I have always considered myself a big fan of Urxvt, and you know I don’t follow fleeting trends. If I switch from one software to another, it’s for a justified reason. In this case, I noticed that Urxvt was eating up part of the console output when I pressed Ctrl+c, so I decided to migrate to Alacritty. This terminal provides me with everything I need; it’s just as fast as Urxvt, at least in the way I use it. It doesn’t truncate the output on the screen, and it allows me to define custom shortcuts, just like Urxvt did.

Now, let’s install the software in question:

We can verify that Alacritty supports UTF-8 without any issues:

UTF-8 encoded sample plain-text file
‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾

Markus Kuhn [ˈmaʳkʊs kuːn] <http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/> — 2002-07-25 CC BY


The ASCII compatible UTF-8 encoding used in this plain-text file
is defined in Unicode, ISO 10646-1, and RFC 2279.


Using Unicode/UTF-8, you can write in emails and source code things such as

Mathematics and sciences:

  ∮ E⋅da = Q,  n → ∞, ∑ f(i) = ∏ g(i),      ⎧⎡⎛┌─────┐⎞⎤⎫
                                            ⎪⎢⎜│a²+b³ ⎟⎥⎪
  ∀x∈ℝ: ⌈x⌉ = −⌊−x⌋, α ∧ ¬β = ¬(¬α ∨ β),    ⎪⎢⎜│───── ⎟⎥⎪
                                            ⎪⎢⎜⎷ c₈   ⎟⎥⎪
  ℕ ⊆ ℕ₀ ⊂ ℤ ⊂ ℚ ⊂ ℝ ⊂ ℂ,                   ⎨⎢⎜       ⎟⎥⎬
                                            ⎪⎢⎜ ∞     ⎟⎥⎪
  ⊥ < a ≠ b ≡ c ≤ d ≪ ⊤ ⇒ (⟦A⟧ ⇔ ⟪B⟫),      ⎪⎢⎜ ⎲     ⎟⎥⎪
                                            ⎪⎢⎜ ⎳aⁱ-bⁱ⎟⎥⎪
  2H₂ + O₂ ⇌ 2H₂O, R = 4.7 kΩ, ⌀ 200 mm     ⎩⎣⎝i=1    ⎠⎦⎭

Linguistics and dictionaries:

  ði ıntəˈnæʃənəl fəˈnɛtık əsoʊsiˈeıʃn
  Y [ˈʏpsilɔn], Yen [jɛn], Yoga [ˈjoːgɑ]

APL:

  ((V⍳V)=⍳⍴V)/V←,V    ⌷←⍳→⍴∆∇⊃‾⍎⍕⌈

Nicer typography in plain text files:

  ╔══════════════════════════════════════════╗
  ║                                          ║
  ║   • ‘single’ and “double” quotes         ║
  ║                                          ║
  ║   • Curly apostrophes: “We’ve been here” ║
  ║                                          ║
  ║   • Latin-1 apostrophe and accents: '´`  ║
  ║                                          ║
  ║   • ‚deutsche‘ „Anführungszeichen“       ║
  ║                                          ║
  ║   • †, ‡, ‰, •, 3–4, —, −5/+5, ™, …      ║
  ║                                          ║
  ║   • ASCII safety test: 1lI|, 0OD, 8B     ║
  ║                      ╭─────────╮         ║
  ║   • the euro symbol: │ 14.95 € │         ║
  ║                      ╰─────────╯         ║
  ╚══════════════════════════════════════════╝

Combining characters:

  STARGΛ̊TE SG-1, a = v̇ = r̈, a⃑ ⊥ b⃑

Greek (in Polytonic):

  The Greek anthem:  - { key: U,         mods: Control, chars: "/qdaST3000\n"                                                                             }

  ποὺ μὲ βία μετράει τὴ γῆ.

  ᾿Απ᾿ τὰ κόκκαλα βγαλμένη
  τῶν ῾Ελλήνων τὰ ἱερά
  καὶ σὰν πρῶτα ἀνδρειωμένη
  χαῖρε, ὦ χαῖρε, ᾿Ελευθεριά!

