OSC 8

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Experimental

OSC 8 embeds clickable hyperlinks in terminal output, allowing text to link to URIs in much the same way HTML anchor tags work on the web.

Syntax

OSC 8 ; params ; uri ST   Start hyperlink
OSC 8 ; ; ST              End hyperlink

Formal syntax

OSC8_start = 0x1b, "]", "8", ";", params, ";", uri, ( 0x07 | 0x1b, "\\" ) ;
OSC8_end   = 0x1b, "]", "8", ";", ";", ( 0x07 | 0x1b, "\\" ) ;
params     = [ param, { ":", param } ] ;
param      = key, "=", value ;
key        = character, { character } ;
value      = character, { character } ;
uri        = character, { character } ;

Parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
params	Key-value pairs separated by colons (e.g., id=foo)	(empty)
uri	The target URI (e.g., https://example.com)	(required to start, empty to end)

The id parameter is the most commonly used. When multiple non-adjacent runs of text share the same id value, they are treated as a single logical hyperlink. This allows a long link to be split across wrapped lines and still highlight as one unit when hovered.

Description

Per the "Hyperlinks in Terminals" specification, OSC 8 creates inline hyperlinks in terminal output. The sequence works in pairs: an opening sequence specifies the URI and begins the hyperlinked region, and a closing sequence (with empty params and URI) ends it. All text emitted between the two sequences becomes clickable.

The hyperlink model is designed to be backward-compatible. Terminals that do not support OSC 8 simply display the text without the link, since the OSC sequences themselves produce no visible output.

Key design points:

• URI schemes — Any URI scheme is valid (https:, http:, file:, mailto:, ssh:, etc.)
• Hover behavior — Most terminals underline the link text and show the URI in a tooltip or status bar on hover
• Click behavior — Clicking typically opens the URI in the system's default handler
• Nesting — Hyperlinks cannot be nested; opening a new link implicitly closes any active one
• Line wrapping — The id parameter ensures that wrapped links remain a single hover/click target

note

The params field uses colons as delimiters between key-value pairs, not semicolons, to avoid ambiguity with the OSC parameter separator.

Examples

# Simple hyperlink
printf '\e]8;;https://example.com\e\\Click here\e]8;;\e\\'

# Hyperlink with id parameter for line-wrapping support
printf '\e]8;id=mylink;https://example.com\e\\This is a long link that may wrap\e]8;;\e\\'

# mailto link
printf '\e]8;;mailto:user@example.com\e\\Email us\e]8;;\e\\'

# File link
printf '\e]8;;file:///home/user/document.pdf\e\\Open document\e]8;;\e\\'

# Using BEL as terminator
printf '\e]8;;https://example.com\aLink text\e]8;;\a'

Specifications

Specification	Section
Hyperlinks in Terminals	—

Terminal support

Terminal	Support	Version	Notes
Terminal Emulators
Alacritty	✓	Yes	Hyperlinks - set_hyperlink in term/mod.rs:1874
Bobcat	✓	0.9.0	WhenLink callback and Hyperlinks() enabled from initial release
contour	✓	v0.1.0	Hyperlinks with optional parameters
foot	✓	Yes	Hyperlinks with id parameter, osc.c:1377-1379, 479-536
Ghostty	✓	v1.0.0
iTerm2	✓	v20260216-nightly
Kitty	✓	Yes	Hyperlinks with full id and url support
Konsole	✓	Yes	Hyperlinks handled via URL_LINK in src/Vt102Emulation.cpp:654-656, urlExtractor in src/Vt102Emulation.cpp:1147-1154
mintty	✓	Yes	Implemented at termout.c:4873-4881, hyperlinks (clickable links)
mlterm	✗	No
PuTTY	✗	No	Not implemented in do_osc function
Rio	✓	v0.0.28	Supports id parameter for linking related hyperlinks
rxvt-unicode	✗	No
st	✗	No
terminology	✓	v1.3.0
VT100	✗	No
VTE	✓	Yes	OSC 8 (VTEHYPER) handled in vteseq.cc for hyperlinks
WezTerm	✓	Yes	OSC 8 SetHyperlink - see wezterm-escape-parser/src/osc.rs:39,316,468
Windows Terminal	✓	Yes	Hyperlink case via AddHyperlink/EndHyperlink with _ParseHyperlink
xterm	✗	No	No evidence in documentation or source code
xterm.js	✓	5.0.0
Multiplexers
cy	✗	No
GNU Screen	✗	No
tmux	✓	3.4	Hyperlinks support
tuios	✓	v0.0.15
Zellij	✓	v0.21.0

See also

• OSC 0 — Set Icon Name and Window Title — Another common OSC sequence