Orbit

Stay in the flow.
A fast, lightweight, project-centric terminal emulator built in Zig.

Quick start · Install guide · How to use · Contribute · Releases

---

Orbit is a GPU accelerated terminal inspired by Ghostty’s performance focus, with one core idea: keep developers in the flow by organizing everything around projects.

Unlike traditional terminals that only launch shells, Orbit remembers workspaces, restores sessions, and stays out of your way.

  ○───────────────○
       O R B I T
  > stay in the flow_

---

Why Orbit?

Terminal	Focus
Ghostty	Speed
Warp	UX
WezTerm	Configuration
Orbit	Projects

Everything revolves around the developer’s workflow — Backend, Frontend, Production, University — as first-class workspaces, not afterthoughts.

Core values

Fast	Lightweight	Beautiful
Project-centric	Privacy-first	Extensible
Cross-platform

Design principles

1. Performance first
2. Minimal UI — no unnecessary features
3. GPU-accelerated rendering
4. Native experience on every platform
5. Stable architecture & memory safety through Zig
6. Project-aware workflows

---

Features

Terminal foundations

• Startup home screen — welcome, logo, version, quick actions
• GPU-rendered text with dirty-cell redraws
• POSIX PTY (Linux / macOS) and ConPTY (Windows)
• Full ANSI parsing — CSI, OSC, SGR, DEC, DCS, UTF-8
• Colors, cursor, scrolling, selection, clipboard
• Tabs, split panes, search, themes, transparency
• TOML config with live reload (no restart)

Orbit Workspaces

Projects are first class. Each workspace can remember:

Remembers	Examples
Working directory	~/code/api
Tabs & splits	layout you left open
Shell & environment	zsh, nvm, PATH
Restore state	pick up where you stopped

Extensibility

• Command palette — jump to any action fast
• Plugin system — commands, themes, custom shortcuts, hooks
• Optional AI (Phase 7) — explain errors & suggest commands; never executes automatically

---

Status

Phases 1–6 are implemented — terminal foundations through the command palette, plus a manifest-based plugin system (commands, themes, custom shortcuts, hooks).

Next up: optional AI assistant (Phase 7). Full detail in roamap.md.

Phase	Focus
1	MVP — window, PTY, shell I/O, text, keyboard	done
2	ANSI, colors, resize, scroll, cursor, clipboard	done
3	Tabs, splits, search, themes, config	done
4	Orbit Workspaces	done
5	Command palette	done
6	Plugin system	done
7	Optional AI assistant	next

---

Quick start

Full install for macOS, Linux, and Windows: → INSTALL.md

git clone https://github.com/marksikaundi/Orbit.git
cd Orbit

# macOS:  brew install zig glfw
# Linux:  Zig 0.16+ + GLFW / OpenGL / X11  (see INSTALL.md)
# Windows (PowerShell): Zig 0.16+ + GLFW via vcpkg  (see INSTALL.md)

zig build          # → zig-out/bin/orbit  (orbit.exe on Windows)
zig build run      # detached launch
zig build run-fg   # foreground (logs in this terminal)
zig build setup    # once: global `orbit` + zig build run from anywhere
zig build test
zig build security-scan

After zig build setup, open a new terminal tab:

orbit              # launch from any folder
zig build run      # same — builds & launches detached

Both print Orbit terminal opened successfully and return to your prompt.

ORBIT_FOREGROUND=1 orbit   # live logs in this terminal (Unix)
# Windows:  $env:ORBIT_FOREGROUND=1; orbit

Optional config:

# Unix
mkdir -p ~/.config/orbit
cp assets/config.example.toml ~/.config/orbit/config.toml

# Windows (PowerShell)
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$env:APPDATA\orbit" | Out-Null
Copy-Item assets\config.example.toml "$env:APPDATA\orbit\config.toml"

Windows: native ConPTY build is supported — see INSTALL.md § Windows. WSL2 remains an alternative.

Day-to-day usage: how-to-use.md.

---

Configuration

Orbit watches config changes and reloads automatically — no restart required.

font = "JetBrains Mono"
font_size = 14
theme = "Orbit Dark"
opacity = 0.95
cursor = "beam"
padding = 10

Workspaces live in ~/.config/orbit/workspaces/<name>.toml.

