Ptyxis(1) General Commands Manual Ptyxis(1) NAME ptyxis - a container-oriented terminal SYNOPSIS ptyxis [OPTION]... [-- PROGRAM ARGUMENTS] DESCRIPTION ptyxis is a container-oriented terminal, designed for the GNOME desktop. It provides tight integration with podman, toolbox, distrobox, and jhbuild to simplify container-based development and system management. --version Show the version of the program. --preferences Show the preferences window. --new-window Open a new window in an existing instance of Ptyxis. If Ptyxis is not running, a new instance is started. May be combined with --working-directory and --execute and --title options. --tab Open a new tab in the most-recently-used window of an existing Ptyxis instance. If Ptyxis is not running, a new instance is started. May be combined with --working-directory and --execute and --title options. -x, --execute Execute a custom command. This is similar to using -- to provide the custom command except that the entire command line should be provided as a single argument. In general, you should use -- instead of this option. This is primarily available to be similar to bash -c 'command' May be combined with --working-directory and --title options. -d, --working-directory Set the current working directory for a new tab [--tab], window [--window], or custom command [-- COMMAND...]. --title=TITLE Sets the title for a new terminal page created with either --tab or --new-window. --maximize Maximize a newly created window. --fullscreen Fullscreen a newly created window. --tab-with-profile=PROFILE Creates a new tab in an existing instance using the specified profile. The profile should be a UUID string which can be found in the profile editor of the preferences dialog. -s, --standalone Start a new instance of Ptyxis, in single instance mode, ignoring any instances already running. Single instance mode is implied when running a -- command. -s, --gapplication-app-id=ID Override the application ID in single instance mode. -h, --help Show a summary of options. Other standard GNOME options not listed here are also supported. PALETTE FILES Ptyxis supports custom color palettes defined in INI-style files with a .palette extension. Palette files can be placed in ~/.local/share/org.gnome.Ptyxis/palettes/ to be available in the palette selector. Palette files use the GKeyFile format (similar to INI files) and must contain at minimum a [Palette] section with a Name key. The palette can define colors in two ways: Single Scheme If neither [Light] nor [Dark] sections are present, color keys may be placed directly in the [Palette] section. The same colors will be used for both light and dark themes, with Ptyxis automatically determining which theme to use based on the system color scheme. Dual Scheme If both [Light] and [Dark] sections are present, each section defines colors for its respective theme. Both sections must contain the same required color keys. The [Palette] section supports the following keys: Name (Required) The display name of the palette as shown in the palette selector. Primary (Optional) Boolean value (true/false). If set to true, marks this palette to be included in the initial set of palettes shown to the user. This is generally used for a limited set of palettes shipped with Ptyxis. UseSystemAccent (Optional) Boolean value (true/false). If set to true, the palette will use the system accent color. Each color scheme section ( [Palette] , [Light] , or [Dark] ) must contain the following required color keys: Foreground Text foreground color. Background Terminal background color. Color0 through Color15 The 16 standard terminal colors (0-7 are normal colors, 8-15 are bright colors). The following color keys are optional and will use computed defaults if omitted: Cursor or CursorBackground Cursor background color. If not specified, defaults to the foreground color. CursorForeground Cursor foreground color. TitlebarBackground Titlebar background color. Defaults to a shaded version of the background. TitlebarForeground Titlebar foreground color. Defaults to a shaded version of the foreground. BellForeground Visual bell foreground color. Defaults to the titlebar foreground color. BellBackground Visual bell background color. Defaults to a mix of Color11 and titlebar background. SuperuserForeground Foreground color when running as superuser. Defaults to a shaded version of the titlebar foreground. SuperuserBackground Background color when running as superuser. Defaults to a mix of Color1 and the background. RemoteForeground Foreground color when connected remotely. Defaults to a shaded version of the titlebar foreground. RemoteBackground Background color when connected remotely. Defaults to a mix of Color12 and the background. All color values must be specified in hexadecimal format, either as #RRGGBB or #RRGGBBAA (with optional alpha channel). For example: #ffffff (white) or #000000ff (black with full opacity). Example palette file: [Palette] Name=My Custom Palette [Light] Foreground=#000000 Background=#ffffff Color0=#000000 Color1=#cc0000 Color2=#00cc00 Color3=#cccc00 Color4=#0000cc Color5=#cc00cc Color6=#00cccc Color7=#cccccc Color8=#808080 Color9=#ff0000 Color10=#00ff00 Color11=#ffff00 Color12=#0000ff Color13=#ff00ff Color14=#00ffff Color15=#ffffff [Dark] Foreground=#ffffff Background=#000000 Color0=#000000 Color1=#cc0000 Color2=#00cc00 Color3=#cccc00 Color4=#0000cc Color5=#cc00cc Color6=#00cccc Color7=#cccccc Color8=#808080 Color9=#ff0000 Color10=#00ff00 Color11=#ffff00 Color12=#0000ff Color13=#ff00ff Color14=#00ffff Color15=#ffffff SEE ALSO For further information, visit the website https://gitlab.gnome.org/chergert/ptyxis/ BUGS Bug reports can be found and filed at https://gitlab.gnome.org/chergert/ptyxis/issues 16 January 2026 Ptyxis(1)