Terminalle

A modern, minimalist, semi-transparent, fullscreen "drop-down" terminal emulateur for freedesktop.org-compatible desktops (e.g. GNOME, KDE, Cinnamon).

It omits many features common in other terminal emulators, such as tabs, because it's meant to be used in conjunction with a terminal multiplexer such as tmux, which has a solid, mature UI. See also tmux mode for enhanced tmux features.

Based on VTE.

Install

First, install the dependencies. Then:

pip install terminalle

# Recommended: Enable auto-start.
# Starts the server automatically (window hidden) on login
# and restarts automatically on toggle if closed.
terminalle auto

# If enabled, auto-start should be disabled prior to uninstalling.
terminalle no-auto
pip uninstall terminalle

Dependencies

• GTK-4
• VTE
• PyGObject
• PyYAML

These should probably be installed using your package manager:

Arch

pacman -S gtk4 vte4 python-gobject python-yaml

Debian / Ubuntu

apt install gir1.2-gtk-4.0 gir1.2-vte-3.91 python3-gi python3-yaml

Fedora

dnf install gtk4 python3-gobject python3-pyyaml

Usage

Whichever process runs terminalle is the "server". It's controlled via D-Bus. Set up keyboard shortcuts to make your life easy.

# See usage info.
terminalle --help

# Start the server (in this case, as a background job).
# The window is initially hidden by default.
# This is unnecessary if you've enabled auto-start with `terminalle auto`.
terminalle &

# Toggle window visibility manually.
# This should probably be bound to a keyboard shortcut.
dbus-send --session --type=method_call --dest=party.will.Terminalle \
    /party/will/Terminalle party.will.Terminalle.Toggle

# Close the window and kill the server.
dbus-send --session --type=method_call --dest=party.will.Terminalle \
    /party/will/Terminalle party.will.Terminalle.Quit

When toggled on, the terminal opens on the monitor where the mouse is located. To move it to a different monitor, move the mouse, then toggle it on again. Wayland does not allow applications to position their own windows.

Use Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Shift+V to access the clipboard.

Shortcuts

If you use GNOME or KDE, Terminalle can manage keyboard shortcuts for you:

# Enable keyboard shortcut(s) to toggle the window.
terminalle key --toggle '<Super>Return' --toggle '<Alt>Return'

# Disable any keyboard shortcuts (also a good idea prior to uninstalling).
terminalle no-key

For any other kind of dekstop environment, you'll have to set up your own shortcuts to invoke the D-Bus methods (see example manual invocations).

Configuration

See an example configuration. See the defaults in settings.py. Defaults can be selectively overridden in ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-${HOME}/.config}/terminalle.yaml.

TMUX MODE

This is the recommended way to use Terminalle. It enables some alternative tmux keyboard shortcuts, which would normally be impossible to configure in .tmux.conf since terminal emulators typically cannot handle these key combinations. Generally replacing the tmux prefix with a simple Ctrl modifier, it cuts the number of keystrokes in half without requiring you to memorize new shortcuts. If you're a tmux power-user, this will change things for you. Turn it on by setting tmux: true in terminalle.yaml (see configuration).

The following shortcuts are enabled in tmux mode:

tmux default	tmux mode	Command
<Prefix> !	Ctrl+!	break-pane
<Prefix> "	Ctrl+"	split-window
<Prefix> #	Ctrl+#	list-buffers
<Prefix> $	Ctrl+$	command-prompt -I "#S" "rename-session -- '%%'"
<Prefix> %	Ctrl+%	split-window -h
<Prefix> &	Ctrl+&	confirm-before -p "kill-window #W? (y/n)" kill-window
<Prefix> '	Ctrl+'	command-prompt -T window-target -pindex "select-window -t ':%%'"
<Prefix> (	Ctrl+(	switch-client -p
<Prefix> )	Ctrl+)	switch-client -n
<Prefix> ,	Ctrl+,	command-prompt -I "#W" "rename-window -- '%%'"
<Prefix> .	Ctrl+.	command-prompt -T target "move-window -t '%%'"
<Prefix> :	Ctrl+:	command-prompt
<Prefix> ;	Ctrl+;	last-pane
<Prefix> =	Ctrl+=	choose-buffer -Z
<Prefix> [	Ctrl+[	copy-mode
<Prefix> ]	Ctrl+]	paste-buffer
<Prefix> {	Ctrl+{	swap-pane -U
<Prefix> }	Ctrl+}	swap-pane -D

To reap maximum benefits, add the following to your .tmux.conf, taking care of other common tmux shortcuts that do not get mangled by typical terminal emulators:

# Generally shorten `<Prefix> <X>` to `Ctrl+<X>` for various `<X>`.
# Note that some commands (e.g. `<Prefix> c` for `new-window`) would conflict with
# established control sequences (`Ctrl+c` should send `SIGINT`) if shortened.
bind -n C-f      command-prompt "find-window -Z -- '%%'"
bind -n C-n      next-window
bind -n C-o      select-pane -t ":.+"
bind -n C-p      previous-window
bind -n C-q      display-panes
bind -n C-s      choose-tree -Zs
bind -n C-t      clock-mode
bind -n C-x      confirm-before -p "kill-pane #P? (y/n)" kill-pane
bind -n C-Space  next-layout

# Resize panes using arrow keys and either `Ctrl` or `Meta`.
bind -n C-Up     resize-pane -U
bind -n M-Up     resize-pane -U 5
bind -n C-Down   resize-pane -D
bind -n M-Down   resize-pane -D 5
bind -n C-Left   resize-pane -L
bind -n M-Left   resize-pane -L 5
bind -n C-Right  resize-pane -R
bind -n M-Right  resize-pane -R 5

This all goes especially well with Vim Tmux Navigator, which provides shortened bindings for switching seemlessly between tmux panes and Vim windows.