VT [](https://godoc.org/github.com/xyproto/vt) [](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xyproto/vt/main/LICENSE) [](https://goreportcard.com/report/github.com/xyproto/vt)

May 5, 2026 · View on GitHub

This is a package for dealing with terminal emulators.

  • Supports colors and attributes, including 256-color and true-color (24-bit RGB).
  • Supports color operations such as Lighten, Darken, Blend and ContrastRatio.
  • Supports the NO_COLOR environment variable.
  • Supports HTML-like tagged color output, such as <red>hello</red>.
  • Supports Linux, macOS, other Unix-like systems, and Windows.
  • Can detect the terminal size.
  • Can get key-presses, including arrow keys (252, 253, 254, 255), pgup/pgdn (251, 250), F1–F12, Home, End, Delete, Shift-Tab, and modifier combinations (Alt, Ctrl, Shift) on xterm-class terminals.
  • Has a Canvas struct, for drawing only the updated lines to the terminal, with synchronized updates and wide character support.
  • Can render a Canvas to an image.Image.
  • Can detect terminal capabilities, such as Multiplexed(), XtermLike(), Has256Colors() and GetBackgroundColor().
  • Has NewTTYFromReader, for scripted or test input without a real terminal.
  • Could be used for making an alternative to the dialog or whiptail utilities.

Images

shooter example

Screen recording of the shooter example, where you can control a small character with the arrow keys and shoot with space.

menu example

Screen recording of the menu example, which uses VT100 terminal codes and demonstrates a working menu.

VT100 terminal

A physical VT100 terminal. Photo by Jason Scott, CC BY 2.0

Requirements

  • Go 1.25 or later.

Features and limitations

  • Can detect letters, arrow keys, F1–F12, Home, End, Delete, Shift-Tab, and modifier combinations such as Ctrl, Alt and Shift combined with arrow keys, on xterm-class terminals.
  • Resizing the terminal when using the Canvas struct may cause artifacts, for a brief moment.
  • Holding down a key may trigger key repetition which may speed up the main loop.
  • Modifier key combinations are only emitted by xterm-class terminals; use HasAltArrows(), HasCtrlArrows() or HasShiftArrows() to check.

Another example

See cmd/move for a more advanced example, where a character can be moved around with the arrow keys.

General info