docs: record the embedding spike - the official path is vt + own renderer - #26
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…erer The spike (repo datactx-app, brand-independent name pending the rename) proved the toolchain and corrected the plan before any product code: - There is no official Swift package for the full GhosttyKit render path, only third-party binary redistributions of an unstable API. The official embedding path today is libghostty-vt plus your own renderer, demonstrated by ghostty-org/ghostling (official, MIT) - and ghostty's build emits a ready-made ghostty-vt.xcframework, so no third-party repackaging is needed. - Verified here: ghostling builds from source (Zig pinned 0.15.x) and runs; the spike app builds and runs with ghostty-vt probe simd=true roundTrip=true. - Architecture: SwiftTerm pane behind a TerminalPane protocol, libghostty-vt linked and probed but not rendering. The renderer swap becomes an implementation project once the API stabilizes. - cmux was not studied and did not need to be: ghostling is official and MIT, so the GPL-adjacency question never arises.
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What
Records ROADMAP step 8 phase 2 (the embedding spike) as done, with the findings that corrected the plan before any product code was written.
The correction
The plan said "GhosttyKit pane via libghostty-spm". That package does not exist: there is no official Swift package for the full GhosttyKit render path, only third-party binary redistributions of an API whose own header warns it is unstable. The official embedding path today is libghostty-vt (the state machine) + your own renderer, demonstrated by
ghostty-org/ghostling(official, MIT, active) - and ghostty's own build emits a ready-madeghostty-vt.xcframeworkwith a modulemap, so no third-party repackaging is needed at all.What was proven on this machine
Swift <-> Zig interop with the official artifact works: create a terminal, feed VT bytes through the parser, free.
The architecture that follows
SwiftTerm pane behind a
TerminalPaneprotocol - nothing else may import a terminal library - with libghostty-vt linked and probed but not yet rendering. When the full embedding API stabilizes, the swap is an implementation project, not a feasibility question.cmux was not studied and did not need to be: ghostling is official and MIT, so the GPL-adjacency question never arises.
Spike repo:
~/dev/personal/projects/datactx-app(local; brand-independent name pending step 9).🤖 Generated with Claude Code
https://claude.ai/code/session_01CKZ9UVgw2Mhiu6T5YAG7k6