JetBrains Switches IDE Terminal Engine to libghostty to Boost AI Agent Compatibility
JetBrains replaces JediTerm with libghostty in its 2026.3 IDEs, resolving keyboard shortcut and display issues for AI coding agents like Claude Code and Codex.
Software developer JetBrains has announced that its Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) will switch their terminal emulation engine from JediTerm to libghostty, a library from the Ghostty project, starting with version 2026.3. This change aims to improve compatibility for command-line AI coding agents such as Claude Code and Codex, as well as tools like Neovim and tmux within the IDE.
As modern command-line tools adopt new terminal protocols, the legacy JediTerm lacked support, leading to broken keyboard shortcuts and character display anomalies. The new libghostty engine handles the parsing of terminal control sequences and state management, while JetBrains retains responsibility for rendering and IDE integration. A key improvement is the support for the Kitty keyboard protocol, allowing terminal programs to distinguish between Enter, Shift+Enter, and Ctrl+Enter, and to recognize key release and repeat events. This enables developers to use Shift+Enter for line breaks when inputting multi-line prompts to AI agents without prematurely sending incomplete content, and ensures complex shortcuts are correctly passed to the applications.
Additionally, the new engine correctly processes nearly 50 types of control sequences that JediTerm previously ignored or misinterpreted, significantly improving the display of Text User Interface (TUI) tools by fixing issues like missing line-drawing characters and incorrect color codes. The new terminal also supports theme synchronization, notifying compatible tools like Claude Code, OpenCode, Neovim, and tmux when the IDE switches between dark and light modes, allowing them to adjust their colors accordingly.
Although libghostty can already parse instructions for clipboard copying, desktop notifications, and image display, JetBrains has not yet completed the IDE-side integration for these features, so they remain unavailable in the new terminal for now. The new engine is enabled by default in the 2026.3 Early Access Program (EAP), with official statements confirming it will be included in subsequent beta and stable releases.