Feature Request: Interactive Element Selection via Mouse Clicks

[deanhtid]

I'm requesting a feature that would allow users to interact with terminal output using mouse clicks to select and manipulate elements. This functionality is inspired by terminals like Warp, which provide a more visual and interactive experience compared to traditional terminals.

Currently, interacting with terminal output often involves manually copying and pasting text, using keyboard shortcuts, or relying on external tools. This can be cumbersome and inefficient, especially when dealing with complex output or large datasets.

The ability to click and select elements directly within the terminal would significantly improve the user experience by:

• Simplifying Data Extraction: Easily select and copy specific data points from tables, logs, or other structured output.
• Enhancing Command Execution: Click on file paths, URLs, or other command arguments to quickly execute related commands (e.g., opening a file in an editor, navigating to a directory).
• Improving Visual Navigation: Clickable elements could provide visual cues and shortcuts for navigating complex output structures.
• Streamlining Workflow: Reduce the need for manual text manipulation and external tools, leading to a more streamlined workflow.

Proposed Functionality:

• Clickable Elements: The terminal should automatically identify and highlight potential clickable elements in the output, such as:
  • File paths
  • URLs
  • IP addresses
  • Email addresses
  • Dates and times
  • Numbers
  • Words or phrases matching specific patterns (configurable by the user)
• Context Menu: Right-clicking on a selected element should display a context menu with relevant actions, such as:
  • Copy to clipboard
  • Open in default application (for files, URLs, etc.)
  • Execute a custom command (configurable by the user)
  • Search online
• Selection and Copying: Allow users to click and drag to select arbitrary text, similar to a standard text editor.
• Customization: Provide options to customize the appearance and behavior of clickable elements, such as:
  • Highlight color
  • Context menu actions
  • Element recognition patterns

Example Use Cases:

• Clicking on a file path in a log file to open it in a text editor.
• Clicking on a URL in the output of a curl command to open it in a web browser.
• Clicking on an IP address in the output of a ping command to perform a traceroute.
• Selecting a specific row in a table displayed in the terminal and copying it to a spreadsheet.

Potential Implementation Considerations:

• Accessibility: Ensure that the feature is accessible to users with disabilities, such as those who rely on screen readers.
• Performance: Optimize the element recognition and highlighting process to minimize performance impact.
• Configuration: Provide a flexible configuration system to allow users to customize the behavior of the feature to their specific needs.
• Integration: Consider how this feature could integrate with other terminal features, such as tab completion and command history.

Alternatives:

While tools like Warp offer similar functionality, they are often proprietary or platform-specific. Implementing this feature in an open-source terminal would provide a valuable alternative for users who prefer a more customizable and transparent solution.

Benefits:

This feature would significantly enhance the usability and productivity of the terminal, making it a more powerful and versatile tool for developers, system administrators, and other users who rely on the command line.

[rhodes-b]

there are already other discussions / issues for some of the things you are asking or they already exist

Clickable Elements: The terminal should automatically identify and highlight potential clickable elements in the output, such as:
File paths
URLs
IP addresses
Email addresses
Dates and times
Numbers
Words or phrases matching specific patterns (configurable by the user)

https://ghostty.org/docs/config/reference#link
this will allow someone to configure opening files in a editor links in a browser etc etc (note its not working yet)

Selection and Copying: Allow users to click and drag to select arbitrary text, similar to a standard text editor.

https://ghostty.org/docs/config/reference#copy-on-select
copy on select already exists, if you just mean selections in general this is also already supported. If you mean select and move the selection personally im not sure I find that very useful at all since you have a single line for a prompt and cannot and should not be able to just move stuff around in the scrollback

I would also recommend splitting your feature requests into more manageable "issues"

This is asking for many different features
ie two things I linked above

Customization: Provide options to customize the appearance and behavior of clickable elements, such as:
Highlight color
Context menu actions
Element recognition patterns

is also its own feature

[00-kat]

I've never used Warp, so I apologise if some of the following questions seem “dumb” or “ignorant”. I also attempted to not repeat Bruce's points too much, though there is some overlap.

Simplifying Data Extraction: Easily select and copy specific data points from tables, logs, or other structured output.

How would you deliminate tables (box drawing characters? Markdown table characters?) What is structured about logs other than that they are separate lines (which one can select with triple-click already)?

Enhancing Command Execution: Click on file paths, URLs, or other command arguments to quickly execute related commands (e.g., opening a file in an editor, navigating to a directory).

Relevant: #2394 #4379 #5303.

Improving Visual Navigation: Clickable elements could provide visual cues

Clickable Elements: The terminal should automatically identify and highlight potential clickable elements in the output [...]

As Bruce mentioned, this should be in a separate feature request. There was some discussion in #3903 but I don't know if it ever got moved to a discussion.

and shortcuts for navigating complex output structures.

Please elaborate on what “complex output structures” would entail for the more oblivious among us.

Streamlining Workflow: Reduce the need for manual text manipulation and external tools, leading to a more streamlined workflow.

“text manipulation” as in? Editing the scrollback? Changing and re-executing a previous prompt¹?

Selection and Copying: Allow users to click and drag to select arbitrary text, similar to a standard text editor.

Well you already can click and drag to select arbitrary text...

Customization: Provide options to customize the appearance and behavior of clickable elements, such as:

• Highlight color

Do you mean the colour of the underline on hyperlinks that is currently present?

• Element recognition patterns

#4379.

And once again, to reiterate on what Bruce said: this is a lot of feature requests with a similar theme and should likely be split up into multiple so that they're more managable and not just forgotten in the sea of other discussions due to the incredibly large scope. This could perhaps be done if this were to be moved to an issue though.

And also, though it wasn't mentioned in the post, it is currently possible to select the output of the last command (if one has shell integration enabled) with ctrl/cmd+triple-click (see also: #3848).

Footnotes

1. This would either need support from the shell, since Ghostty doesn't have “cells” and an “input pane” like in Warp; related: Allow terminal input pane to be pinned to top #3444. ↩