JetBrains IDEs are now powered by libghostty

Starting with the 2026.3 release, JetBrains IDEs replace their long-used JediTerm emulator with libghostty, the library behind the Ghostty terminal. The change responds to growing use of terminal-based AI coding agents, editors, dashboards, and other full-screen tools that rely on modern terminal protocols. Libghostty now parses terminal input and manages terminal state, while the IDE continues to render the display and provide its own integrations. JetBrains chose it for its performance, reliability, and broader protocol support.

The update improves keyboard handling, theme coordination, and the display of rich terminal output. Kitty keyboard protocol support lets tools distinguish combinations such as Enter and Shift+Enter, so multiline prompts and shortcuts work as intended; the terminal also follows IDE light and dark themes and notifies compatible programs when the theme changes. Libghostty supports nearly 50 sequences JediTerm mishandled or ignored, fixing broken repeated characters, malformed colors, and escape codes appearing as text, among other issues. Further capabilities - including clipboard access, desktop notifications, progress indicators, and terminal images - are parsed but not yet implemented on the IDE side, which JetBrains says should make them easier to add. The new engine is enabled by default in 2026.3 early-access builds, with a registry option to revert to JediTerm and a request for users to report problems.