I have open-sourced a WebGL front-end for your terminal that emulates a CRT monitor

Source: Dev.to

Overview

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve open‑sourced cool‑retro‑term‑webgl, a modern WebGL‑based recreation of the beloved cool‑retro‑term terminal emulator!

For years, developers and retro‑computing enthusiasts have loved cool‑retro‑term by Filippo Scognamiglio (Swordfish90) — a Qt‑based terminal that perfectly mimics the look and feel of old cathode‑ray‑tube (CRT) monitors, complete with scanlines, glow, and nostalgic flicker.

I wanted to bring those authentic retro effects to the web and modern applications. The original is built in QML and C++, so I ported the shader magic to WebGL, making it usable in browsers, web apps, and even native desktop apps via Electron.

Features

• Screen curvature and distortion
• Phosphor glow and bloom
• Scanlines and rasterization
• RGB chromatic aberration
• Flicker, static noise, and burn‑in persistence
• Horizontal sync jitter

Packages (monorepo)

• cool‑retro‑term‑renderer – The core library for adding CRT effects to any XTerm.js instance.
• cool‑retro‑term‑electron – A full‑featured desktop terminal app built with Electron, supporting real shell processes via node-pty.

Demo & Download

• Live demo:
• Download the Mac binary: (link provided in the repository)

License & Repository

The project is licensed under GPL‑3.0, just like the original.

• Repository: