Spliterma

A simple GTK4 + VTE tiling terminal for Linux.
Split panes horizontally/vertically, color-code each pane, rename titles, and Save/Load layouts as JSON. Each terminal restores its working directory and color.

Built with Rust, gtk4, and vte4.

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Features

• Split Horizontal / Vertical
• Rename a pane: double-click the title
• Change pane color: click the colored dot in the title bar
• Right-click a terminal for the context menu (Split, Save, Load, Stop)
• Save layout to JSON / Load layout from JSON
• Remembers working directory per terminal (VTE OSC 7)
• Copy/Paste: Ctrl+Shift+C / Ctrl+Shift+V
• Menu shortcuts:
  • Ctrl+S – Save Layout
  • Ctrl+O – Load Layout

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Requirements

Rust

# If you don't have Rust yet
curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh
source "$HOME/.cargo/env"

System packages

Fedora

sudo dnf install -y gtk4-devel vte291-devel glib2-devel pkgconf-pkg-config ImageMagick vte-profile

Ubuntu/Debian

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y libgtk-4-dev libvte-2.91-dev libglib2.0-dev pkg-config build-essential imagemagick

vte-profile (Fedora) or your distro’s VTE bash integration helps persist the live working directory.

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Build & Run

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/ymoraviadev-droid/spliterma.git
cd spliterma

# Debug build
cargo run

# Release build
cargo build --release
./target/release/spliterma

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Usage

• Double-click the title to rename the terminal.
• Click the color dot in the title bar to change the pane color.
• Right-click inside a terminal for the context menu:
  • Split Horizontal / Vertical
  • Save Layout / Load Layout
  • Stop Terminal
• Ctrl+Shift+C to copy selection, Ctrl+Shift+V to paste.
• Ctrl+S / Ctrl+O via the app menu.

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Layout JSON (example)

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "root": {
    "name": "Split",
    "color_index": 0,
    "working_dir": "",
    "split_type": "Horizontal",
    "children": [
      {
        "name": "Terminal 1",
        "color_index": 0,
        "working_dir": "/home/you",
        "split_type": null,
        "children": []
      },
      {
        "name": "Backend",
        "color_index": 6,
        "working_dir": "/home/you/projects/api",
        "split_type": null,
        "children": []
      }
    ]
  }
}

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App Icon (transparent PNG)

You already have a helper script in the repo.

# Put a transparent PNG at project root called: spliterma.png
# Then generate and install sizes locally:
./make_app_icon.sh

(Optional) Desktop launcher for local builds:

# ~/.local/share/applications/com.spliterma.app.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Spliterma
Exec=/full/path/to/your/binary
Icon=com.spliterma.app
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Categories=Utility;Development;
StartupWMClass=com.spliterma.app

Ensure your code uses this app id:

let app = gtk::Application::builder()
    .application_id("com.spliterma.app")
    .build();

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Project layout (simplified)

src/
  main.rs
  app.rs
  constants.rs
  ui/
    mod.rs
    terminal.rs      # terminal widget + title + color picker + context menu
    split.rs         # split/stop/replace logic
  layout/
    mod.rs
    types.rs         # TerminalLayout / SplitType / SavedLayout
    extract.rs       # extract GTK tree -> TerminalLayout (save)
    persist.rs       # save/load JSON, build layout (load)
  util/
    mod.rs
    errors.rs        # error dialog helper
    ids.rs           # AtomicUsize terminal counter

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Notes

• Working directory persistence uses VTE’s OSC 7. On Fedora install vte-profile. On other distros, ensure your shell sources the VTE integration that ships with VTE.
• If the icon doesn’t show immediately in launchers, log out/in or restart the shell once.

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License

MIT

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Author

Yehonatan Moravia
yehonatan.dev@gmail.com