Konsole, the terminal that has quietly served KDE users for nearly thirty years, is now being asked to share the stage with a newcomer. KDE developer Eike Hein has unveiled Kwi, an experimental terminal that trades Konsole's older CPU-bound drawing method for the graphics processor, and that bet on a different foundation reflects a familiar pattern in software: the old tools persist while the tools beneath them change. Whether Kwi becomes a successor, a companion, or a building block for other applications remains an open question that time, rather than announcement, will answer.
KDE Developer Unveils Kwi, an Experimental GPU-Accelerated Terminal Built on Ghostty's Library
"An experiment and a proposal," not a Konsole killer
Mark
Why does a nearly thirty-year-old terminal need a rival at all?
Mimi
Because of how it draws. Konsole uses QWidget, which renders on the CPU, while newer KDE software uses Qt Quick with GPU acceleration through Vulkan or OpenGL.
Mark
And Kwi takes the GPU route?
Mimi
Yes, and it pairs that with libghostty-vt from the Ghostty project, which handles program output and tracks what belongs on screen.
Luke
The headline number is 3 to 35 times faster. Who measured that?
Mimi
Eike Hein, the developer, who says it depends on the benchmark.
Luke
Then it's one source's claim, and a very wide range. We don't know which tasks sit at 3 and which at 35, or whether anyone independent has tested it.
Mark
What else makes it interesting beyond speed?
Mimi
Embedding. Other Qt Quick apps can import its module, which newer KDE apps can't easily do with Konsole without workarounds.
Luke
Worth remembering Hein calls it an experiment and a proposal. It's buggy and has no v0.1.0 tag yet.
Mark
So not a Konsole replacement yet?
Mimi
No. It may run beside Konsole, or perhaps eventually instead of it, but that's undecided.
O Pulso
- A developer's claim of up to 35 times faster rendering than Konsole has drawn attention, though the range is wide and the figures come from the developer's own benchmarks.
- Konsole still draws on the CPU through QWidget while newer KDE software moves to Qt Quick, creating a quiet gap between what is possible and what is in use.
- Kwi pairs GPU rendering with the libghostty-vt library to handle program output, betting that modern terminal features will matter to users.
- Kwi is still buggy and has no tagged v0.1.0 release, so it is not yet a Konsole replacement, and the coming months will show whether it becomes a usable embeddable component.
Konsole, the terminal that has quietly served KDE users for nearly thirty years, is now being asked to share the stage with a newcomer. KDE developer Eike Hein has unveiled Kwi, an experimental terminal that trades Konsole's older CPU-bound drawing method for the graphics processor, and that bet on a different foundation reflects a familiar pattern in software: the old tools persist while the tools beneath them change. Whether Kwi becomes a successor, a companion, or a building block for other applications remains an open question that time, rather than announcement, will answer.
Konsole, the terminal emulator that ships with KDE, is almost thirty years old. That fact surprised the XDA writer covering this story, who has been in the Linux world for only about a year and a half. Now KDE developer Eike Hein has announced a newer take on the same job, called Kwi.
The name comes from the Korean word for ghost, "kwisin," and it is pronounced "Kwee." The app's icon is a small ghost, a playful choice for a project that is still finding its shape.
The technical argument starts with how Konsole draws. According to Hein, Konsole relies on the CPU through QWidget, while newer KDE software has moved to Qt Quick, which can use the graphics processor for drawing. Kwi is built on that newer foundation, and Hein claims it runs between 3 and 35 times faster than Konsole, depending on the benchmark. The range is wide, and the numbers are the developer's own.
Kwi also pairs its rendering with libghostty-vt, a library from the Ghostty project that handles a program's output and tracks what should appear on screen. Hein is not presenting Kwi as a Konsole killer. He calls it "an experiment and a proposal," and he hopes people may come to want it. It is still buggy and has no tagged release yet, so XDA considers it premature to crown it a replacement. It may run alongside Konsole, or perhaps instead of it.
The quieter promise is for other developers. Qt Quick apps could import Kwi's module and embed a terminal directly, something newer KDE apps cannot easily do while Konsole stays on QWidget. What to watch is whether Kwi grows into a dependable terminal and component, and whether its speed holds up beyond the developer's own tests.
Konsole, the terminal emulator that ships with KDE, is almost thirty years old. That fact surprised the XDA writer covering this story, who has spent only about a year and a half in the Linux world. Now a KDE developer has announced a newer take on the same job, called Kwi.
The announcement came on the KDE Blog from developer Eike Hein, who describes Kwi as a fresh KDE terminal emulator. The name comes from the Korean word for ghost, "kwisin" (귀신), and is pronounced "Kwee." The app's icon is a small ghost.
The technical case starts with how Konsole draws. According to Hein, Konsole relies on QWidget for rendering, a CPU-based approach. Newer KDE software has moved to Qt Quick, which can use Vulkan or OpenGL to accelerate drawing on the GPU. The technology exists, but Konsole does not use it yet.
Kwi is built on Qt Quick, and Hein claims that makes it between 3 and 35 times faster than Konsole, depending on what is being benchmarked. That figure is the developer's own claim, and the range is wide. The GPU drawing is paired with libghostty-vt, a library from the Ghostty project. It handles a program's output and tracks what should appear on screen. Hein says the library is ahead of other terminals on modern features, and notes it is already used in Neovim and Ghostel.
The Qt Quick foundation also matters for other developers. Other Qt Quick apps can import Kwi's module and embed the terminal directly. Because Konsole remains on QWidget, newer KDE apps cannot do the same without workarounds. XDA's writer calls that a large benefit for developers.
Hein is not presenting Kwi as a Konsole killer. He describes it as "an experiment and a proposal," with the hope that people may come to want to use it. It is still buggy and has not yet received a tagged v0.1.0 release, so XDA considers it unfair to crown it Konsole's replacement. It might end up running alongside Konsole, or perhaps instead of it.
What to watch is whether Kwi matures into a usable terminal and a dependable embeddable component for Qt Quick apps, and whether the speed claims hold up beyond the developer's own benchmarks.
Citações Notáveis
Kwi is an experiment and a proposal.— Eike Hein, KDE developer, as described by XDA
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