  From a speech of Demosthenes in the 4th century BC:

  Οὐχὶ ταὐτὰ παρίσταταί μοι γιγνώσκειν, ὦ ἄνδρες ᾿Αθηναῖοι,
  ὅταν τ᾿ εἰς τὰ πράγματα ἀποβλέψω καὶ ὅταν πρὸς τοὺς
  λόγους οὓς ἀκούω· τοὺς μὲν γὰρ λόγους περὶ τοῦ
  τιμωρήσασθαι Φίλιππον ὁρῶ γιγνομένους, τὰ δὲ πράγματ᾿
  εἰς τοῦτο προήκοντα,  ὥσθ᾿ ὅπως μὴ πεισόμεθ᾿ αὐτοὶ
  πρότερον κακῶς σκέψασθαι δέον. οὐδέν οὖν ἄλλο μοι δοκοῦσιν
  οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγοντες ἢ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, περὶ ἧς βουλεύεσθαι,
  οὐχὶ τὴν οὖσαν παριστάντες ὑμῖν ἁμαρτάνειν. ἐγὼ δέ, ὅτι μέν
  ποτ᾿ ἐξῆν τῇ πόλει καὶ τὰ αὑτῆς ἔχειν ἀσφαλῶς καὶ Φίλιππον
  τιμωρήσασθαι, καὶ μάλ᾿ ἀκριβῶς οἶδα· ἐπ᾿ ἐμοῦ γάρ, οὐ πάλαι
  γέγονεν ταῦτ᾿ ἀμφότερα· νῦν μέντοι πέπεισμαι τοῦθ᾿ ἱκανὸν
  προλαβεῖν ἡμῖν εἶναι τὴν πρώτην, ὅπως τοὺς συμμάχους
  σώσομεν. ἐὰν γὰρ τοῦτο βεβαίως ὑπάρξῃ, τότε καὶ περὶ τοῦ
  τίνα τιμωρήσεταί τις καὶ ὃν τρόπον ἐξέσται σκοπεῖν· πρὶν δὲ
  τὴν ἀρχὴν ὀρθῶς ὑποθέσθαι, μάταιον ἡγοῦμαι περὶ τῆς
  τελευτῆς ὁντινοῦν ποιεῖσθαι λόγον.

  Δημοσθένους, Γ´ ᾿Ολυνθιακὸς

Georgian:

  From a Unicode conference invitation:

  გთხოვთ ახლავე გაიაროთ რეგისტრაცია Unicode-ის მეათე საერთაშორისო
  კონფერენციაზე დასასწრებად, რომელიც გაიმართება 10-12 მარტს,
  ქ. მაინცში, გერმანიაში. კონფერენცია შეჰკრებს ერთად მსოფლიოს
  ექსპერტებს ისეთ დარგებში როგორიცაა ინტერნეტი და Unicode-ი,
  ინტერნაციონალიზაცია და ლოკალიზაცია, Unicode-ის გამოყენება
  ოპერაციულ სისტემებსა, და გამოყენებით პროგრამებში, შრიფტებში,
  ტექსტების დამუშავებასა და მრავალენოვან კომპიუტერულ სისტემებში.

Russian:

  From a Unicode conference invitation:

  Зарегистрируйтесь сейчас на Десятую Международную Конференцию по
  Unicode, которая состоится 10-12 марта 1997 года в Майнце в Германии.
  Конференция соберет широкий круг экспертов по  вопросам глобального
  Интернета и Unicode, локализации и интернационализации, воплощению и
  применению Unicode в различных операционных системах и программных
  приложениях, шрифтах, верстке и многоязычных компьютерных системах.

