> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://itsfoss.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # I Made Kitty Terminal Even More Awesome by Using These 15 Customization Tips and Tweaks - URL: https://itsfoss.com/kitty-customization/ - Published: 2025-07-21T06:38:35.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-13T07:02:38.000Z - Description: Kitty is an excellent terminal and offers you a variety of customization options though its config file. Here are the config changes I prefer. - Author: Sreenath - Tags: Terminal "If there is a media out there, VLC can play it!". I want to say the same thing about Kitty and its versatility. If you didn't know already, [Kitty](https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty?ref=itsfoss.com) is one of the most comprehensive [terminal emulators available in Linux](https://itsfoss.com/linux-terminal-emulators/). It offers image support, ligatures, animated cursors, and a whole lot of productivity tweaks. I could write a mini-book if I had to explain each one in full detail. I am not going to do that. Instead, I'll share some of my favorite features and tweaks I use with Kitty. If video is your preference, you can [see Kitty setup in action](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCeGpNZCj88&ref=itsfoss.com) on our YouTube channel. [Subscribe to It's FOSS YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/@itsfoss?ref=itsfoss.com) ## Installing Kitty Since Kitty is a pretty popular terminal emulator, it is available in the default repository of most of the Linux distributions. In Ubuntu, you can install a slightly older version of Kitty by using the APT command: ``` sudo apt install kitty ``` Arch Linux users can install it from the Extra repo: ``` sudo pacman -S kitty ``` For Fedora, ``` sudo dnf install kitty ``` If you are any other distro user, or your system repo provides an older version of Kitty, use the official pre-built binary from the Kitty team. ``` curl -L https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/installer.sh | sh /dev/stdin ``` Or, download binary from the GitHub releases page. [Download Kitty](https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/releases?ref=itsfoss.com) ## 1\. Generating default config Kitty offers a huge configuration possibility, but through its config file. This config file should be `kitty.conf` located in `~/.config/kitty` directory. It is always good to use the default config file and make changes to it rather than creating a config from scratch. Open Kitty and use the keyboard shortcut `CTRL+SHIFT+F2`. This will open the Kitty config in a new window. If not present already, it will create one for you and open it. For me, it opened in the Vi editor. If this is not needed, you can quit the config using the Vi shortcut `:q` (without any changes). 0:00 /0:11 1× Open Kitty config file using the shortcut in Kitty. This will open the config file in Vi editor. Then open it in your favorite command line editor or GUI-based text editors. ``` nano ~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf ``` ## 2\. Setting a different font A proper monospace font can increase the terminal aesthetics. Here, we will set the terminal font as [JetBrains Mono font](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/JetBrains+Mono?query=jetbrains&ref=itsfoss.com). Before proceeding, make sure the [font is installed](https://itsfoss.com/install-fonts-ubuntu/) on your system. First, list the set of supported fonts using the command: ``` kitty +list-fonts ``` From the list, **note the exact name of the font you want to use**: ![List fonts in Kitty using the above mentioned command. Here is a screenshot showing the JetBrains Mono font section in the extensive output.](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/list-fonts.png) List Fonts Now, open Kitty config and scroll down to the line that says `font-family`. Here, remove the comment in front of the item and change the name as follows: ``` font-family "JetBrains Mono" ``` ![Set a font family in Kitty](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/set-a-font-family.png) Set a Font 💡 Kitty supports setting individual font as well, like Bold, Italics, etc. Setting font alone is not sufficient; you should be able to change the font size as well. Fret not! Kitty has an option here. Search for `font-size`. Uncomment the line and change the value to sufficiently large. ![Change font size in Kitty](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/change-font-size.png) Font Size ## 3\. Re-setting scrollback One of the most essential features in a terminal is a sufficiently long scrollback lines. Many commands like cat, do not use a pager like less to print text. So, if a text has a huge number of lines, more than your scrollback, then the beginning parts of the text will be unreachable. At the same time, setting a huge scrollback line is also not advised. Since the scrollback lines are stored in RAM, more scrollback lines means more hit on the RAM usage. A value of `10000` will be good for most users, and a `2000` is also fine for a GUI-only user. On the Kitty config file, find the line `scrollback_lines`. By default, the value is 2000. To change, uncomment the line and add a value, say 5000. ``` scrollback_lines 5000 ``` ![Scrollback Lines in Kitty](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/scrollback-lines.png) Scrollback Lines The scrollback pager feature in Kitty allows you to open your terminal’s scrollback history in a full-featured pager program (like less or nvim) for easier navigation, search, and copying. By default, this is disabled. You need to enable it by specifying the value in MB. ![Scrollback Pager History](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/scroll-back-pager-history.png) Scrollback