Research: terminal → desktop-environment integration for DropTerm

Date: 2026-10-02 Question: How do industry-leading terminal emulators — especially drop-down/quick terminals — integrate/consolidate with their host desktop, and which of those approaches are most applicable to DropTerm on COSMIC?

TL;DR

The drop-down-specific wins are notifications and attention-signaling, not window management — DropTerm already has the geometry/animation/tabs core that Yakuake, Guake, and Ghostty’s quick terminal ship, so the highest-value gaps are (a) telling the user something happened while the overlay was hidden (bell → desktop notification, per-tab activity/bell indicators), (b) the cheap shell-integration conveniences every peer has (new tab inherits cwd), and (c) remote-control surface (CLI/D-Bus actions), all buildable today with zero libcosmic/portal risk. The two features DropTerm most visibly lacks versus cosmic-term — search and customizable/numbered tab keybinds — port directly from cosmic-term on the same engine. Monitor selection and self-registered global hotkeys stay blocked by COSMIC (pinned libcosmic IcedOutput, no GlobalShortcuts portal).

Two grounding corrections came out of the primary sources: (1) DropTerm’s README claims hide_on_focus_loss = true “behaves like Yakuake/Guake”, but all three peers ship the opposite default — Yakuake KeepOpen=true (app/config/yakuake.kcfg:39-43), Guake window-losefocus=false (guake/data/org.guake.gschema.xml:114-118), Ghostty quick-terminal-autohide=false on Linux (ghostty config ref). (2) URL opening via the open crate (not the OpenURI portal) is provably the right call today: COSMIC’s portal backend implements exactly Access, FileChooser, RemoteDesktop, Screenshot, Settings, ScreenCast — no OpenURI, no Notification, no GlobalShortcuts (xdg-desktop-portal-cosmic data/cosmic.portal @ 4902f57).

What DropTerm does today

Grounded in the working tree (≈15.7k lines, src/):

• Single-instance + D-Bus activation: run_single_instance in src/main.rs:55; a second launch forwards its subcommand (toggle|show|hide, src/app.rs:49-55) through libcosmic’s Application::dbus_activation (src/app.rs:2894-2906), which parses ActivateAction into a ToggleAction. Startup applies the first launch’s own action at init (src/app.rs:2074-2078). This is the only remote-control surface — no new-tab/cmd/cwd actions exist (ROADMAP “Later”).
• Layer-shell geometry: full-width-ish overlay, height_percent 10-100, width_percent 30-100, h_align, edge top/bottom, layer overlay/top, keyboard_mode exclusive/on-demand, respect_panel (src/config.rs:86-145); always targets IcedOutput::Active (“output under the cursor”) — the output: Option<String> config key exists (src/config.rs:109) but is never consumed for targeting (src/surface.rs:62-71 hardcodes IcedOutput::Active with a comment calling monitor selection “v2”). Grab-bar drag-resize persists height (src/app.rs:2463-2586).
• Slide animation: ~130 ms eased translate, reversible mid-flight, destroy-after-slide-out (src/slide.rs, gated by slide_animation_enabled, src/app.rs:1278-1311).
• Tabs: open/close/rename (inline)/reorder (drag); cycle via Ctrl+PageUp/PageDown and Ctrl(+Shift)+Tab; new tab inserts after the active one; last-tab-close respawns (src/keybinds.rs:62-85, src/app.rs:1022-1078). No numbered switching (Ctrl+Shift+1-9), no tab-move binds, no per-tab activity indicator, no user-customizable binds (src/keybinds.rs:3-9 documents them as fixed).
• Session persistence: per-tab title/override/shell/cwd + focused index, debounced atomic writes to $XDG_STATE_HOME/…/session.ron (src/session.rs, src/app.rs:1144-1194); cwd is sampled from /proc/<pid>/cwd readlink (src/terminal/engine.rs:447-458), gated on title events (src/app.rs:1201-1216). New tabs do not inherit the active tab’s cwd — spawn_tab(None) passes working_directory: None (src/app.rs:432-441).
• Theming: 12 built-in schemes per system light/dark + a ThemePreference pin via set_theme (src/app.rs:1398-1458); live reaction to system_theme_update/system_theme_mode_update (src/app.rs:2183-2199). Live config reload via cosmic_config::config_subscription (src/app.rs:2157-2169).
• Clipboard: copy/copy-primary/paste/paste-primary keybinds (src/app.rs:958-989), middle-click primary paste (src/app.rs:2410-2413), bracketed-paste-aware Terminal::paste (src/terminal/engine.rs:465-484). OSC 52 works copy-only by engine default: alacritty_terminal 0.25.1’s Config::osc52 defaults to Osc52::OnlyCopy (registry src/term/mod.rs:352-386), and DropTerm builds TermConfig with ..default() (src/app.rs:428-431) — the ClipboardLoad handler exists (src/app.rs:2918-2931) but the engine denies reads under the default. A hidden 1×1 “anchor” window keeps the Wayland clipboard binding alive across surface destroys (src/app.rs:1460-1482,2018).
• Hyperlinks/URLs: OSC 8 cell hyperlinks + a vendored URL regex (src/terminal/engine.rs:116-119), Ctrl+click opens via open::that_detached (src/terminal/widget.rs:1463-1467, src/app.rs:2657-2660; open = "5.3.2" in Cargo.toml:21). No click-a-filename-opens-editor (“quick open”), no drag-and-drop of files.
• Events the app already receives but drops: TermEvent::Bell is a no-op (src/app.rs:2917) — no audible/visual bell, no notification, no tab indicator. