Living on the Linux Console — Part 2: casty, a Full Browser for TTY

#javascript #linux #terminal #opensource

"GUI isn't an option." — Anonymous

In Part 1, I built bcon — a GPU-accelerated terminal emulator for the Linux console. But there's one thing you can't escape as a developer:

A web browser.

AI coding agents can handle research just fine. But what about checking your own web app renders correctly? Or GitHub Actions, PR reviews, and other things gh can't cover? For those, you need a real browser.

I looked for existing options. Here's what I found:

	eww	browsh	Carbonyl	awrit	casty ⭐
Engine	Emacs shr	headless Firefox	Chromium fork	Electron	Chrome headless-shell
Rendering	Text + limited images	ANSI block chars	Unicode blocks (▄ + 24bit)	Kitty Graphics	Kitty Graphics
JavaScript	❌	✅	✅ (WebGL/WebGPU)	✅	✅
Site fidelity	🔴 Low	🟡 Low	🟡 Medium	🟢 High	🟢 High
No GUI env	✅	Linux ✅ / Mac ❌	✅	❌ (display server required)	✅ (no X11, SSH-friendly)
Text copy	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅ (Alt+C)
Mouse	❌	🔺	✅	✅	✅
Install	M-x package-install	go install	npm i -g carbonyl	curl \| bash	`npm i -g @sanohiro/casty`

Nothing checked all the boxes: JavaScript + CSS + high fidelity + text copy + no GUI required.

So I built it.

→ github.com/sanohiro/casty

npm i -g @sanohiro/casty

casty running on the Linux console inside bcon

YouTube video playback inside casty on bcon

casty works with any Kitty Graphics-compatible terminal — not just bcon. Ghostty and Kitty both work too.

How it works

The concept is simple: connect to Chrome headless-shell via CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol), stream frames to the terminal using Kitty Graphics Protocol, and forward keyboard/mouse events back to Chrome.

Chrome downloads itself automatically on first run to ~/.casty/ — no manual setup needed. Cookies and storage are preserved, so you can log in to Google and other services normally.

casty launches Chrome headless-shell (auto-downloaded to ~/.casty/ on first run)
Connects via CDP WebSocket
Captures screenshots and streams them to the terminal using Kitty Graphics Protocol
Forwards your keyboard and mouse events back to Chrome via CDP