NST(1)

🌸 NST(1) — nst, the (not so) simple terminal 🌸

Bestie, welcome to the nst page 💅 — it's the NST(1) manual, and I'm gonna walk you through it like we're texting at 2am.

---

✨ NAME ✨

nst — not (so) simple terminal 🖥️🦋

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

nst [-l <path-to-tty>] [-w <window-id>] [-o <iofile>] [-f <fontconfig
font name>] [-g <X11 gemeoetry>] [-t <title>] [-n <name>] [-c <class>]
[-e] [-i] [-a] [--config <path-to-config>] [--] [--version] [-h]
[command [arguments...]]

okay yes, it literally says gemeoetry up there 😭 that's the original's typo, not mine, I'm just the messenger, no cap

---

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

nst is a (not so) simple terminal emulator 💖

It's a C++ port and a fork of the suckless.org ST simple terminal emulator. So it's giving "ST but make it C++" and honestly? We're obsessed 🫶

---

✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -a, --no-alt-screen — turns off the alternative screen buffer in the terminal. no alt screen, no drama 💀
• -c, --window-class — sets the window class. defaults to $TERM ✨
• -f, --font — the font nst uses when it runs. it's a fontconfig string, like "LiberationMono:pixelsize=18:antialias=true:autohint=true" — very specific, very icon behavior 💅
• -g, --geometry — geometry stuff. peep XParseGeometry(3) for the full tea 👀
• -i, --fixed-geometry — locks the window position in place, together with the -g option 📌
• -n, --window-name — sets the window instance name (that's the WM_CLASS property, iykyk). defaults to $TERM 🎀
• -o, --iofile — writes all the raw I/O to the file you give it, for recording. "-" means stdout 🍓
• -t, --window-title — sets the window title. defaults to "nst" 👑
• -w, --embed-window — embeds nst inside the window identified by window-id 🪟
• -l, --tty — uses a tty line instead of a pseudo terminal. the remaining parameters get passed as flags to stty(1). path-to-tty should be a (pseudo-)serial device (e.g. /dev/ttyS0 on Linux for serial port 0) 🧚

By default nst initializes the serial line to 8 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit and a 38400 baud rate. the speed is set by appending it as the last argument (e.g. "nst -l /dev/ttyS0 115200"). arguments before the last one are stty(1) flags. wanna set odd parity on 115200 baud? use for example "nst -l /dev/ttyS0 parenb parodd 115200". set the number of bits by using for example "nst -l /dev/ttyS0 cs7 115200". see stty(1) for more arguments and cases 🦋

• --version — prints version information and exits. that's it, that's the whole vibe ✌️
• -e — executes the remaining parameters instead of the shell. lowkey this switch is not actually needed, it's only there for backwards compatibility. the remaining parameters get used even without it — except if -l is given 🙈
• --config — specify the path to a custom nst.conf(5) configuration file to parse. this overrides settings from the system wide and per-user configuration file. if it can't open the file you get a warning, but nst still starts successfully, so like... it's fine, it's fine, everything's fine 😌

heads up bestie: -h shows up in the synopsis but the OPTIONS list doesn't say anything about it. I'm not making stuff up, so that's all we know 💜

---

✨ ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES ✨

• NST_IPC_ADDR — contains the name of an abstract UNIX domain socket that's connected to the active nst terminal. it's used by nst-msg(1) 🔌
• NST_CONFIG — if you set it, it's interpreted as a path to a custom nst configuration file that gets parsed during startup. it overrides settings from all other configuration files found implicitly or specified via --config. it's the main character of config files, periodt 👑

---

✨ SHORTCUTS ✨

• Break — sends a break in the serial line. you get the break key on PC keyboards by pressing control and pause at the same time ⌨️
• Ctrl+Print Screen — toggles whether nst prints to the iofile 🖨️
• Shift+Print Screen — prints the full screen to the iofile 📸
• Print Screen — prints the selection to the iofile ✂️
• Ctrl+Scroll Wheel Up — increases font size 🔍
• Ctrl+Scroll Wheel Down — decreases font size 🔎
• Shift+Mod1+Home — resets to the default font size 🌈
• Ctrl+Shift+Home — jumps to the end of history (oldest) position 🕰️
• Ctrl+Shift+End — jumps to the current screen ⏭️
• Shift+Page Up — scrolls history up by 10 lines ⬆️
• Shift+Page Down — scrolls history down by 10 lines ⬇️
• Ctrl+Shift+Page Up — scrolls history up by half a screen 🌗
• Ctrl+Shift+Page Down — scrolls history down by half a screen 🌓
• Ctrl+Shift+y — pastes from the primary selection (that's the middle mouse button one) 🖱️
• Ctrl+Shift+c — copies the selected text to the clipboard selection 📋
• Ctrl+Shift+v — pastes from the clipboard selection 📥
• Ctrl+Shift+Keypad Div — inverts the color scheme 🎨 (yes, a whole aesthetic flip)
• Ctrl+Shift+B — invokes an external program and pipes the current history buffer to it (gvim by default) 🧃
• F11 — toggles fullscreen mode of the nst window 🖥️✨

---

✨ CUSTOMIZATION ✨

nst gets customized by adjusting the nst_config.hxx and/or nst_config.cxx files and then (re)compiling the source code. it keeps things fast, secure and simple — the holy trinity, we love to see it 👑💖

---

✨ AUTHORS ✨

See the LICENSE file for the authors 🫶

---

✨ LICENSE ✨

See the LICENSE file for the terms of redistribution 📜

---

and that's the whole page bestie!! this was the NST(1) manual, dated 09/10/2025 — go forth and terminal your heart out 💅✨🎀🦋🌸💖