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Tune effects and appearance

Effects change how the terminal is rendered after xterm.js draws text. Use them for style, atmosphere, or experiments, but keep readability first.

Open effect settings

Open Settings and choose Effects. The main effect areas are:

  • HSync warp
  • Pure Noise
  • Shader Lab
  • generated shader variants, when available

Effects apply to visible terminal panes. Some effects use WebGL and may fall back or stop if the graphics context is unavailable.

Use HSync warp

HSync warp shifts terminal rows in a wave pattern. It can create an analog display feel without changing the text stored in the terminal.

Controls include:

  • enable or disable
  • maximum shift
  • wave period
  • scroll speed
  • GPU renderer preference
  • debug view

Turn it down or off if text becomes tiring to read.

Use Pure Noise

Pure Noise draws a pixel noise overlay above the workspace. It can stay low while you are active and ramp up after the terminal has been idle.

Controls include:

  • amount
  • brightness range
  • resolution
  • frame rate
  • idle delay
  • idle target amount
  • ramp duration

Use lower values for daily work. Higher values are better for screenshots, demos, or a stylized workspace.

Use Shader Lab

Shader Lab applies a fragment shader to the rendered terminal image. It can affect the focused pane only or all visible panes.

Shader Lab includes built-in presets and a source editor. The editor compiles the draft before applying it, so broken shader text should not replace the live effect.

Common uses include:

  • text thinning
  • phosphor or CRT-style looks
  • bloom
  • ripple or distortion
  • subtle color treatment
  • passthrough for testing

Save custom shaders

Saved shaders belong to the active profile. Use this when you want a workspace to keep its own effect library.

If Vibe Code Shaders is available, you can describe the effect you want and generate variants. Load a variant into Shader Lab, review it, then save it if it works.

Debug rendering

The postprocess debug panel helps when an effect looks blank or distorted. It can show the source, composite, or final view.

This is mainly for troubleshooting. For normal use, leave the debug panel off.