Contour is a free, modal terminal emulator for everyday use, aimed at advanced users who want control over their terminal workflows. GPU-accelerated rendering and high-DPI support are paired with text features such as font ligatures, Unicode emoji and grapheme clusters. Users can split panes, navigate and select with vi-like modes, and jump through history with vertical markers. Sessions can remain available after a terminal window closes and be reattached locally or over a network. Contour also supports tmux control-mode interoperability in both directions, clickable links, inline Sixel images and OSC 52 clipboard setting. Profiles group color schemes, login shells and related behavior. Remote TCP connections are encrypted with TLS, require a token and do not offer plaintext mode. Daemon mode is experimental, so its command-line flags and wire protocol may change between releases. Contour is licensed under Apache License 2.0, with installation options including Windows MSI, Homebrew, distribution packages, Flatpak and source builds.
Who it is for
Contour suits advanced terminal users looking for modal navigation, persistent sessions and configurable profiles. It is also relevant to users who want GPU rendering or tmux control-mode interoperability.
What is good
- GPU-accelerated rendering and high-DPI support
- Persistent sessions can be reattached over a network
- Profiles group color schemes and login shells
- TLS-encrypted TCP connections require a token
- Available for Linux, macOS and Windows
What to know first
- Daemon mode is experimental
- tmux -CC mode is not supported
- Images drawn before tmux attachment cannot be recovered
Verdict
Contour combines modal controls and persistent sessions with GPU rendering and broad text support. Its experimental daemon and tmux limitations are worth noting before making it part of a workflow.
Contour plans and pricing
All plansCompared on terminal emulators
- Free plan
- Yes
- Supported platforms
- Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Windows
- Split panes
- Yes
- Session sync
- Yes
- GPU acceleration
- Yes
- Scripting API
- Yes
- SSH support
- Yes
