# Status

What currently works in winghostty, what is experimental, and what is out of
scope. When this page disagrees with a commit message, trust this page.

Last updated: 2026-05-24, against current fork HEAD.

For a row-by-row mapping against official Ghostty docs, see
[windows-capability-matrix.md](windows-capability-matrix.md).
For Windows-specific install paths, app identity, shell behavior,
notifications, quick terminal notes, and troubleshooting, see
[windows.md](windows.md).

## Supported platform

- **Windows 10** and **Windows 11** — x64 and ARM64
- No macOS, Linux, or cross-platform app runtime ships from this repo.
  `libghostty-vt` remains buildable for non-Windows targets as a library.
- WSL *as a launched shell* works when you opt in (`command = wsl.exe`).
  Implicit-default WSL is avoided because `wsl.exe --status` reporting
  healthy is not a reliable signal that a session launch will succeed
  (see `src/config/windows_shell.zig`).

## What works today

### Terminal core (shared with upstream Ghostty)

- VT parsing, screen / scrollback / alt-screen, DEC and xterm behaviors
- 256-color and true-color
- Bracketed paste, mouse tracking, OSC 8 hyperlinks, OSC 10 / 11 / 52.
  Windows has one native clipboard, so OSC 52 writes using selectors `c`, `s`,
  and `p` all target the standard Windows clipboard; OSC 52 read replies
  preserve the requested selector in the response.
- Bidi, combining marks, grapheme cluster rendering
- Kitty graphics protocol and inline image display
- Shell integration for bash, zsh, fish, PowerShell; `cmd.exe` is a plain
  fallback shell without prompt/cwd/command-finish integration
- Live config reload via keybind (`Ctrl+Shift+,`)
- `libghostty-vt` retained for Zig and C consumers

### Windows application runtime (new in this fork)

- Native Win32 message loop and window management
- Tab bar with overflow and drag-reorder
- Horizontal and vertical splits
- Native right-click context menus
- In-app profile picker that auto-detects installed Windows shells:
  PowerShell, `cmd`, Git Bash, and opt-in WSL
- Per-monitor DPI scaling (`WM_DPICHANGED`)
- DWM dark title bar that follows the app theme
- High-contrast (HC) mode detection and palette switching
  (see `isHighContrastActive` in `src/apprt/win32.zig`)
- IME for CJK and other composed input (`ImmGetContext`)
- Sensitive-input indicator for password-style no-echo ConPTY input and the
  `toggle_secure_input` action. This is a local cursor/status/title affordance
  only; Windows does not provide the same Secure Keyboard Entry behavior that
  Ghostty uses on macOS, and winghostty does not block system-wide keyboard
  hooks.
- Drag-and-drop of files into the terminal (`WM_DROPFILES` +
  `DragAcceptFiles`)
- Window/session shape restore via `window-save-state`: host windows, tabs,
  splits, selected profiles, working directories, and explicit titles are
  persisted under `%LOCALAPPDATA%\winghostty\session-state.json`. Terminal
  contents and child process state are not restored.
- Windows-convention default keybindings (see
  `src/config/Config.zig` for the full set)

### Renderer

- OpenGL 4.3+ via WGL on Windows
- `src/renderer/Metal.zig` is inherited source but is unreachable from any
  shipping app runtime in this fork

### Updater

- Checks `api.github.com/repos/amanthanvi/winghostty/releases/latest`
- Never replaces the binary silently
- Gated to at most one check every 24 hours
- `auto-update = download` stages only Windows installer releases that include
  checksum metadata and pass SHA-256 plus Authenticode verification. Applying
  an installer-managed staged update requires a user click, re-verifies the
  staged installer, records apply intent, launches the installer elevated, and
  exits the app. Portable ZIP auto-apply is not implemented.

### Windows package managers

- WinGet package id: `AmanThanvi.winghostty`
- Scoop bucket: `https://github.com/amanthanvi/scoop-winghostty`
- Release readiness checks verify that both remote manifests exist before the
  release workflow is allowed to publish package-manager updates.

### Crash reports

- Local directory: `%LOCALAPPDATA%\winghostty\crash`
- **No automatic upload.** No code path to upload exists in this repo.
- On Windows the Sentry initialization path is a no-op
  (`src/crash/sentry.zig`), but winghostty installs a local
  unhandled-exception filter that writes `.dmp` minidumps through `DbgHelp`
  when Windows delivers a process-level crash exception.
- The `+crash-report` CLI reads anything that is there.

## Experimental / partial

### Windows UI Automation (accessibility)

UI Automation is **partial, not complete**. The Win32 host answers
`WM_GETOBJECT` with a root provider, caption buttons still chain through the
system host provider, and the command palette exposes a list provider so
Narrator/NVDA can announce selection changes. Terminal scrollback is not yet
exposed through `ITextProvider`, and broader per-widget coverage remains
planned.

### Win32 runtime extraction

The Win32 application runtime is still centered on a single large file at
`src/apprt/win32.zig`. Extraction into focused modules is in progress:
commit `a759eb6 refactor(win32): extract theme module from monolithic
win32.zig` moved theme helpers to `src/apprt/win32_theme.zig`. Further
extractions will land as they stabilize.

## Known caveats

- **SmartScreen reputation.** Release artifacts are expected to be
  Authenticode-signed for the installer and Windows binaries inside the
  portable ZIP. The ZIP container itself is checksummed, not
  Authenticode-signed, and Windows SmartScreen can still warn for a new or
  low-reputation publisher certificate.
- **Issues disabled for usage questions.** GitHub Issues on this repo
  are reserved for reproducible bugs. For questions, feature discussion,
  and feedback, use
  [Discussions](https://github.com/amanthanvi/winghostty/discussions).
- **No Nix / Flatpak / Snap packaging.** Upstream's Linux packaging
  surfaces have been stubbed out or removed.
- **`build.zig.zon` identity.** The Zig package is still declared
  `.name = .ghostty`. Library consumers using Zig's package manager will
  see the upstream package name. Rename is planned.
- **Generated help links.** A few generated help strings still link to
  `github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty` rather than this fork. Tracked as a
  doc-generation fix.
- **Crash capture on Windows is local-only.** The Sentry path is gated off on
  Windows in `src/crash/sentry.zig`; local minidumps are written by
  `src/crash/minidump_windows.zig` for process-level unhandled exceptions. Some
  hard-abort paths may still terminate before Windows can produce a dump.

## Out of scope

- macOS application packaging and Xcode workflows
- GTK / Linux / Wayland / X11 app-runtime work
- Flatpak, Snap, or other Linux desktop packaging
- Replicating upstream's community process or governance

## Informal roadmap signal

No formal roadmap. Indicative next areas:

- Broader UI Automation / screen reader coverage, including terminal text
  exposure and more per-widget support
- Continuing the `src/apprt/win32.zig` extraction begun in commit
  `a759eb6`
- Portable ZIP updater apply/rollback
- Broader local crash metadata and report packaging on Windows
- ARB-context OpenGL migration paired with atlas rebuild

Contributions that advance any of the above are welcome.