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Hide cursor (DECTCEM)
Category: cursor · Baseline: core · Tags: DEC Private Modes, VT510 · Specification ↗
ESC [ ? 25 lDECTCEM (DEC Text Cursor Enable Mode) controls cursor visibility. Hide cursor:
ESC [ ? 25 l. Show cursor: ESC [ ? 25 h. TUI applications typically hide the cursor during rendering to avoid flicker, then restore it at the final cursor position. Universally supported.How this is testedautomated
Send
Send
ESC [ ? 25 l (DECTCEM reset) and verify the cursor is no longer visible.The same probe runs against headless backends (via Termless) and real terminal apps (via a daemon launched in each terminal). This lets us distinguish parser correctness from rendering correctness.
Analysis2026-04-06
Supported by all 12 tested terminals — universal adoption. Part of the Core TUI baseline.
Supported by 13 of 14 backends (93%)
Terminal Applications
| Terminal | Version | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| iTerm2 | 3.6.9 | ✓ yes | |
| Ghostty | 1.3.1 | ✓ yes | |
| VS Code | ✓ yes | ||
| Warp | ✓ yes | ||
| Cursor | ✓ yes | ||
| Terminal.app | ✓ yes |
Headless Backends
Parser correctness only — a ✓ means the parser accepts the sequence.
| Backend | Version | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alacritty | 0.26.0 | ✓ yes | |
| Kitty | 0.40.0 | ✓ yes | |
| vt100.js | 0.2.1 | ✓ yes | |
| vterm | 0.2.0 | ✓ yes | |
| WezTerm | 0.1.0-fork.5 | ✓ yes | |
| xterm.js | 5.5.0 | ~ partial | Parser handles DECTCEM but headless mode doesn't expose visibility state |