Rendering complex scripts in terminal and OSC 66
As a programmer, I spend most of my time in a terminal application like Kitty. I
use Neovim as my code editor. I use CLI based AI agents. But the biggest pain,
even in 2026, is that there is no terminal that can render complex scripts like Indic
languages or Arabic. This is a significant limitation for me, as most of my work
involves language processing.
In this article, I will give a brief overview of why this issue remains
unsolved—covering the character-cell grid model, width measurement, and the
distinction between text shaping and rendering—along with ongoing efforts and a
small tool I built recently that illustrates a solution path.
use Neovim as my code editor. I use CLI based AI agents. But the biggest pain,
even in 2026, is that there is no terminal that can render complex scripts like Indic
languages or Arabic. This is a significant limitation for me, as most of my work
involves language processing.
In this article, I will give a brief overview of why this issue remains
unsolved—covering the character-cell grid model, width measurement, and the
distinction between text shaping and rendering—along with ongoing efforts and a
small tool I built recently that illustrates a solution path.
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