Ethiopian:

  Proverbs in the Amharic language:

  ሰማይ አይታረስ ንጉሥ አይከሰስ።
  ብላ ካለኝ እንደአባቴ በቆመጠኝ።
  ጌጥ ያለቤቱ ቁምጥና ነው።
  ደሀ በሕልሙ ቅቤ ባይጠጣ ንጣት በገደለው።
  የአፍ ወለምታ በቅቤ አይታሽም።
  አይጥ በበላ ዳዋ ተመታ።
  ሲተረጉሙ ይደረግሙ።
  ቀስ በቀስ፥ ዕንቁላል በእግሩ ይሄዳል።
  ድር ቢያብር አንበሳ ያስር።
  ሰው እንደቤቱ እንጅ እንደ ጉረቤቱ አይተዳደርም።
  እግዜር የከፈተውን ጉሮሮ ሳይዘጋው አይድርም።
  የጎረቤት ሌባ፥ ቢያዩት ይስቅ ባያዩት ያጠልቅ።
  ሥራ ከመፍታት ልጄን ላፋታት።
  ዓባይ ማደሪያ የለው፥ ግንድ ይዞ ይዞራል።
  የእስላም አገሩ መካ የአሞራ አገሩ ዋርካ።
  ተንጋሎ ቢተፉ ተመልሶ ባፉ።
  ወዳጅህ ማር ቢሆን ጨርስህ አትላሰው።
  እግርህን በፍራሽህ ልክ ዘርጋ።

Runes:

  ᚻᛖ ᚳᚹᚫᚦ ᚦᚫᛏ ᚻᛖ ᛒᚢᛞᛖ ᚩᚾ ᚦᚫᛗ ᛚᚪᚾᛞᛖ ᚾᚩᚱᚦᚹᛖᚪᚱᛞᚢᛗ ᚹᛁᚦ ᚦᚪ ᚹᛖᛥᚫ

  (Old English, which transcribed into Latin reads 'He cwaeth that he
  bude thaem lande northweardum with tha Westsae.' and means 'He said
  that he lived in the northern land near the Western Sea.')

Braille:

  ⡌⠁⠧⠑ ⠼⠁⠒  ⡍⠜⠇⠑⠹⠰⠎ ⡣⠕⠌

  ⡍⠜⠇⠑⠹ ⠺⠁⠎ ⠙⠑⠁⠙⠒ ⠞⠕ ⠃⠑⠛⠔ ⠺⠊⠹⠲ ⡹⠻⠑ ⠊⠎ ⠝⠕ ⠙⠳⠃⠞
  ⠱⠁⠞⠑⠧⠻ ⠁⠃⠳⠞ ⠹⠁⠞⠲ ⡹⠑ ⠗⠑⠛⠊⠌⠻ ⠕⠋ ⠙⠊⠎ ⠃⠥⠗⠊⠁⠇ ⠺⠁⠎
  ⠎⠊⠛⠝⠫ ⠃⠹ ⠹⠑ ⠊⠇⠻⠛⠹⠍⠁⠝⠂ ⠹⠑ ⠊⠇⠻⠅⠂ ⠹⠑ ⠥⠝⠙⠻⠞⠁⠅⠻⠂
  ⠁⠝⠙ ⠹⠑ ⠡⠊⠑⠋ ⠍⠳⠗⠝⠻⠲ ⡎⠊⠗⠕⠕⠛⠑ ⠎⠊⠛⠝⠫ ⠊⠞⠲ ⡁⠝⠙
  ⡎⠊⠗⠕⠕⠛⠑⠰⠎ ⠝⠁⠍⠑ ⠺⠁⠎ ⠛⠕⠕⠙ ⠥⠏⠕⠝ ⠰⡡⠁⠝⠛⠑⠂ ⠋⠕⠗ ⠁⠝⠹⠹⠔⠛ ⠙⠑
  ⠡⠕⠎⠑ ⠞⠕ ⠏⠥⠞ ⠙⠊⠎ ⠙⠁⠝⠙ ⠞⠕⠲

