Make yourself at home.

Pick a shell

Kitsu is the terminal window around your shell. Use the shell you already work with:

# PowerShell 7, if installed
kitsu pwsh.exe

# Windows PowerShell
kitsu powershell.exe

# Classic Command Prompt
kitsu cmd.exe

Kitsu uses ConPTY to connect Windows shell processes to its native Win32 windows. Shells still need to be installed on your machine; Kitsu does not install PowerShell 7 for you.

For scripts that need to wait for a Kitsu command and receive its output, use the console shim, kitsu.com. The GUI launcher, kitsu.exe, opens without an additional console window.

WSL

Kitsu can host a Windows Subsystem for Linux session. Install WSL and your preferred Linux distribution first, then launch it through Kitsu:

kitsu wsl.exe

For a particular installed distribution, pass its name to WSL:

# Replace Ubuntu with a name from wsl --list
kitsu wsl.exe -d Ubuntu

Set up the Linux kitten helper

Use the Kitsu installer’s WSL task, or run this command from cmd or PowerShell after an installer-managed installation:

kitsu +wsl-setup

Inside the Linux distribution, use the bundled Linux kitten helper. Don’t substitute the Windows kitten.exe. The Linux helper is shipped through the installer, not as a separate release download.

For example, after setup, run inside WSL:

kitten --version

If setup does not work as expected, see WSL troubleshooting.

Configuration

Kitsu keeps Kitty’s configuration names for compatibility. The default Windows configuration is:

%APPDATA%\kitty\kitty.conf

In PowerShell, you can create the directory and open the file with:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$env:APPDATA\kitty"
notepad "$env:APPDATA\kitty\kitty.conf"

If you set KITTY_CONFIG_DIRECTORY, Kitsu uses that directory instead. Configuration belongs in kitty.conf, not kitsu.conf.

A small starting point

Paste these settings into kitty.conf, adjust them to your taste, and open a new Kitsu window:

font_family Cascadia Mono
font_size 12.0
window_padding_width 12
cursor_shape beam
scrollback_lines 10000
enabled_layouts splits,tall,stack

Choose a font installed on your machine. For the complete list of options, use the upstream Kitty configuration reference. Windows-specific behavior can differ; report Kitsu problems in the Kitsu issue tracker.

A fresh coat of paint

Try Kitty’s theme kitten from cmd or PowerShell:

kitsu +kitten themes

Explore kittens, tabs and layouts, and key bindings in the shared upstream documentation. When an example launches kitty, use kitsu on Windows.

Names that stay familiar

The kitty Python package, kitten command, KITTY_* environment variables, xterm-kitty terminfo, and terminal protocols retain their upstream names. Existing scripts and configurations can keep those names, and the Windows launchers retain kitty.exe and kitty.com aliases.

Need a hand? Check your installation →