Category: extensions · Baseline: rich · Tags: Operating System Commands (OSC), Xterm Extensions · Specification ↗
ESC ] 8 ; params ; uri BEL
OSC 8 adds clickable hyperlinks to terminal output, similar to HTML anchor tags. The format is ESC ] 8 ; params ; uri ST to start a link and ESC ] 8 ; ; ST to end it. Text between these markers becomes a clickable hyperlink.
The params field supports an id=value parameter that groups non-contiguous text into a single link — essential for links that span multiple lines or are broken by line wrapping. When the user hovers over any part of a multi-segment link with the same id, all segments highlight together.
Terminals typically render hyperlinks with an underline and open them in the default browser on click or Ctrl+click. Tools like ls --hyperlink=auto, gcc, and grep can emit OSC 8 links to file paths and URLs. Widely adopted across modern terminals including Ghostty, iTerm2, WezTerm, GNOME Terminal, and Windows Terminal.
How this is testedautomated
Write an OSC 8 hyperlink (ESC ] 8 ; ; url BEL text ESC ] 8 ; ; BEL) and verify the link is rendered.
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.
Analysis2026-05-17
Supported by 11 of 12 terminals (92%). Not supported by: vt100.js. Part of the Rich TUI baseline. Notes: vt100.js: Not implemented — pure TypeScript emulator.
Supported by 12 of 14 backends (86%)
Terminal Applications
| Terminal | Version | Support | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| iTerm2 | 3.6.9 | ✓ yes | |
| Ghostty | 1.3.1 | ✓ yes | |
| VS Code | ✓ yes | ||
| Kitty | 0.46.2 | ✓ yes | |
| Warp | ✓ yes | ||
| Cursor | ✓ yes | ||
| Terminal.app | ✓ yes |