Martin GeislerSep 21, 2025

I'm experimenting with using #Emacs for my terminals, especially using the #vterm package. It could be a really nice environment: cross-platform, easy copy-pasting with keyboard commands only, etc.

However, when I started up the #Gemini CLI in the vterm buffer, I found that it renders quite differently. See https://github.com/akermu/emacs-libvterm/issues/776. Basically, there are soft stripes between the #Unicode block characters and the shade characters are dithered instead of being nice solid blocks.

Show threadMartin GeislerSep 21, 2025

Oh, and this is after setting `COLORTERM=truecolor` with

`(add-to-list 'vterm-environment "COLORTERM=truecolor")`

as described in https://github.com/akermu/emacs-libvterm/issues/717.

If there are anybody out there who has already debugged this kind of font rendering problems, I would be very curious to hear from them! šŸ˜„

ls --color=auto does not show colors in vterm Ā· Issue #717 Ā· akermu/emacs-libvterm

Hello, I have a simple question: why ls --color=auto show no colors in vterm, while ls --color does render colors? It happens for BSD (macOS version) ls but not for GNU coreutils ls.

GitHub
Show threadƁlvaro R.Sep 21, 2025
@mgeisler Tangentially related, Iā€™m working on a native agent Emacs shell, so we donā€™t have to run tui apps and run into related issues.Talks to Gemini CLI already. Need to iron out some UX kinks before releasingā€¦
Show threadMartin GeislerSep 22, 2025
@xenodium Sounds nice! My own reason to do this is that I've started a new job where I have to use a MacBook... it's the first time in 10 years that I'm back in this setup, so all my nice Linux setup no longer works. Retreating into Emacs seems like an attractive option now, hence I've been exploring using Vterm and Eat (https://codeberg.org/akib/emacs-eat).
emacs-eat

Emulate A Terminal, in a region, in a buffer and in Eshell

Codeberg.org
Show threadƁlvaro R.
@mgeisler yah. At work, I was split between both macOS and Linux. The more things I shifted to Emacs the more cross-platform my workflow became.
Sep 22, 2025 at 11:58amWeb
Show threadMartin GeislerSep 27
@xenodium Thanks for confirming! I'm using #macOS for the first time in 10 years and I don't like it one bit... šŸ˜­ The window management is bizarre. Installing https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ helped, but it relies on apps doing the right thing and so some apps don't show up. I believe #Zoom is one of them, but thankfully we're switching to #ProtonMeet (see https://proton.me/meet) at work!
AltTab - Windows alt-tab on macOS

Windows alt-tab on macOS

Show threadƁlvaro R.Sep 27
@mgeisler Ah yeah. I had a similar experience. Eventually bit the bullet and embraced command tab as is. One thing I like about it is the ability to kill apps from it (Cmd-q on highlighted app).
Show threadƁlvaro R.Sep 27
@mgeisler ps. Back to your original need to run Gemini CLi... I finally released the first version of my thing https://github.com/xenodium/agent-shell
GitHub - xenodium/agent-shell: A native Emacs buffer to interact with LLM agents powered by ACP

A native Emacs buffer to interact with LLM agents powered by ACP - xenodium/agent-shell

GitHub
Show threadMartin GeislerSep 27
@xenodium Nice, that looks cool! I guess this could make copy-pasting and general prompt editing easier?
Show threadƁlvaro R.Sep 28
@mgeisler Thatā€™s right, in addition to native editor integrations (ie diffing, getting/editimg buffer contentā€¦)