aicoolies logo
Hyper logo
Hyper logo

Hyper

Electron-based terminal with plugin ecosystem

open sourceupdated Apr 21, 2026

Terminal emulator built on web technologies (HTML/CSS/JS) using Electron. Extensible via npm packages with a vibrant plugin and theme ecosystem. Created by Vercel with 43k+ GitHub stars. Offers split panes, configurable hotkeys, and a fully customizable UI that appeals to developers who want a modern, hackable terminal experience.

Hyper is an open-source terminal emulator built on web technologies including Electron, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, created by Vercel. It takes a fundamentally different approach to terminal design by treating the terminal as a web application, making it extensible using the same technologies that power modern web development. Hyper aims to provide a beautiful, hackable terminal experience that web developers can customize using skills they already have.

Hyper's standout feature is its plugin and theme ecosystem built on React components and Redux actions, allowing developers to intercept and compose every aspect of the terminal's functionality. Instead of exposing custom APIs, it lets you modify the terminal using standard web development patterns. Hyper supports split panes, hot-loading of plugins with instant refresh, emoji support, and a rich library of community-created themes and extensions. The terminal is highly customizable through a simple JavaScript configuration file.

Hyper is best suited for web developers and designers who value aesthetics and extensibility and want a terminal they can customize with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, making it a cross-platform option for teams. While it trades some performance for its web-based architecture compared to GPU-accelerated alternatives like Alacritty or Kitty, Hyper offers unmatched ease of customization and a vibrant plugin ecosystem for developers comfortable with the JavaScript stack.

Pricing

Free (open-source)

Platforms

macOS, Linux, Windows

Categories

Tags

Use Cases

Related Tools

computed discovery: shared active categories · kept separate from editor-verified Alternatives

Grok logo

Grok Build

Top Pick

xAI's terminal coding agent with parallel subagents and worktree-aware automation

Grok Build is xAI's terminal-first coding agent for planning, editing, testing, and reviewing code from a local CLI. The early beta exposes subagent controls, worktree mode, headless JSON output, best-of-N parallel attempts, sandbox profiles, and experimental memory. It fits developers comparing Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini CLI for local agentic workflows with deeper parallel execution.

paid
Ghostty logo

Ghostty

Top Pick

Fast, native terminal emulator

GPU-accelerated terminal emulator written in Zig by Mitchell Hashimoto (HashiCorp co-founder). Native UI rendering on macOS and Linux. Supports ligatures, true color, Kitty graphics protocol, and splits/tabs. Configurable via a simple key-value file with sensible defaults. Open-source with 20K+ GitHub stars and a focus on correctness, speed, and minimal resource usage. Growing as a modern alternative to iTerm2, Alacritty, and WezTerm.

Open Source
Claude Code logo

Claude Code

Top Pick

Anthropic's agentic coding CLI

Anthropic's agentic CLI coding tool that delegates complex tasks to Claude directly from the terminal. Understands entire codebases via automatic context gathering, edits multiple files, runs shell commands, and manages Git workflows autonomously. Supports CLAUDE.md for persistent project instructions, integrates with VS Code and JetBrains, and uses Claude Opus/Sonnet with extended thinking for complex architectural decisions. Built for terminal-first developers.

paid
Codex logo

Codex

Top Pick

OpenAI coding agent for app, editor, terminal, and cloud work

Codex is OpenAI's coding agent for software development across the Codex app, editor, terminal, and cloud tasks. It helps write, review, debug, refactor, and automate code, with ChatGPT plan access for managed surfaces and API-key usage for CLI, SDK, and IDE workflows. The open-source CLI and SDK support local repository work, while cloud features add GitHub review, Slack/Linear integrations, worktrees, skills, MCP, and automations.

freemium
roborev logo

roborev

Continuous local code-review loops for commits produced by AI coding agents

roborev is an MIT-licensed local review system that checks every commit in the background, stores findings in a review queue, and feeds actionable issues back into AI coding sessions. Git hooks, a TUI, branch and dirty-tree analysis, Codex and Claude agent hooks, plus iterative fix/refine commands turn review into a continuous agent workflow.

Open SourceTelemetry
Windows-MCP logo

Windows-MCP

MCP server for controlling Windows desktops through UIAutomation

Windows-MCP is an open-source MCP server for giving AI agents structured access to Windows desktop automation. It focuses on UIAutomation, snapshots, input control, and Windows-specific app workflows, making it different from general filesystem or shell MCP servers.

Open Source

FAQ

What is Hyper?

Terminal emulator built on web technologies (HTML/CSS/JS) using Electron. Extensible via npm packages with a vibrant plugin and theme ecosystem. Created by Vercel with 43k+ GitHub stars. Offers split panes, configurable hotkeys, and a fully customizable UI that appeals to developers who want a modern, hackable terminal experience.

Is Hyper free?

Yes — Hyper is open source and free to use. Free (open-source)

Is Hyper open source?

Yes — Hyper is open source.

What are the best Hyper alternatives?

The top editor-verified Hyper alternatives are iTerm2, WezTerm.