1# Terminal images
2
3[Back to the README](../README.md)
4
5vev-vt supports a subset of the Kitty graphics protocol for static images sent
6directly through terminal output, including the form used by:
7
8```sh
9kitten icat --transfer-mode=stream image.png
10```
11
12Your application reads the result through `Screen.GraphicsSnapshot()` and chooses
13how to display it. This library does not open a window.
14
15## Supported
16
17- PNG, RGB and RGBA images, with explicit resource limits.
18- Direct image transmission, display, placement, queries and supported deletion.
19- Chunked Base64 data, with optional zlib compression.
20- Cropping, cell-based placement, pixel offsets and z-index.
21- Movement and clipping as terminal rows scroll.
22
23Images are stored separately from text history. The `graphics` package contains
24the image model; `protocol/kittygraphics` reads Kitty commands and updates it.
25Graphics state is allocated only when a screen receives a graphics command.
26
27## Not supported
28
29File or shared-memory transfers, animation, image composition, relative
30placements and Unicode placeholders are not implemented. Image placements do
31not support resize reflow.
32
33## Inspect a capture without a display
34
35The development harness reads captured terminal bytes and writes a PNG:
36
37```sh
38go run ./cmd/graphics-harness \
39  -input internal/graphicsharness/testdata/demo.apc \
40  -output /tmp/graphics-harness.png \
41  -cols 4 -rows 4 -pixel-width 4 -pixel-height 4 -scale 64
42```
43
44The included example produces a blue background with a translucent red overlay.
45This harness is an inspection tool, not an interactive terminal emulator.