Kaku
A fast, out-of-the-box terminal built for AI coding.
Kaku (書く, かく) is the Japanese word for writing: the act of putting thought into form. A deeply customized fork of WezTerm, built for practical defaults on day one while keeping full Lua customization and a fast, lightweight feel.
Part of a trilogy: Kaku (書く) writes code, Waza (技) drills habits, Kami (紙) ships documents. Think of them as a family: Kaku is the dad, Waza the big sister, Kami the little sister.
- Zero Config: Defaults with JetBrains Mono, macOS font rendering, and low-res font sizing. - Theme-Aware Experience: Auto-switches between dark and light modes with macOS, with tuned selection colors, font weight, and practical color overrides support. - Curated Shell Suite: Built-in zsh plugins with optional CLI tools for prompt, diff, and navigation workflows. - Fast & Lightweight: 40% smaller binary, instant startup, lazy loading, stripped-down GPU-accelerated core. - WezTerm-Compatible Config: Use WezTerm's Lua config directly with full API compatibility and no migration. - Polished Defaults: Copy on select, clickable file paths, history peek from full-screen apps, pane input broadcast, and visual bell on background tab completion.
3 Reviews
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The typography and spacing are doing real work here. Text is crisp, the prompt has room to breathe, and nothing flickers. A terminal that respects visual design is rarer than it should be.
A terminal tuned for AI coding that does not get in my way is a small miracle. Startup is instant, the defaults are sane, and it never fought my muscle memory. This has become my daily shell.
Fast, out of the box, and pleasantly free of the configuration archaeology most terminals demand. It opened quicker than my old one and looked better doing it. I would still like more themes, because of course I would.