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Sixel support in DA1
DA1 (Primary Device Attributes) response includes attribute 4, indicating sixel graphics support. This is the standard way for applications to detect sixel capability — send CSI c, check if the response contains ;4; in the attribute list. More reliable than attempting to render a sixel image and checking if the cursor moved.
How this is testedautomated
Check if the DA1 response (
Check if the DA1 response (
CSI ? Ps ; Ps ; ... c) includes attribute 4, indicating sixel graphics support.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 3 of 12 terminals (25%). Part of the Rich TUI baseline.
Supported by 4 of 14 backends (29%)
Terminal Applications
| Terminal | Version | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| iTerm2 | 3.6.9 | ✓ yes | DA1 attrs: 64;1;2;4;6;17;18;21;22;52 |
| Ghostty | 1.3.1 | ✗ no | DA1 attrs: 62;22;52 (no sixel) |
| VS Code | ✗ no | ||
| Warp | ✗ no | ||
| Cursor | ✗ no | ||
| Terminal.app | ✗ no |
Headless Backends
Parser correctness only — a ✓ means the parser accepts the sequence.
| Backend | Version | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| vterm | 0.2.0 | ✓ yes | |
| WezTerm | 0.1.0-fork.5 | ~ partial | Sixel DA1 attribute not exposed in headless mode |
| Alacritty | 0.26.0 | ✗ no | Sixel not implemented in alacritty |
| Kitty | 0.40.0 | ✗ no | Sixel not supported by kitty — uses its own graphics protocol |
| vt100.js | 0.2.1 | ✗ no | Not implemented — pure TypeScript emulator |
| xterm.js | 5.5.0 | ✗ no | Sixel not implemented in xterm.js |