  ⡕⠇⠙ ⡍⠜⠇⠑⠹ ⠺⠁⠎ ⠁⠎ ⠙⠑⠁⠙ ⠁⠎ ⠁ ⠙⠕⠕⠗⠤⠝⠁⠊⠇⠲

  ⡍⠔⠙⠖ ⡊ ⠙⠕⠝⠰⠞ ⠍⠑⠁⠝ ⠞⠕ ⠎⠁⠹ ⠹⠁⠞ ⡊ ⠅⠝⠪⠂ ⠕⠋ ⠍⠹
  ⠪⠝ ⠅⠝⠪⠇⠫⠛⠑⠂ ⠱⠁⠞ ⠹⠻⠑ ⠊⠎ ⠏⠜⠞⠊⠊⠥⠇⠜⠇⠹ ⠙⠑⠁⠙ ⠁⠃⠳⠞
  ⠁ ⠙⠕⠕⠗⠤⠝⠁⠊⠇⠲ ⡊ ⠍⠊⠣⠞ ⠙⠁⠧⠑ ⠃⠑⠲ ⠔⠊⠇⠔⠫⠂ ⠍⠹⠎⠑⠇⠋⠂ ⠞⠕
  ⠗⠑⠛⠜⠙ ⠁ ⠊⠕⠋⠋⠔⠤⠝⠁⠊⠇ ⠁⠎ ⠹⠑ ⠙⠑⠁⠙⠑⠌ ⠏⠊⠑⠊⠑ ⠕⠋ ⠊⠗⠕⠝⠍⠕⠝⠛⠻⠹
  ⠔ ⠹⠑ ⠞⠗⠁⠙⠑⠲ ⡃⠥⠞ ⠹⠑ ⠺⠊⠎⠙⠕⠍ ⠕⠋ ⠳⠗ ⠁⠝⠊⠑⠌⠕⠗⠎
  ⠊⠎ ⠔ ⠹⠑ ⠎⠊⠍⠊⠇⠑⠆ ⠁⠝⠙ ⠍⠹ ⠥⠝⠙⠁⠇⠇⠪⠫ ⠙⠁⠝⠙⠎
  ⠩⠁⠇⠇ ⠝⠕⠞ ⠙⠊⠌⠥⠗⠃ ⠊⠞⠂ ⠕⠗ ⠹⠑ ⡊⠳⠝⠞⠗⠹⠰⠎ ⠙⠕⠝⠑ ⠋⠕⠗⠲ ⡹⠳
  ⠺⠊⠇⠇ ⠹⠻⠑⠋⠕⠗⠑ ⠏⠻⠍⠊⠞ ⠍⠑ ⠞⠕ ⠗⠑⠏⠑⠁⠞⠂ ⠑⠍⠏⠙⠁⠞⠊⠊⠁⠇⠇⠹⠂ ⠹⠁⠞
  ⡍⠜⠇⠑⠹ ⠺⠁⠎ ⠁⠎ ⠙⠑⠁⠙ ⠁⠎ ⠁ ⠙⠕⠕⠗⠤⠝⠁⠊⠇⠲

  (The first couple of paragraphs of "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens)

Compact font selection example text:

  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ /0123456789
  abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz £©µÀÆÖÞßéöÿ
  –—‘“”„†•…‰™œŠŸž€ ΑΒΓΔΩαβγδω АБВГДабвгд
  ∀∂∈ℝ∧∪≡∞ ↑↗↨↻⇣ ┐┼╔╘░►☺♀ fi�⑀₂ἠḂӥẄɐː⍎אԱა

Greetings in various languages:

