README.md

   1 # xterm.js
   2
   3 [![xterm.js build status](https://api.travis-ci.org/sourcelair/xterm.js.svg)](https://travis-ci.org/sourcelair/xterm.js) [![Gitter](https://badges.gitter.im/sourcelair/xterm.js.svg)](https://gitter.im/sourcelair/xterm.js?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge)
   4
   5 Xterm.js is a terminal front-end component written in JavaScript that works in the browser.
   6
   7 It enables applications to provide fully featured terminals to their users and create great development experiences.
   8
   9 ## Features
  10 - **Text-based application support**: Use xterm.js to work with applications like `bash`, `git` etc.
  11 - **Curses-based application support**: Use xterm.js to work with applications like `vim`, `tmux` etc.
  12 - **Mouse events support**: Xterm.js captures mouse events like click and scroll and passes them to the terminal's back-end controlling process
  13 - **CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) character support**: Xterm.js renders CJK characters seamlessly
  14 - **IME support**: Insert international (including CJK) characters using IME input with your keyboard
  15 - **Self-contained library**: Xterm.js works on its own. It does not require any external libraries like jQuery or React to work
  16 - **Modular, event-based API**: Lets you build addons and themes with ease
  17
  18 ## What xterm.js is not
  19 - Xterm.js is not a terminal application that you can download and use on your computer
  20 - Xterm.js is not `bash`. Xterm.js can be connected to processes like `bash` and let you interact with them (provide input, receive output)
  21
  22 ## Real-world uses
  23 Xterm.js is used in several world-class applications to provide great terminal experiences.
  24
  25 - [**SourceLair**](https://www.sourcelair.com/): In-browser IDE that provides its users with fully-featured Linux terminals based on xterm.js
  26 - [**Microsoft Visual Studio Code**](http://code.visualstudio.com/): Modern, versatile and powerful open source code editor that provides an integrated terminal based on xterm.js
  27 - [**ttyd**](https://github.com/tsl0922/ttyd): A command-line tool for sharing terminal over the web, with fully-featured terminal emulation based on xterm.js
  28 - [**Katacoda**](https://www.katacoda.com/): Katacoda is an Interactive Learning Platform for software developers, covering the latest Cloud Native technologies.
  29
  30
  31 Do you use xterm.js in your application as well? Please [open a Pull Request](https://github.com/sourcelair/xterm.js/pulls) to include it here. We would love to have it in our list.
  32
  33 ## Browser Support
  34
  35 Since xterm.js is typically implemented as a developer tool, only modern browsers are supported officially. Here is a list of the versions we aim to support:
  36
  37 - Chrome 48+
  38 - Edge 13+
  39 - Firefox 44+
  40 - Internet Explorer 11+
  41 - Opera 35+
  42 - Safari 8+
  43
  44 Xterm.js works seamlessly in Electron apps and may even work on earlier versions of the browsers but these are the browsers we strive to keep working.
  45
  46 ## Demo
  47
  48 To launch the demo simply run:
  49
  50 ```
  51 npm install
  52 npm start
  53 ```
  54
  55 Then open http://0.0.0.0:3000 in a web browser (use http://127.0.0.1:3000 if running under Windows).
  56
  57 ## Getting Started
  58
  59 To start using xterm.js on your browser, add the `xterm.js` and `xterm.css` to the head of your html page. Then create a `<div id="terminal"></div>` onto which xterm can attach itself.
  60 ```html
  61 <!doctype html>
  62   <html>
  63     <head>
  64       <link rel="stylesheet" href="bower_components/xterm.js/dist/xterm.css" />
  65       <script src="bower_components/xterm.js/dist/xterm.js"></script>
  66     </head>
  67     <body>
  68       <div id="terminal"></div>
  69       <script>
  70         var term = new Terminal();
  71         term.open(document.getElementById('#terminal'));
  72         term.write('Hello from \033[1;3;31mxterm.js\033[0m $ ')
  73       </script>
  74     </body>
  75   </html>
  76 ```
  77 Finally instantiate the `Terminal` object and then call the `open` function with the DOM object of the `div`.
  78
  79 ## Addons
  80
  81 Addons are JavaScript modules that attach functions to the `Terminal` prototype to extend its functionality. There are a handful available in the main repository in the `dist/addons` directory, you can even write your own (though they may break when the internals of xterm.js change across versions).
  82
  83 To use an addon, just include the JavaScript file after xterm.js and before the `Terminal` object has been instantiated. The function should then be exposed on the `Terminal` object:
  84
  85 ```html
  86 <script src="node_modules/dist/xterm.js"></script>
  87 <script src="node_modules/dist/addons/fit/fit.js"></script>
  88 ```
  89
  90 ```js
  91 var xterm = new Terminal();
  92 // init code...
  93 xterm.fit();
  94 ```
  95
  96 ## Releases
  97
  98 Xterm.js follows a monthly release cycle roughly.
  99
 100 The existing releases are available at this GitHub repo's [Releases](https://github.com/sourcelair/xterm.js/releases), while the roadmap is available as [Milestones](https://github.com/sourcelair/xterm.js/milestones).
 101
 102 ## Development and Contribution
 103
 104 Xterm.js is maintained by [SourceLair](https://www.sourcelair.com/) and a few external contributors, but we would love to receive contributions from everyone!
 105
 106 To contribute either code, documentation or issues to xterm.js please read the [Contributing document](CONTRIBUTING.md) before.
 107
 108 The development of xterm.js does not require any special tool. All you need is an editor that supports JavaScript and a browser (if you would like to run the demo you will need Node.js to get all features).
 109
 110 It is recommended though to use a development tool that uses xterm.js internally, to develop for xterm.js. [Eating our own dogfood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_your_own_dog_food) has been proved extremely beneficial for this project. Known tools that use xterm.js internally are:
 111
 112 #### [SourceLair](https://www.sourcelair.com)
 113
 114 Visit https://lair.io/sourcelair/xterm and follow the instructions. All development will happen in your browser.
 115
 116 #### [Visual Studio Code](http://code.visualstudio.com/)
 117
 118 [Download Visual Studio Code](http://code.visualstudio.com/Download), clone xterm.js and you are all set.
 119
 120 ## License Agreement
 121
 122 If you contribute code to this project, you are implicitly allowing your code to be distributed under the MIT license. You are also implicitly verifying that all code is your original work.
 123
 124 Copyright (c) 2014-2016, SourceLair, Private Company ([www.sourcelair.com](https://www.sourcelair.com/home)) (MIT License)
 125
 126 Copyright (c) 2012-2013, Christopher Jeffrey (MIT License)