to the next end of a match to the right of the origin.
Open: Launch the URL below the vi mode cursor.
CenterAroundViCursor: Centers the screen around the vi mode cursor.
InlineSearchForward: Search forward within the current line.
InlineSearchBackward: Search backward within the current line.
InlineSearchForwardShort: Search forward within the current line, stopping just short of the character.
InlineSearchBackwardShort: Search backward within the current line, stopping just short of the character.
InlineSearchNext: Jump to the next inline search match.
InlineSearchPrevious: Jump to the previous inline search match.

Search actions:

SearchFocusNext: Move the focus to the next search match.
SearchFocusPrevious: Move the focus to the previous search match.
SearchConfirm: Confirm the active search.
SearchCancel: Cancel the active search.
SearchClear: Reset the search regex.
SearchDeleteWord: Delete the last word in the search regex.
SearchHistoryPrevious: Go to the previous regex in the search history.
SearchHistoryNext: Go to the next regex in the search history.

macOS exclusive:

ToggleSimpleFullscreen: Enter fullscreen without occupying another space.
HideOtherApplications: Hide all windows other than Alacritty.
CreateNewTab: Create new window in a tab.
SelectNextTab: Select next tab.
SelectPreviousTab: Select previous tab.
SelectTab1: Select the first tab.
SelectTab2: Select the second tab.
SelectTab3: Select the third tab.
SelectTab4: Select the fourth tab.
SelectTab5: Select the fifth tab.
SelectTab6: Select the sixth tab.
SelectTab7: Select the seventh tab.
SelectTab8: Select the eighth tab.
SelectTab9: Select the ninth tab.
SelectLastTab: Select the last tab.

Linux/BSD exclusive:

CopySelection: Copy from the selection buffer.
PasteSelection: Paste from the selection buffer.

Default: See alacritty-bindings(5)

Example:

[keyboard]
bindings = [
{ key = "N", mods = "Control|Shift", action = "CreateNewWindow" },
{ key = "L", mods = "Control|Shift", chars = "l" },
]

Debug

This section documents the [debug] table of the configuration file.

Debug options are meant to help troubleshoot issues with Alacritty. These can change or be removed entirely without warning, so their stability shouldn't be relied upon.

render_timer = true | false

Display the time it takes to draw each frame.

Default: false

persistent_logging = true | false

Keep the log file after quitting Alacritty.

Default: false

Default: "Warn"

To add extra libraries to logging ALACRITTY_EXTRA_LOG_TARGETS variable can be used.