# cool-retro-term

19 Hacker News commenters recommended cool-retro-term and 8 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its authentic CRT look and nostalgic visuals; critics say it is not a very good terminal, with bugs and missing features.

## Why people recommend it

- Striking CRT visual effects (3 comments): "cool-retro-term's extreme CRT effects implemented in an all-points-addressable low-res mode" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46039820)) "Both Cobolsky and Fortransky looks great on Swordfish90's cool-retro-term" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47461537)) "Cool project, love the visuals." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46037497))
- Fun, nostalgic retro feel (3 comments): "because I love cool retro terminal and kitty" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49258276)) "the amber mode on this really takes me back" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46048803)) "Super fun but so much not for me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46041329))
- Lifts mood and helps eyes (3 comments): "Adding some visual noise can mask my own eye problems" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46041500)) "It looked wild while in use, but really did help." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46049746)) "it lifts my mood consistenly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46038329))

## What people warn about

- Effects look unrealistic or caricatured (4 comments): "The phosphor fading in the demo images is unrealistically slow." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46042594)) "The bloom is also too blobby, because it's a gaussian blur." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46042275)) "the amount of ghosting on the DOS example is insane" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46037351))
- Weak as a terminal (2 comments): "Cool Retro Term does these effects very well, but it's also not a very good terminal." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45957452)) "the lack of functionality was a bummer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46041084))
- Buggy unicode and blurry text (2 comments): "it seems buggy at rendering some unicode characters" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46041735)) "I think it's the blurry text." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46037790))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Ghostty](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ghostty.md): 401 recommend
- [Termux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/termux.md): 188 recommend
- [iTerm2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/iterm2.md): 95 recommend
- [Warp terminal](https://hackerapproved.com/p/warp-terminal.md): 84 recommend
- [Kitty terminal emulator](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kitty.md): 79 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "cool-retro-term", https://hackerapproved.com/p/cool-retro-term/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).