# Install vte3 with Homebrew

Terminal emulator widget used by GNOME terminal. Version 0.84.0 via Homebrew; verified 2026-08-02.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:vte3
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install vte3
```

  Evidence: provider-native install command

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:vte3
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 0.84.0
- **Source summary:** Terminal emulator widget used by GNOME terminal
- **Homepage:** <https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Terminal/VTE>
- **Last updated:** 2026-08-02T06:12:30Z
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T00:40:33+00:00

## Executables

- vte-2.91 (alias)
- vte-2.91-gtk4 (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 0.84.0
## Project history and usage

VTE is GNOME's virtual-terminal widget library: a reusable terminal-emulation component for GTK applications. In package-manager terms, it is infrastructure rather than an end-user terminal: graphical terminal apps link to VTE so they do not need to implement terminal parsing, pseudo-terminal handling, scrollback, selection, and GTK integration from scratch.

### Project history

The GNOME wiki archive describes VTE as an LGPL-licensed library providing a virtual terminal emulator widget, with official API documentation and source hosted by GNOME. The current GNOME GitLab project record dates from 2018-05-25, which reflects the modern GitLab-hosted project record rather than the original age of the library.

### Adoption history

VTE became important because terminal emulation is full of compatibility details, and GTK desktop environments needed a shared implementation. GNOME Terminal is the canonical VTE consumer, while other GTK terminal emulators and applications have historically reused the widget to embed shells or command consoles without maintaining their own emulator core.

### How it is used

Developers use VTE by embedding `VteTerminal` in a GTK application and connecting it to a pseudo-terminal running a shell or command. Packaged `vte3` exposes the GTK 3 era library and helper/demo executables, while the upstream documentation now also covers GTK 4 API variants.

### Why package nerds care

VTE is a classic package-nerd dependency: users may never run it directly, but many terminal packages inherit their behavior, bugs, performance, and escape-sequence support from it. When a Linux desktop terminal changes how selection, hyperlinks, scrollback, color, or shell integration works, VTE is often one of the underlying packages involved.

### Timeline

- 2018-05-25: Current GNOME GitLab project record for `GNOME/vte` was created.
- 2020s: Upstream documentation is published through GNOME Pages for both GTK 3 and GTK 4 API surfaces.

### Related projects

- GNOME Terminal is the best-known consumer of VTE.
- GTK-based terminal emulators and IDEs use VTE as an embeddable terminal widget rather than maintaining their own complete emulator.

### Sources

- <https://gitlab.gnome.org/api/v4/projects/GNOME%2Fvte - GNOME GitLab project metadata.>
- <https://gnome.pages.gitlab.gnome.org/vte/ - generated upstream VTE documentation.>
- <https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Terminal/VTE - GNOME wiki archive summary, repository link, and API documentation link.>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/vte3.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/vte3.yml)


## Sources

- Nucleus package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation