Opportunity

On macOS, Cmd+C, Cmd+V and Cmd+X are the copy and paste keys every VS Code user reaches for, and the terminal takes them before TuiCode sees them. iTerm2 (#39) and WezTerm (#49) are fixed: an integration in Settings → Terminal remaps them to keys TuiCode understands, but only while TuiCode is running. In every other terminal you select text, press Cmd+C, and the terminal copies its own selection, which knows nothing about TuiCode's. Nothing you selected gets copied.

Two more gaps turn up once you look closer, and they hit every terminal:

• Copy doesn't work over SSH. Copy goes through the platform clipboard (pbcopy, xclip, the Win32 API), checked by reading it back (Copy tells you what it copied, and tells you when it didn't #318, A copy the clipboard refuses lands anyway, through the system's own clipboard tool #319). On a remote host that's the remote machine's clipboard, or none, so the status bar reports that the copy failed. Terminal.Gui has no OSC 52, the escape sequence that lets a program set the local clipboard through the terminal. The vision asks for "comfortable over a slow SSH link".
• Paste over SSH pastes the wrong clipboard. Both integrations send Cmd+V as Ctrl+V, so TuiCode reads its own machine's clipboard: the remote one. The terminal's own paste would bring the right text, but TuiCode doesn't turn on bracketed paste, so pasted text arrives as typed keys. Newlines go through auto-indent, and a long paste becomes many undo steps.

Where each terminal stands:

Options considered

1. Per-terminal integrations only (kitty next, then whatever else can be done). Good: matches what already works for iTerm2 and WezTerm. Bad: does nothing for SSH, which affects every terminal, and only kitty can be done properly.
2. Fix the clipboard through the terminal, then extend integrations (chosen). Copy also sends OSC 52 and paste uses the terminal's bracketed paste, so copy and paste work over SSH in any terminal that supports them. Then add kitty, and say plainly what other terminals can't do. Good: helps every user, not just one terminal's. Bad: bracketed paste needs Terminal.Gui 2.4 or later (Move TuiCode to Terminal.Gui 2.5 and MentalDesk.Tui 0.2.0 #442).
3. Parse the Super modifier ourselves from kitty-protocol input, ahead of Terminal.Gui, and bind Cmd+C/V/X directly. Good: Ghostty and kitty would need little or no terminal config. Bad: we'd maintain a fork of TG's key decoding for one modifier, and it still doesn't help terminals that consume Cmd+C before encoding it.
4. Do nothing; document the Ctrl keys and the mnemonics. Good: free. Bad: the vision names this (Make native OS shortcuts (Cmd+C/V/X etc.) work across different terminal emulators #40) as a daily-driver gap, and copy over SSH stays broken.

Proposal

Copy and paste work in every recommended terminal, locally and over SSH, and where a terminal can't do Cmd keys, Settings says so.

1. Copy and cut also send OSC 52, alongside the platform clipboard. Over SSH the text lands on your laptop's clipboard. When the platform clipboard fails but OSC 52 was sent, the status bar says so honestly, since TuiCode can't read the result back.
2. kitty integration, like WezTerm's: TuiCode writes ~/.config/kitty/tuicode.conf with the same mappings, each gated on --when-focus-on var:TUICODE_ACTIVE=1, and tells you to add include tuicode.conf to kitty.conf.
3. Plain answers for the rest. On Ghostty, Alacritty and Terminal.app, the Terminal panel says what won't work and what to use instead, instead of "No integration available for this terminal yet". A tmux line explains set -g set-clipboard on for OSC 52.
4. Paste uses the terminal's own paste. TuiCode turns on bracketed paste, and a pasted block goes in as one paste: at every caret the same way Ctrl+V does today, with no auto-indent, and as one undo step. Terminal.Gui added this in 2.4 (tui-cs/Terminal.Gui#5277: a Paste event on the driver and application). TuiCode moves to 2.5 in Move TuiCode to Terminal.Gui 2.5 and MentalDesk.Tui 0.2.0 #442.
5. The iTerm2 and WezTerm integrations leave Cmd+V to the terminal (their version goes up, so Settings offers Update), so paste over SSH brings your laptop's clipboard.

Mockup

Status bar after Ctrl+C over SSH, where the remote host has no clipboard:

 Copied 3 lines (142 characters) through the terminal               Ln 12, Col 4

Settings → Terminal in kitty:

┌ Terminal ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Detected terminal: kitty                                      │
│                                                               │
│ Installs terminal config that maps macOS shortcuts            │
│ (Cmd+C/X/Z/A, Cmd+arrows, …) onto the key sequences           │
│ TuiCode understands.                                          │
│                                                               │
│ Status: Not installed                                         │
│                                                               │
│ [ Install ]                                                   │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

After Install (the same post-install text WezTerm shows):

│ Status: Installed                                             │
│                                                               │
│ Add this line to ~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf:                  │
│     include tuicode.conf                                      │
│ Then reload kitty's config (Ctrl+Cmd+,).                      │
│                                                               │
│ [ Reinstall ]  [ Remove ]                                     │

Settings → Terminal in Alacritty (Ghostty reads the same, with its own reason):

┌ Terminal ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Detected terminal: Alacritty                                  │
│                                                               │
│ Alacritty can't send Cmd+C/X to TuiCode without breaking      │
│ copy and paste in your shell, so TuiCode leaves them alone.   │
│                                                               │
│ Inside TuiCode, use Ctrl+C / Ctrl+X to copy and cut.          │
│ Cmd+V pastes as usual.                                        │
│                                                               │
│ For Cmd+C/X/Z, use iTerm2, WezTerm or kitty.                  │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

(Labels and Buttons, as the panel is now.)

Scope

In

• OSC 52 on copy and cut in the editor and the Find field, as well as the platform clipboard.
• A kitty integration (macOS), in the Settings panel and the --install-terminal-integration CLI.
• "Won't work, use this instead" text for Ghostty, Alacritty and Terminal.app, and a tmux note.
• Bracketed paste on (non-Windows drivers), with a pasted block inserted as one paste.
• iTerm2 and WezTerm integrations leave Cmd+V to the terminal (version bump).

Out

• Reading the clipboard with OSC 52. Most terminals refuse or prompt; bracketed paste covers paste.
• Decoding the Super modifier ourselves (option 3). Ghostty waits for Ghostty or Terminal.Gui to catch up.
• Linux and Windows terminals. Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V already reach the app there. Windows paste keeps arriving as typed keys: the windows driver reads Win32 console events, not VT input.
• Configuring tmux for the user.
• Terminals beyond the table (foot, Rio, …) until someone asks.

Rough breakdown

1. Copy over SSH. OSC 52 on every copy and cut, as well as the platform clipboard, and the status bar wording for it. Small and independent.
2. kitty integration, with tests on the generated config. Independent of 1.
3. "Won't work" text for Ghostty, Alacritty and Terminal.app, and the tmux line. Follows 2, since both touch the Terminal panel.
4. Paste as one paste. Handle Terminal.Gui 2.5's Paste event through the existing multi-caret paste, as one undo step with no auto-indent. Needs Move TuiCode to Terminal.Gui 2.5 and MentalDesk.Tui 0.2.0 #442, which moves TuiCode to 2.5 on its own.
5. Cmd+V left to the terminal in the iTerm2 and WezTerm integrations, with a version bump. Needs 4.

1, 2 and 4 can run in parallel.

Decided

• OSC 52 is sent always, not only over SSH (Lead). Simpler, and harmless locally. iTerm2 may show a clipboard-access notice unless Applications in terminal may access clipboard is ticked, so iTerm2's panel mentions that setting.
• Ghostty goes on the "won't work" list (Lead). Its pass-through arrives as Super+C, which Terminal.Gui can't see (2.1 or 2.5), and decoding it ourselves isn't worth a fork of TG's key parsing. Revisit when Ghostty gets per-program bindings.
• Use Terminal.Gui 2.5's paste, not parse bracketed paste ourselves on 2.1 (stakeholder). The upgrade itself, and the tests that pin TuiCode's reach into 2.1 internals, are Move TuiCode to Terminal.Gui 2.5 and MentalDesk.Tui 0.2.0 #442, its own change that alters nothing (stakeholder). The paste task depends on it.
• One pitch, not two (Lead). Copy and paste over SSH help every terminal; kitty and the "won't work" text are about Cmd keys. They're kept together because the integrations' Cmd+V change depends on paste, and the order above lets the small, safe slices land first.

Original idea