HAVOC(1) General Commands Manual HAVOC(1)

havoc — minimal Wayland terminal emulator

havoc [-l] [-c file] [-s display] [-i app-id] [program [argument ...]]

havoc -h

havoc -v

havoc opens a Wayland terminal and runs program with any supplied arguments. Without a program, it runs the shell from the user's account record, then SHELL, then /bin/sh. The program setting in the configuration file overrides that default. An explicit command-line program overrides the configuration file.

The child process receives TERM=xterm-256color. If the selected program cannot be executed, havoc attempts to run /bin/sh.

file
Read only the named configuration file. An empty path disables configuration loading. If the file cannot be opened, havoc reports the error and uses its built-in defaults.
Keep the window open after the child process exits.
display
Connect to the named Wayland display instead of the display selected by the environment.
app-id
Use app-id as the Wayland application identifier instead of havoc.
Print usage and exit.
Print the version and exit.

Without -c, the first readable file in this order is used:

  1. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/havoc/havoc.cfg
  2. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/havoc.cfg
  3. $HOME/.config/havoc/havoc.cfg
  4. $HOME/.config/havoc.cfg
  5. ./havoc.cfg

The file is divided into named sections. Blank lines and lines beginning with a number sign are ignored. Assignments have the form name=value.

Program to run when none is supplied on the command line.

Background opacity from 0 through 255.
Use yes to render a margin matching compositor size hints.
Use yes, no, or auto to select server-side, no, or automatically negotiated decorations.

Initial row count, from 1 through 1000.
Initial column count, from 1 through 1000.
Number of retained scrollback lines.
Use yes to leave scrollback and return to the current line when keyboard input arrives.

Glyph height in pixels, from 6 through 300.
Absolute path to a TrueType font. An empty path uses the built-in fallback font.

Each key is an XKB keysym optionally prefixed by C-, A-, or S- for Control, Alt, or Shift. Each value is one of:

copy
paste
reset
hard reset
scroll up
scroll down
scroll up page
scroll down page
scroll to top
scroll to bottom
zoom in
zoom out

foreground and background set the default colors. color0 through color255 set palette entries. Values are six-digit RGB colors prefixed by a number sign.

Default Wayland display when -s is not supplied.
First user configuration directory.
Fallback user configuration directory.
Fallback shell when the account record does not specify one.

The havoc utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

Run the account shell with an explicit configuration file:

havoc -c $HOME/.config/havoc/havoc.cfg

Run a command instead of the configured shell:

havoc /bin/tcsh -f

A small configuration file:

[terminal]
rows=24
columns=80
scrollback=1000

[bind]
C-S-c=copy
C-S-v=paste

[colors]
foreground=#ffffff
background=#000000

merde(1), merde-config(5), mouse(7)

MOUSE August 17, 2026 HAVOC(1)