---

Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Shift+H	Home screen
Ctrl+Shift+P	Command palette
Ctrl+Shift+T	New tab
Ctrl+Shift+W	Close tab
Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab	Next / previous tab
Ctrl+Shift+] / [	Next / previous tab
Ctrl+Shift+D	Split horizontal
Ctrl+Shift+E	Split vertical
Ctrl+PageDown	Focus next pane
Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+F	Search terminal or workspace files
Cmd+C / Cmd+V	Copy / paste (macOS)
Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V	Copy (when selected) / paste (Windows/Linux)
Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+C / V	Copy / paste (all platforms)
Right-click	Copy / Paste context menu
Ctrl/Cmd+= / - / 0	Font larger / smaller / reset
Ctrl+Shift+O	Open folder as workspace
Ctrl+Shift+S	Save layout as workspace
Drag + release	Select text (copies on release)
Scroll / PageUp/Down	Scrollback

Palette commands include New Tab, Split Right/Down, Open Workspace, Load Saved Workspace, Save Workspace, SSH, Theme, Font size, Settings, Reload Config/Plugins, and anything plugins contribute.

---

Plugins

Install by copying a folder with plugin.toml into ~/.config/orbit/plugins/<name>/:

cp -R assets/plugins/* ~/.config/orbit/plugins/
# or: home → Plugins → I

Then R in the Plugins panel (or restart). Commands and themes show up in the palette.

Customize shortcuts in any plugin.toml:

shortcut = "ctrl+shift+g"
# or
[[bindings]]

Start with the bundled keys plugin → assets/plugins/README.md.

---

Tech stack

Layer	Choice
Language	Zig
Graphics	OpenGL (WebGPU later)
Windowing	GLFW
Fonts	SF Mono via stb_truetype
Shell I/O	POSIX PTY · Windows ConPTY
Configuration	TOML
Testing	zig build test
Security	zig build security-scan (CI on every PR)
Build	Zig Build

Why Zig? Tiny binaries, excellent C interop, explicit memory management, strong performance and cross-compilation — built for systems work.

---

Architecture

Every layer is isolated:

Application → Window → Input → PTY → ANSI Parser → Screen Buffer → Renderer → GPU

Module	Responsibilities
Window	Create/resize, clipboard, DPI, cursor, monitor
PTY	Shell I/O & resize (Linux, macOS, Windows)
ANSI Parser	CSI, OSC, SGR, DEC, DCS, UTF-8
Screen Buffer	Cells, attributes, hyperlinks, dirty flags
Renderer	Glyph cache, atlas, vertices; dirty cells only
Input	Keyboard, mouse, clipboard, shortcuts, IME
Configuration	config.toml with automatic reload

Window → Renderer → Glyph Cache → Vertex Buffer → GPU → Screen

---

Performance targets

Metric	Target
Startup	< 50ms
Idle memory	< 30MB
Input latency	< 5ms
Frame rate	144+ FPS

---

Platforms

Platform	Shell backend
Linux	Native PTY
macOS	Native PTY
Windows	ConPTY

One shared PTY interface across platforms.

---

Roadmap

Version	Milestone
v0.1 – v0.5	Terminal → ANSI → themes → tabs → splits
v0.6	Workspaces
v0.7	Plugins
v0.8	Search
v0.9	Performance
v1.0	Stable release

Later ideas: SSH manager, cloud sync, workspace sharing, remote development, session recording, image protocol, GPU effects, multi-cursor, terminal replay, command timeline.

See roamap.md for full phase detail · CHANGELOG.md for shipped changes.

---

Repository layout

src/          app, renderer, parser, terminal, workspace, config,
              platform, window, pty, font, clipboard, ui, plugins, tests
assets/       icons, config example, plugins, shell hooks
scripts/      setup, launch, macOS bundle, version bump
build.zig

---

Contributing

Bug fixes, tests, docs, plugins, and features that fit Orbit’s design principles are welcome.

→ CONTRIBUTING.md — setup, coding standards, tests, commits, and PRs.

Architecture feedback and roadmap discussion: roamap.md.

---

License

Orbit is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Copyright 2026 Mark Sikaundi

You may use, modify, and distribute Orbit for open source or commercial purposes under Apache 2.0. Contributions are licensed under the same terms unless stated otherwise. See NOTICE for attribution.

---

Orbit — Stay in the flow.