Pager History 💡 Use most instead of less and add colors to your pager system. ## 4\. Hiding mouse on typing (for keyboard addicts) For terminal power users, the mouse may feel like a distraction. In Kitty, you can play with the mouse presence in several ways. Hiding the mouse immediately when you start typing is my preference. To get this action, set the `mouse_hide_wait` variable to a negative value. ``` mouse_hide_wait -3.0 ``` If you make this value any positive number, the terminal will wait for that many seconds and then disable the mouse if no mouse action occurred within that time range. ![Hide Mouse Cursor in Kitty Terminal](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/hide-mouse-cursor.png) Hide Mouse Cursor In the screenshot above, I set the value to 5.0 seconds. So now, no matter you type or not, the mouse will be disabled if you don't touch your mouse for more than 5 seconds. Set it to 0 and the mouse won't hide at all. ## 5\. Setting window size Kitty remembers the window size from the last session by default, so you don't need to resize it every time. Still, you can set the default window width in Kitty. ![Window size settings in Kitty](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/kitty-window-size.png) Window Size The `remember_window_size yes` is self-explanatory. The window size will be remembered with Kitty instances. You can set the `initial_window_width/height` key to a required size and then disable the `remember_window_size` so that the new instances always open in the specified size. This is specifically useful in the next section, where we disable the window decoration and thus you can't resize the terminal with mouse anymore. ## 6\. Hiding window decorations If you are using tiling window managers like [Hyprland](https://itsfoss.com/hyprland/), it is good to avoid the title in Kitty. You won't find any serious use for it, because window resizing is done differently in tiling window managers. Search and locate the `hide_window_decorations` option. Uncomment the line and change its value to `yes` from the default `no`. ![Hide Window Decorations in Kitty terminal emulator.](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/hide-window-decorations.png) Hide Window Decorations ## 7\. Customizing the tabs Like most of the terminal, Kitty offers tabs as well. The difference is that Kitty offers some ways to make the tabs look unique. ### Tab bar position You can use the `tab_bar_edge` key to specify whether you want the tab list at top or bottom. The default is bottom, and that is fine. ### Tab bar style There are several cool styles available for the tab bar, like *fade*, *slant*, *separator*, *powerline*, and custom. We will be going with the **powerline**, which is pleasing and can be quickly made work. Uncomment the line and change the value. ``` tab_bar_style powerline ``` Now, the powerline offers another key called the `tab_powerline_style`. This can be set to *angled*, *slanted*, *round*. All these looks cool, but I will be going with `round` which along with the Catppuccin Starship prompt will look aligned. ``` tab_powerline_style round ``` 0:00 /0:32 1× Tabs in Kitty ## 8\. Changing the shell Most of the Linux distributions come with Bash as the default shell. Many users, on the other hand, [love the ZSH shell](https://linuxhandbook.com/why-zsh/?ref=itsfoss.com). The most common way people follow is to change the system shell. But that applies to all the terminals. Here comes the use of `shell` key. You can set a shell for only the Kitty terminal and the rest of the system will use the default bash shell. For this, first find the command location of your desired shell using the `which` command: ``` which zsh ``` For me, it is `/usr/bin/zsh`. Now, search for the `shell` key in Kitty config. 💡 If you are searching for the `shell` using the editor's find tool, search for `shell .`, so that you reach the result directly. The default value is `.` which means the user's default shell is used as Kitty shell. Remove this `.` and paste the location of your desired shell. ``` shell /usr/bin/zsh ``` ![Change shell in Kitty terminal](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/change-shell.png) Change Shell 💡 You can set a default editor as well using the `editor` key in Kitty configuration file. The procedure is the same as changing shell. ## 9\. Notifying on command finish With Kitty, you can get a desktop notification when a long-running command finishes up. For this, uncomment the `notify_on_cmd_finish` key and set its value to `invisible` or `unfocussed`. I am going with `invisible`, since, as per manual, it will: > Only send a notification when the window both is unfocused and not visible to the user, for example, because it is in an inactive tab or its OS window is not currently active. ``` notify_on_cmd_finish invisible ``` If you are more into detail, set a time limit for the long command. I am going to set 20 seconds as the duration of a long command. ``` notify_on_cmd_finish invisible 20 ``` ![Notify when a command execution is finished](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/notify-on-command-finish.png) Notify on Command Finish There is more to explore in this section for you! ## 10\. Changing themes Kitty offers a huge number of themes. Run this command: ``` kitten themes ``` This will download the themes from the repo and display it to you. Scroll down to see them all. Once you find the perfect one for you, press the ENTER key to apply the theme! Also, use the `/` button to start a search. In the small video below, you can see that I apply Catppuccin theme to Kitty. Applying theme to Kitty Terminal Once you have selected the theme, press enter and it asks whether you want to modify the config or add the theme to `~/.config/kitty/themes`. I will press the **M** key so that the Kitty Config is modified and the theme is set. ## 11\. Animating cursor tail Latest versions of Kitty support setting a cool cursor animation. 