  Hello world, Καλημέρα κόσμε, コンニチハ

Box drawing alignment tests:                                          █
                                                                      ▉
  ╔══╦══╗  ┌──┬──┐  ╭──┬──╮  ╭──┬──╮  ┏━━┳━━┓  ┎┒┏┑   ╷  ╻ ┏┯┓ ┌┰┐    ▊ ╱╲╱╲╳╳╳
  ║┌─╨─┐║  │╔═╧═╗│  │╒═╪═╕│  │╓─╁─╖│  ┃┌─╂─┐┃  ┗╃╄┙  ╶┼╴╺╋╸┠┼┨ ┝╋┥    ▋ ╲╱╲╱╳╳╳
  ║│╲ ╱│║  │║   ║│  ││ │ ││  │║ ┃ ║│  ┃│ ╿ │┃  ┍╅╆┓   ╵  ╹ ┗┷┛ └┸┘    ▌ ╱╲╱╲╳╳╳
  ╠╡ ╳ ╞╣  ├╢   ╟┤  ├┼─┼─┼┤  ├╫─╂─╫┤  ┣┿╾┼╼┿┫  ┕┛┖┚     ┌┄┄┐ ╎ ┏┅┅┓ ┋ ▍ ╲╱╲╱╳╳╳
  ║│╱ ╲│║  │║   ║│  ││ │ ││  │║ ┃ ║│  ┃│ ╽ │┃  ░░▒▒▓▓██ ┊  ┆ ╎ ╏  ┇ ┋ ▎
  ║└─╥─┘║  │╚═╤═╝│  │╘═╪═╛│  │╙─╀─╜│  ┃└─╂─┘┃  ░░▒▒▓▓██ ┊  ┆ ╎ ╏  ┇ ┋ ▏
  ╚══╩══╝  └──┴──┘  ╰──┴──╯  ╰──┴──╯  ┗━━┻━━┛  ▗▄▖▛▀▜   └╌╌┘ ╎ ┗╍╍┛ ┋  ▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█
                                               ▝▀▘▙▄▟

If we want transparency, we need to install a compositor. In my case, I’ve chosen Picom:

We’ll set it up by defining the level of translucency in Picom, as Alacritty applies a different level for focused and unfocused terminals. Personally, I find this behavior bothersome, so I set the class in Picom and apply the same level to all terminals. I leave the opacity at 1 in the Alacritty configuration.

opacity-rule = [
  "90:class_g = 'Alacritty' && focused",
  "90:class_g = 'Alacritty' && !focused"
];

We start Picom on every X session startup:

picom -b

If we need to restart Picom, it’s not necessary to restart X. We can kill the process and restart it in the background:

We can see in the manual pages where it reads the configuration from:

man alacritty
       --config-file <config-file>
              Specify alternative configuration file

              Alacritty looks for the configuration file at the following
              paths:
                  1. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/alacritty/alacritty.yml
                  2. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/alacritty.yml
                  3. $HOME/.config/alacritty/alacritty.yml
                  4. $HOME/.alacritty.yml

              On Windows, the configuration file is located at
              %APPDATA%\alacritty\alacritty.yml.

We can see an example configuration:

Finally, we configure Alacritty according to our needs and preferences:

window:
  # picom -b
  opacity: 1
font:
  normal:
    family: JetBrainsMono Nerd Font Mono
    style: Regular
  bold:
    family: JetBrainsMono Nerd Font Mono
    style: Regular
  # Point size
  size: 10.0
colors:
  primary:
    background: '#000000'
    foreground: '#ffffff'
  # Search: Ctrl+Shift+F / Enter - ShiftEnter
  search:
    matches:
      foreground: '#000000'
      background: '#ff0000'
    focused_match:
      foreground: '#ffffff'
      background: '#ff0000'
cursor:
  style:
    shape: Beam
key_bindings:
  - { key: M,         mods: Control, chars: "mysql -sre 'show slave status\\G;'\n"                                                     }
  - { key: H,         mods: Control, chars: "iptables -L -n --line-numbers\n"                                                          }
  - { key: J,         mods: Control, chars: "sockstat -46 -l -s\n"                                                                     }
  - { key: O,         mods: Control, chars: "egrep -v '^([[:space:]]*#|[[:space:]]*\\;|[[:space:]]*\\/\\/)' "                          }
  - { key: P,         mods: Control, chars: "ps aux|grep "                                                                             }
  - { key: I,         mods: Control, chars: "curl -4 icanhazip.com\n"                                                                  }
  - { key: K,         mods: Control, chars: "echo \"if [[ $- == *i* ]]; then bind 'set enable-bracketed-paste off'; fi\" >> ~/.bashrc" }