
(Full Interview) Creator of Kitty Terminal and Calibre | Kovid Goyal
Discover the world of open source development with Kovid, the mastermind behind the Kitty Terminal and Calibre. Gain insights into terminal protocols, open-source strategies, and the future of software design. Perfect for developers and tech enthusiasts!
Link to the video:
https://youtu.be/8PYLPC3dzWQ
What's the best way to support me?
https://linkarzu.com/about/#youre-a-fraud-why-do-you-ask-for-money-isnt-youtube-ads-enough
Timeline:
00:00 Highlights
02:30 Kovid's background and History on Calibre and Kitty
08:47 From Physics to Full-Time Development
09:50 The Birth of Kitty Terminal
12:15 Innovating Terminal Features
17:35 Addressing Keyboard Handling Issues
20:08 Text Sizing Protocol Innovations
23:27 Adoption of the Kitty Graphics Protocol
26:41 Out-of-the-Box Use Cases
29:16 Introducing the kitty panel
30:01 Quick Access Kitten: A New Feature
31:01 Revolutionizing File Open Dialogs
32:19 Understanding Calibre: An E-Book Management Tool
35:01 Calibre’s Versatile Features
38:10 Fetching News with Calibre
39:00 Kovid is proud of his Daughter using Calibre
40:00 Seamless Kindle Integration, how to send books
42:36 Community Feedback and Accessibility
44:18 Navigating Legal Waters with Calibre
44:40 Why Python for kitty and not wear the high striped socks and go for rust
49:43 Performance Insights and User Experience
51:02 Community-Driven Development
52:45 Thoughts on TMUX, the Drawbacks of Terminal Multiplexers
59:14 Reimagining Multiplexers
01:00:35 How Tmux is useful for managing sessions and kitty's alternative (kitty remote API)
01:05:15 Building Custom Workflows with Kitty
01:07:02 Compatibility with Terminal Multiplexers
01:10:02 The Role of Sessions in Terminal Usage
01:12:39 Cursor Animations and User Contributions
01:15:02 Personal Development Setup and Preferences
01:19:01 Living Off Open Source
Information
- Show
- Published15 September 2025 at 15:43 UTC
- Length1h 26m
- Season1
- Episode21
- RatingClean