📋 The values for the keys in this section need to be fine tuned as needed for your satisfaction. To enable it, first search for the key `cursor_trail`. Uncomment it. I have set a value of 200 for it. Now, set a value for `cursor_trail_decay` and `cursor_trail_start_threshold` as shown in the screenshot below. ![Set cursor trail values for related keys](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/set-cursor-trail-values-for-related-keys.png) Cursor Trail Values Now, reopen Kitty. You can see a cool cursor trail animation when the cursor is moved significantly. 0:00 /0:19 1× Showing Cursor Trail Animation ## 12\. Automatic dark and light theme change Kitty supports automatically changing themes according to the system dark and light mode. 🚧 This is supported in Kitty version 0.38+. So, if you are using Ubuntu 24.04 or related system, the default package repo version of Kitty doesn't support this. For this, first open Kitty and run: ``` kitten themes ``` Now, from the list of dark theme, select a dark theme and press enter. ![Select a dark theme from the list of themes](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/select-a-dark-theme_1752684022525_0.png) Select a dark theme In the next page, press the **D** key so that this theme is the default theme for the dark mode. Now, run the `kitten themes` command again. This time, select a light theme from the list and press enter. In the next screen, press the **L** key, to make the selected light theme default for light mode. ![Set a theme as the light mode theme in Kitty](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/set-as-light-mode-theme_1752684158202_0.png) Set light mode theme Run `kitten themes` one more time and select a theme at random, and in the settings screen, press the **N** key to make it the default in case of no preference. ![Set a theme as the no-preference mode theme In Kitty](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/set-as-no-pref-theme_1752684228165_0.png) No preference mode theme That's it. Now, the Kitty will show the theme based on the current system mode. You can take a look at the `~/.config/kitty` folder to make sure that the dark, light, and no-pref mode themes are present as config file. ![Different modes theme file in file manager](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/mode-theme-files-in-kitty-config-directory_1752684388854_0.png) Theme files saved for different modes. ## 13\. Setting a background image Take the customization to the next level by adding an image as the background for Kitty terminal. Locate the key `background_image` in the kitty config file. ![Set the background image and background image style in Kitty configuration file.](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/set-background-image_1752684765275_0.png) Background Image and Layout Set its value as path to the image file. Also, change `background_image_layout` to a required value, as shown in the screenshot above. And you can see that my kitty terminal now has an entirely different look that matches the theme of It's FOSS. Good for the social media videos. ![Set a background image in Kitty](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/kitty-background-image_1752685067587_0.png) Set background image ## 14\. Adding a watermark/logo Want to spice up the terminal even more? Let's add a small logo as well! Make sure you have a small image, say 50x50 sized images. This will make things easy. There is a scale option `window_logo_scale`, but that may require some trial and error. Now, in the Kitty config, locate the key `window_logo_path`. Uncomment it and change its value to the path of the logo file. Also, fix the position of the logo using the `window_logo_position` key. Use the `window_logo_alpha` key to set a fade to the logo. ![Set Window logo in Kitty terminal by editing the Kitty config file.](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/set-window-logo_1752685546937_0.jpg) Set Window Logo That's it! Save the config file and reopen Kitty to view the result. ![Window Logo applied in Kitty terminal](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2025/07/window-logo_1752685643513_0.png) It's FOSS Logo Applied ## 15\. Setting mouse actions You can define what the mouse buttons do in Kitty using the `mouse_map` option in the Mouse Actions section. The general syntax is: ``` mouse_map button-name event-type modes action ``` For example, the default middle-click to paste from selection action is set in Kitty using: ``` mouse_map middle release ungrabbed paste_from_selection ``` Kitty offers a wide range of customization, and I have mentioned some of the cool ones that I use regularly. There are more power user friendly features, like: - Keyboard shortcuts mapping. - Using Kittens to extend the functionality, etc. Explore the vast possibilities of Kitty by using it. ## Conclusion You saw a glimpse of customized Kitty terminal in our [terminal makeover video first](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffmm80%5FCii4&ref=itsfoss.com). [Subscribe to It's FOSS YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/@itsfoss?ref=itsfoss.com) We discussed internally and decided to do a dedicated tutorial on customizing Kitty. And hence this article. I understand that customizing the terminal is not everyone's preference but I like changing things to make them look asthetically pleasing. Kitty is my current favorite, even though I am thinking of using Ghostty. Please let me know in the comments if you like this article or if you notice any issues with the config changes.