Quil vs WezTerm.
A GPU-accelerated cross-platform terminal emulator with built-in multiplexer features, written in Rust, extensible via Lua. Released by Wez Furlong.
Best-in-class rendering, GPU-accelerated, ligature support, Lua extensibility, built-in SSH multiplexer.
Best-in-class rendering, GPU-accelerated, ligature support, Lua extensibility, built-in SSH multiplexer. WezTerm is one of the most polished terminal emulators available.
Reboot survival. AI continuity. Typed panes.
No reboot persistence, no AI session awareness, no typed panes. WezTerm's multiplexer is an escape hatch for when you need tabs without a separate multiplexer — it's not the core of the product.
WezTerm is a terminal emulator that happens to have multiplexer features. Quil is a workflow orchestrator that happens to render terminals. The category is different: WezTerm cares about glyph rendering, ligatures, and GPU compositing. Quil cares about what happens when you reboot.
Feature by feature.
| capability | quil | WezTerm |
|---|---|---|
| Session persistence while the multiplexer server is running | ✓ | ✓ |
| Survives a full host reboot | ✓ | ✕ |
| └── Quil's defining capability. Everyone else loses the session on reboot. | ||
| AI session auto-resume (Claude Code, Cursor) | ✓ | ✕ |
| Typed panes (Terminal / AI / SSH / Webhook) | ✓ | ✕ |
| Plugin system | ✓ | ✓ |
| └── Quil uses declarative TOML. Zellij uses WASM. WezTerm uses Lua. tmux uses shell scripts. | ||
| Mouse support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ghost buffers (last 500 lines instant on reconnect) | ✓ | ~ |
| MCP server for AI agents | ✓ | ✕ |
| Notification center + idle analysis | ✓ | ✕ |
| Pane notes editor (Alt+E) | ✓ | ✕ |
| Windows native (no WSL) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Declarative keybindings (config file) | ✓ | ✓ |
Coming from WezTerm?
Keep WezTerm as your terminal emulator and run Quil inside it. The two are complementary: WezTerm handles rendering (fonts, ligatures, GPU acceleration), Quil handles workflow (persistence, AI sessions, typed panes).
▸ Can I use WezTerm and Quil together?
Yes, and we recommend it. WezTerm renders Quil beautifully, and Quil's persistence layer complements WezTerm's lack of reboot survival.
▸ Does Quil have its own terminal emulator?
No. Quil is a TUI that runs inside whatever terminal emulator you already use — WezTerm, Alacritty, Kitty, Windows Terminal, Ghostty, iTerm2, the Linux console — anything with PTY support works.
▸ Why not just use WezTerm's multiplexer?
WezTerm's multiplexer is fine for tabs and splits but doesn't survive a reboot or understand pane types. If those features don't matter to you, WezTerm alone is plenty.
Try them both. Pick a side.
Quil installs side-by-side with WezTerm. Nothing to uninstall first.