macOS
Homebrewverified · 100%
brew install fancy-catlocal Homebrew formula metadata
brew / rank 3531
Install fancy-cat with Homebrew, Nix
PDF reader for terminal emulators using the Kitty image protocol. Version 0.6.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-31. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#fancy-cat.
install
Additional install commands
Linux
Nixverified · 92%
nix profile install nixpkgs#fancy-catnixpkgs package indexes · pkgs/by-name/fa/fancy-cat/package.nix · source: api.github.com
overview
Package summary
PDF reader for terminal emulators using the Kitty image protocol
Project links
Commands and aliases
- fancy-cat
history
Project history and usage
fancy-cat is a terminal PDF viewer built around the Kitty image protocol. Its README describes a modal interface, runtime configuration, key mappings, command mode, hot reload, status bar, page navigation, and dark-mode colorization.
Project history
The repository was created in November 2024 and is implemented as a Zig project. Its README presents the project as a PDF viewer for terminals that can display pages through image-capable terminal emulators such as Kitty, Ghostty, and WezTerm.
Adoption history
Official adoption information is modest: the README points to packaging status across repositories and the package appears in Homebrew and Nix through the input facts. The project is still young and the official sources do not support a broad adoption claim.
How it is used
The primary command is `fancy-cat <path-to-pdf> <optional-page-number>`. Once running, users navigate through a modal interface similar to Neovim and can enter command mode with `:` by default.
Configuration is JSON and lives under the XDG config directory when available, with fallback and legacy locations documented by the README.
Why package nerds care
fancy-cat is interesting to terminal-tool users because it packages graphical PDF reading as a shell-native workflow. It belongs to the recent wave of CLI applications that rely on modern terminal image protocols instead of opening a separate GUI viewer.
Timeline
- 2024: Repository created.
- 2024: v0.1.0 tag published.
- 2026: v0.6.0 tag present.
Related projects
- Kitty image protocol support is the key terminal capability.
- Zig is the implementation and build toolchain.
Sources
security posture
Risk level: blue
broad file, network, media, or database tool signal.
Risk classifier
blue risk · medium confidence · tool
Why
- broad file, network, media, or database tool signal
Signals
- text:image
Install behavior
- No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.
Recommended review
Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.
executables
Installed executables
| Command | Kind | Exposure | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
fancy-cat | executable | indexed executable | Discovered from the local executable index. |
freshness
Version and freshness
These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.
page generated2026-08-03
manager version0.6.0
manager updated2026-07-31
local dataunknown
upstreamnot available
latest detectednot detected
- okNo freshness warnings were generated.
install metadata
Package metadata
| Package key | brew:fancy-cat |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.6.0 |
| Package manager | Homebrew |
| Homepage | https://github.com/freref/fancy-cat |
| Repository | https://github.com/freref/fancy-cat |
| Last updated | 2026-07-31T12:44:48Z |
| Pulse | updated |
| Bottle | not recorded |
| Service | none declared |
source database matches
Other package-manager records
Matches are pulled from external package-manager indexes and kept separate from local Automic Vault package links.
Nix95%
fancy-cat
nix profile install nixpkgs#fancy-cat- normalized package name match
- Matched by: Fancy Cat
source trail
Generated from repository data
This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.
Combined YAML source
View the package source record on GitHub.
Used sources
- Geiger risk classifier
- cross-ecosystem install command graph
- curated package history
- external package-manager database matches
- pkg.so package database
- pkgdb category and tag curation