ptyxis1
A container-oriented terminal
Usage
ptyxis [OPTION] ...
[--
PROGRAM
ARGUMENTS]
Overview
ptyxis is a container-oriented terminal, designed for the GNOME desktop. It provides tight integration with podman, toolbox, distrobox, and jhbuild to simplify container-based development and system management.
-
--version -
Show the version of the program.
-
--preferences -
Show the preferences window.
-
--new-window -
Open a new window in an existing instance of Ptyxis. If Ptyxis is not running, a new instance is started.
May be combined with
--working-directoryand--executeand--titleoptions.
-
--tab -
Open a new tab in the most-recently-used window of an existing Ptyxis instance. If Ptyxis is not running, a new instance is started.
May be combined with
--working-directoryand--executeand--titleoptions.
-
-x, --execute -
Execute a custom command.
This is similar to using
--to provide the custom command except that the entire command line should be provided as a single argument.In general, you should use
--instead of this option. This is primarily available to be similar to bash -c 'command'May be combined with
--working-directoryand--titleoptions.
-
-d, --working-directory -
Set the current working directory for a new tab [--tab], window [--window], or custom command [-- COMMAND...].
-
--title=TITLE -
Sets the title for a new terminal page created with either --tab or --new-window.
-
--maximize -
Maximize a newly created window.
-
--fullscreen -
Fullscreen a newly created window.
-
--tab-with-profile=PROFILE -
Creates a new tab in an existing instance using the specified profile. The profile should be a UUID string which can be found in the profile editor of the preferences dialog.
-
-s, --standalone -
Start a new instance of Ptyxis, in single instance mode, ignoring any instances already running.
Single instance mode is implied when running a
--command.
-
-s, --gapplication-app-id=ID -
Override the application ID in single instance mode.
-
-h, --help -
Show a summary of options.
- Other standard GNOME options not listed here are also supported.
Palette files
Ptyxis supports custom color palettes defined in INI-style files with a .palette extension. Palette files can be placed in ~/.local/share/org.gnome.Ptyxis/palettes/ to be available in the palette selector.
Palette files use the GKeyFile format (similar to INI files) and must contain at minimum a [Palette] section with a Name key. The palette can define colors in two ways:
- Single Scheme
-
If neither
[Light]nor[Dark]sections are present, color keys may be placed directly in the[Palette]section. The same colors will be used for both light and dark themes, with Ptyxis automatically determining which theme to use based on the system color scheme.
- Dual Scheme
-
If both
[Light]and[Dark]sections are present, each section defines colors for its respective theme. Both sections must contain the same required color keys.
The [Palette] section supports the following keys:
Name-
(Required) The display name of the palette as shown in the palette selector.
Primary-
(Optional) Boolean value (true/false). If set to true, marks this palette to be included in the initial set of palettes shown to the user. This is generally used for a limited set of palettes shipped with Ptyxis.
UseSystemAccent-
(Optional) Boolean value (true/false). If set to true, the palette will use the system accent color.
Each color scheme section ( [Palette] , [Light] , or [Dark] ) must contain the following required color keys:
Foreground-
Text foreground color.
Background-
Terminal background color.
Color0-
through
Color15The 16 standard terminal colors (0-7 are normal colors, 8-15 are bright colors).
The following color keys are optional and will use computed defaults if omitted:
Cursor-
or
CursorBackgroundCursor background color. If not specified, defaults to the foreground color.
CursorForeground-
Cursor foreground color.
TitlebarBackground-
Titlebar background color. Defaults to a shaded version of the background.
TitlebarForeground-
Titlebar foreground color. Defaults to a shaded version of the foreground.
BellForeground-
Visual bell foreground color. Defaults to the titlebar foreground color.
BellBackground-
Visual bell background color. Defaults to a mix of Color11 and titlebar background.
SuperuserForeground-
Foreground color when running as superuser. Defaults to a shaded version of the titlebar foreground.
SuperuserBackground-
Background color when running as superuser. Defaults to a mix of Color1 and the background.
RemoteForeground-
Foreground color when connected remotely. Defaults to a shaded version of the titlebar foreground.
RemoteBackground-
Background color when connected remotely. Defaults to a mix of Color12 and the background.
All color values must be specified in hexadecimal format, either as #RRGGBB or #RRGGBBAA (with optional alpha channel). For example: #ffffff (white) or #000000ff (black with full opacity).
Example palette file:
[Palette] Name=My Custom Palette [Light] Foreground=#000000 Background=#ffffff Color0=#000000 Color1=#cc0000 Color2=#00cc00 Color3=#cccc00 Color4=#0000cc Color5=#cc00cc Color6=#00cccc Color7=#cccccc Color8=#808080 Color9=#ff0000 Color10=#00ff00 Color11=#ffff00 Color12=#0000ff Color13=#ff00ff Color14=#00ffff Color15=#ffffff [Dark] Foreground=#ffffff Background=#000000 Color0=#000000 Color1=#cc0000 Color2=#00cc00 Color3=#cccc00 Color4=#0000cc Color5=#cc00cc Color6=#00cccc Color7=#cccccc Color8=#808080 Color9=#ff0000 Color10=#00ff00 Color11=#ffff00 Color12=#0000ff Color13=#ff00ff Color14=#00ffff Color15=#ffffff
Releases
2 releases since Debian 13 (Trixie); the text changed 1 time.
--fullscreen since Arch Linux 2026-11-01;
--gapplication-app-id since Arch Linux 2026-11-01.