zurm /zɜːrm/

noun — The low, satisfying hum of a terminal session where everything just works. A state of flow achieved when your shell config is finally dialed in.

verb — To move through command-line tasks with effortless speed. "I zurmed through the deploy in under a minute."

origin — Onomatopoeia. The sound a cursor makes if you really listen. A blend of zoom and whirr, with the grounding weight of firm.

zurm — feel the hum.

A GPU-rendered terminal emulator for macOS, written in Go.

A curiosity project: how far can vibe-coded development go when the target is a tool you actually use every day? zurm is the answer so far — a GPU-rendered terminal built entirely through AI-assisted coding, no prior Ebitengine or terminal emulator experience required. It handles everything I need from a terminal. The experiment is ongoing.

Bug tracker: https://github.com/studiowebux/zurm/issues
Discord: https://discord.gg/BG5Erm9fNv

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Download the latest release from https://github.com/studiowebux/zurm/releases

zurm-macos-arm64.dmg — .app bundle, drag to /Applications and launch normally.

zurm — raw binary, run directly from the terminal.

The app is not notarized yet. On first launch macOS Gatekeeper will block it. To allow it:

# For the .app bundle
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine zurm.app

# For the raw binary
xattr -d com.apple.quarantine zurm
chmod +x zurm

Or: right-click → Open → Open anyway.

git clone https://github.com/studiowebux/zurm
cd zurm
go build -o zurm .

./zurm
./zurm --no-restore   # skip session restore, open a single fresh tab
./zurm -ls            # list active zurm-server sessions
./zurm -a 7ff         # attach to a server session by short ID prefix

zurm can delegate PTY sessions to a background daemon (zurm-server) so they survive GUI restarts. This is opt-in per pane — local panes are never affected.

1. Build: make build && make build-server
2. Open zurm and press Cmd+Shift+B to create a server-backed tab
3. zurm-server auto-starts in the background (no manual setup)
4. Quit zurm, relaunch — the server pane reconnects with output preserved

zurm -ls              # list active sessions (ID, PID, size, dir)
zurm -a <id>          # attach by full or short ID (Docker-style prefix matching)

• zurm-server is a headless daemon that owns PTY sessions
• Each server pane connects over a Unix socket (~/.config/zurm/server.sock)
• Sessions persist after zurm closes; reattach restores from a 64KB output replay buffer
• Server auto-starts on first Cmd+Shift+B and stays alive in the background
• [SERVER] indicator appears in the status bar for server-backed panes
• If the server is unreachable, panes fall back to a local PTY silently

[server]
address = ""   # Unix socket path; empty = ~/.config/zurm/server.sock
binary  = ""   # zurm-server binary path; empty = next to zurm or PATH

Config file: ~/.config/zurm/config.toml — created automatically on first launch with all defaults.

A full annotated example is available at config.example.toml.

Shell hooks for command blocks (OSC 133) are installed via the command palette: Cmd+P → "Install shell hooks".

All keybindings are discoverable in-app via Cmd+/ (help overlay) or Cmd+P (command palette).

https://zurm.dev

zurm ships with JetBrains Mono embedded. For CJK characters, emoji, Nerd Font symbols, and braille, add fallback fonts to the [font] section in your config:

[font]
fallbacks = [
  "/Users/you/Library/Fonts/NotoSansMonoCJKsc-Regular.otf",
  "/Users/you/Library/Fonts/NotoEmoji-Regular.ttf",
  "/Users/you/Library/Fonts/SymbolsNerdFontMono-Regular.ttf",
  "/Users/you/Library/Fonts/NotoSansSymbols2-Regular.ttf",
]

Fonts are tried in order when a glyph is missing from the primary font. Download them once:

# CJK (~16 MB)
curl -sL "https://github.com/googlefonts/noto-cjk/raw/main/Sans/Mono/NotoSansMonoCJKsc-Regular.otf" \
  -o ~/Library/Fonts/NotoSansMonoCJKsc-Regular.otf

# Monochrome emoji (~2 MB)
curl -sL "https://github.com/google/fonts/raw/main/ofl/notoemoji/NotoEmoji%5Bwght%5D.ttf" \
  -o ~/Library/Fonts/NotoEmoji-Regular.ttf

# Nerd Font symbols (~2.4 MB)
curl -sL "https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/releases/download/v3.4.0/NerdFontsSymbolsOnly.tar.xz" \
  | tar xJ -C ~/Library/Fonts/ SymbolsNerdFontMono-Regular.ttf

# Braille + extra symbols (~1.2 MB)
curl -sL "https://github.com/google/fonts/raw/main/ofl/notosanssymbols2/NotoSansSymbols2-Regular.ttf" \
  -o ~/Library/Fonts/NotoSansSymbols2-Regular.ttf

Color emoji (Apple Color Emoji, Twemoji) are not supported — Ebitengine does not render color font formats. Monochrome emoji via Noto Emoji work fine.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a branch: git checkout -b feat/your-feature
3. Commit your changes
4. Open a pull request

Open an issue before starting significant work.

Font embedded in the binary:

MIT

Studio Webux
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