Zide is a terminal emulator and IDE built on a pure Zig engine core, with first-class native implementations on each platform it targets.
Most cross-platform terminal emulators share a core problem: they abstract over the platform to run everywhere, and in doing so they compromise the platform. The result is acceptable everywhere and excellent nowhere.
Zide takes the opposite approach. The Zig engine core — terminal processing, renderer backend contract, editor runtime — is the shared product. It is not shaped by any single platform. Native implementations are not ports or compatibility layers; they are the engine deployed at its full capability for that environment, using the platform's own idioms and constraints as design input.
The goal is to be the best terminal on every platform Zide runs on.
| Platform | Status |
|---|---|
| Linux | Active |
| Windows | Active |
| macOS | Active |
| Android | Beta — GLES + harness/product expansion active |
These are the current targets. The architecture is designed to take on new native targets without core surgery. More platforms will follow.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Zig core │
│ terminal engine · renderer backend contract │
│ editor runtime · config │
└──────┬──────────────┬──────────────┬───────────────┘
│ │ │
┌──────┴─────┐ ┌─────┴──────┐ ┌───┴──────────┐
│ Linux │ │ Windows │ │ macOS │ ···
│ OpenGL │ │ native │ │ Metal │
└────────────┘ └────────────┘ └──────────────┘
┌──────────────┐
│ Android │
│ GLES / JNI │
└──────────────┘
The core is not platform-neutral in the sense of lowest-common-denominator. It is platform-neutral in the sense that no single platform gets to shape it. When platforms need different behavior, the difference lives in the native layer.
The renderer backend contract is intentionally open-ended — it adapts to proved real-world truth on each platform rather than locking in speculative abstractions. OpenGL and Metal are the current reference implementations. Android GLES is active in the current beta lane.
- No fallbacks in core for platform weaknesses — handle them in the native layer or do not handle them
- No stale code or doc blocks at any layer
- No reinventing what the platform already provides cleanly
- Pure architecture is not negotiable for delivery speed
- Each native implementation aims to be the most competitive version of Zide possible in its environment
See app_architecture/BOOTSTRAP.md for full dependency and build setup.
./ops/bootstrap.sh
zig build
zig build runAndroid host tooling is in ops/android_terminal_host.py.
./ops/android_terminal_host.py deploy # build, install, launch
./ops/android_terminal_host.py logcat # filtered device logs
./ops/android_terminal_host.py -h # full command reference- docs/INDEX.md — full doc map
- docs/AGENT_HANDOFF.md — current focus and execution state
- app_architecture/ENGINEERING.md — product identity and engineering principles
External:
- https://github.com/LaurenceGuws/docs-explorer
- https://github.com/LaurenceGuws/zlua-portable
- https://github.com/LaurenceGuws/zbar
MIT
