Sonic the Hedgehog
RetroArch
Ghostty·macOS
Native graphics,
embedded in your terminal.I heard you like terminal emulators,
so I put emulators in your terminal.I heard you like terminal emulators,
so I put emulators in your terminal. Meow.
An LD_PRELOAD shim that hooks SDL2, OpenGL, Vulkan and gamescope — and forwards the frames to the kitty graphics protocol. For Linux and Mac.An LD_PRELOAD shim that hooks SDL2, OpenGL, Vulkan and gamescope — and walks them across the bridge into your terminal via the kitty graphics protocol. For Linux and Mac.A purr-loaded shim that catches frames by the scruff — SDL2, OpenGL, Vulkan, gamescope alike — and trots them across the Katzensteg into your terminal via the kitty graphics protocol. For Linux and Mac.
drop in via
LD_PRELOAD / DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES · input redirection (keyboard + mouse) 01 see_it_run.md
See it run
Sorted by where in the stack we hook. Pick an API on the left.
The original target. Drawing and frame capture for SDL2 itself — plus the OpenGL and Vulkan contexts the app uses.
02 how_it_works.md
How it works
Working examples → graphics APIs → katzensteg → kitty graphics protocol → your terminal.
03 what_it_runs.md
What it runs
A growing list. Drop in via LD_PRELOAD or DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES.
✓ works.txt
What's running todayAlready crossing the bridgeCats already across
- ✓ RetroArch three backends, one frontend
- 2D · SDL2 Genesis Plus GX (Sonic), snes9x (Mega Man X)
- OpenGL melonDS (Ridge Racer DS)
- Vulkan Flycast (Jet Set Radio), Beetle PSX (Spyro)
- ✓ ScummVM Monkey Island 2 et al.
- ✓ Cannonball OutRun engine
- ✓ 0 A.D. standalone SDL2 + OpenGL
- ✓ gamescope (nested) Steam · UE5 · custom engines
- ✓ Moonlight GameStream — Pragmata from CachyOS host
- ✓ Chiaki-ng PS5 Remote Play — Death Stranding 2
- ✓ ffplay plain video — yt-dlp piped into the terminal
- ✓ Input redirect keyboard + mouse straight into the game
⌨ tested-on.txt
Tested terminalsTerminals that speak fluent kittyTerminals that purr
- ✓ Kitty reference
- ✓ Ghostty native graphics
- ✓ WezTerm graphics enabled
- ✓ iTerm2 macOS
- ⎇ Zellij (fork) graphics in panes — multiple games at once