vercel/hyper

Hyper — an Electron-based terminal built on HTML/CSS/JS. Designed for extensibility via npm plugins.

What it is

A TypeScript / Electron terminal emulator authored at Vercel (then Zeit). Built around the premise "what if terminal customization was as easy as npm install". Each user's config file is JS; plugins install via hyper i plugin-name. Trades raw performance for extensibility — Hyper is heavier than native terminals but easier to theme and modify.

Key features

Plugin system via npm.
Theme via hyper.js config.
Cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux).
xterm.js as the terminal engine.
MIT-licensed.

Tech stack

TypeScript primary.
Electron + xterm.js.

When to reach for it

You want terminal customization via npm + JS config.
You're already in the Vercel / Next ecosystem and want matching tooling.

When not to reach for it

You want maximum performance — Alacritty, WezTerm, Ghostty are faster.
You want a lightweight terminal — Hyper is Electron-based, ships ~150MB.

Maturity signal

Maintenance pace has slowed since the early peak; competing terminals (Warp, Ghostty, Alacritty) have taken focus.

Alternatives

Alacritty / Kitty / WezTerm / Ghostty for performance.
iTerm2 (macOS) / Windows Terminal — platform-native.

Wiki: vercel/hyper