Kitty terminal emulator 0.50 released with docked windows and session restore after logout

The popular terminal emulator Kitty has released version 0.50, introducing significant productivity-enhancing features centered around improved window management and session persistence. The headline addition is docked windows, which allows users to attach panels like status bars, file trees, or shell windows to the edges of other windows or tabs. These docks exist outside the standard layout and travel with their host window across tabs, closing automatically when the parent closes. Users can create docks via launch --type=window-dock or launch --type=tab-dock, and importantly, these configurations are preserved in saved sessions. Equally impactful is the new restore-after-logout capability, where Kitty can now save its complete state, including all OS windows, tabs, and scrollback history, when users log out or shut down their computer, restoring everything exactly as left upon next launch. On macOS specifically, this saved state receives encryption via the system keychain.

Beyond these flagship features, version 0.50 brings substantial improvements to workflow flexibility and platform compatibility. Tab management now supports workspace-like behavior with a --focus-existing option to activate existing windows rather than spawning duplicates, alongside alphabetical tab ordering options. Wayland support has been significantly enhanced, with client-side decorations that properly match GNOME styling conventions, plus full touchscreen support allowing taps, momentum scrolling, and text selection. The update also introduces visually striking cursor trail shaders inspired by Neovide, automatic color theme switching that respects both system light/dark mode transitions and application-set colors, and support for the Program Status Protocol enabling running programs to report their operational state to the terminal. Graphics protocol enhancements include indexed color formats that adapt to color scheme changes.