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