Rio

Spec sheet

Purpose

Rio is a hardware-accelerated GPU terminal emulator designed to run on desktops and in browsers.Read 4 Oct 2026 · github.com

Product

Rio describes itself as an open source terminal for the 21st century.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Free plan

YesRead 20 Sep 2026 · rioterm.com

Adaptive themes

Rio can switch between light and dark themes based on system appearance on Web, macOS, Windows, and Linux.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Available systems

Rio is available for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, and WebAssembly.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Build status

Rio offers stable builds and nightly builds, with nightly builds created daily.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Customization

Rio allows users to configure settings in a TOML file, and changes to that file automatically trigger the terminal to render with the new configuration.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Desktop availability

Rio is available for Windows, Linux distributions, FreeBSD, and macOS.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

GPU acceleration

YesRead 20 Sep 2026 · rioterm.com

GPU support

Rio's Sugarloaf renderer has native Metal and Vulkan backends, while WebGPU requires building with the wgpu Cargo feature.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

GPU terminal

The project describes Rio as a hardware-accelerated GPU terminal emulator for desktops and browsers.Read 4 Oct 2026 · github.com

Image support

Rio supports the iTerm2 inline image protocol.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Linux packages

Prebuilt Linux packages are available for distributions including Arch, Alpine, Nix, openSUSE, Flathub, and Void, with .deb and .rpm packages on GitHub releases.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Linux packaging

The project lists packages for Arch, Alpine, Nix, openSUSE, Flathub, and Void, plus .deb and .rpm packages on GitHub releases.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Linux terminfo note

Rio's .deb packages do not include terminfo; Ubuntu 22.04 and older Debian or Ubuntu systems require manual installation.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

macOS support

The macOS download is a universal binary for Apple Silicon and Intel machines.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Maintenance

The homepage invites users to sponsor the project to help keep it going.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Release channels

Rio offers stable builds, which are described as thoroughly tested, and nightly builds created daily.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Scripting API

YesRead 20 Sep 2026 · rioterm.com

Security reporting

The project asks users to report security issues privately through the repository's Security tab or by email, rather than in a public issue.Read 4 Oct 2026 · github.com

Shell integration

Rio can inject shell integration for zsh, fish, and PowerShell to report the working directory, and the feature can be disabled in configuration.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Split panels

Split panels are supported and enabled by default.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Split panes

YesRead 20 Sep 2026 · rioterm.com

Supported platforms

macOS,Windows,LinuxRead 20 Sep 2026 · rioterm.com

Terminal features

Listed features include split panels, multiple windows, Vi mode, adaptive themes, hyperlinks, hints, and shell integration.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Terminal images

Rio supports the Kitty graphics protocol, including PNG and RGB/RGBA images, compressed and chunked transfers, and layered placements.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Version support

Rio is pre-1.0; security fixes target the latest release and are not backported to earlier versions.Read 4 Oct 2026 · github.com

Vi mode

Rio provides Vi mode for terminal navigation and selection, toggled by default with Alt+Shift+Space.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

WebAssembly

The install page lists WebAssembly as an available target; the maker describes Rio as running in browsers.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Windows requirement

Rio for Windows requires Windows 10 or later and offers x86_64 and aarch64 installers and portable executables.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Windows support

Rio provides an MSI installer and portable executables for Windows 10 or later.Read 4 Oct 2026 · rioterm.com

Where Specifiction places it

• Terminal Emulators#36 of 407.4
• Terminal apps#38 of 417.4