000-0-ghostty

Key information

• Description: Runs the Ghostty terminal on RHEL 10 as a Flatpak built from the signed release, with bash integration and the current configuration.
• Tier: 0. Core. Every project must follow its rules, with no exceptions.
• Needs: The update command from 000-0-ai, Flatpak, and the Nerd Fonts and bash setup from 000-0-dotfiles.
• Gives: The Ghostty terminal with current GTK and libadwaita, and its configuration.
• On a new computer: set it up step 7 of 7 in the core tier.

This folder is part of the ~/Apps SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). The
number in the name of each folder is its tier. The SOP map is at
https://claude.ai/artifact/W1ajTT5RGF5ZmKuJ4cRAwa. It is a private claude.ai page. Log in to open it.

This repository holds the Ghostty configuration and the facts about how
Ghostty is installed. It has no install script. The command that installs and
updates Ghostty is in 000-0-ai.

Contents

Where each part lives

Why a Flatpak

Ghostty is not in the RHEL 10 or EPEL 10 repositories. A native build works,
but RHEL 10 has older GTK and libadwaita than Ghostty can use:

GTK 4.20 needs glib 2.82 and pango 1.56. RHEL 10 has glib 2.80 and pango 1.54.
A native GTK 4.20 means you build glib, pango and GTK yourself. The Flatpak
gets them from the GNOME runtime instead. The build uses Ghostty's own
manifest, flatpak/com.mitchellh.ghostty.yml, from the release source.

A native build also needs Zig at the exact version that the Ghostty release
names (0.15.2 for 1.3.x). EPEL has a different version. The Flatpak manifest
downloads the correct Zig, so you do not install Zig.

Install on a new computer

Do the steps for 000-0-dotfiles (Nerd Fonts, bash) and 000-0-ai (update)
first.

1. Install the build tools and add the Flathub remote:

   sudo dnf install flatpak-builder minisign
   flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
   

   flatpak is in RHEL 10. flatpak-builder is in AppStream and minisign
   is in EPEL.

2. Build and install Ghostty:

   update --only ghostty
   

   The command downloads the newest release, checks its minisign signature,
   builds it and installs it as the user Flatpak com.mitchellh.ghostty.
   The first build also installs the GNOME runtime and SDK (about 2 GB) and
   takes several minutes. Expect: ghostty: okay (updated none -> X.Y.Z; ...).

3. Install the configuration from this repository:

   mkdir -p ~/.var/app/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config/ghostty ~/.bashrc.d
   cp config.ghostty ~/.var/app/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config/ghostty/config.ghostty
   cp bashrc.d/ghostty.bash ~/.bashrc.d/ghostty.bash
   

4. Check the configuration:

   flatpak run com.mitchellh.ghostty +validate-config
   

   Expect: no output and exit code 0.

5. Start Ghostty from the application menu, or run
   flatpak run com.mitchellh.ghostty.

Update

Run update (all tools) or update --only ghostty. The command compares the
installed Flatpak with the newest vX.Y.Z tag of ghostty-org/ghostty. If
Ghostty is missing or older, it builds and installs the new release in place,
checks that it starts, and removes the build files and unused Flatpak
runtimes. Restart Ghostty to use the new version. flatpak update does not
update Ghostty, because it is a local build.

Facts about the Flatpak

• Configuration folder. Inside the Flatpak, XDG_CONFIG_HOME is
  ~/.var/app/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config. Ghostty does not read
  ~/.config/ghostty. Ghostty 1.3 uses the file name config.ghostty.
• Shell. Ghostty starts your login shell on the host, not in the sandbox.
• Bash integration. Ghostty cannot inject its bash integration from the
  Flatpak, because the sandbox cannot open the Flatpak install folder. It
  logs shell could not be detected. bashrc.d/ghostty.bash sources the
  same file from the host. This turns on the sudo, ssh-env and title
  features in config.ghostty.
• TERM. Ghostty sets TERM=xterm-ghostty and points TERMINFO to a host
  path in the Flatpak install. Programs on the host find it, so no terminfo
  install is needed.
• Home folder. The Flatpak can read your home folder but cannot write to
  it. Programs that you run in the terminal run on the host and are not
  limited.

Change the configuration

1. Edit config.ghostty in this repository.
2. Copy it to the install location (step 3 above).
3. Run flatpak run com.mitchellh.ghostty +validate-config.
4. Press Ctrl+Shift+, in Ghostty to reload the file.

Rules for the file:

• Do not add background-blur. It causes crashes on Linux.
• Keep scrollback-limit at 50000 or lower.
• Use a font that fc-list : family | grep 'Nerd Font Mono' shows.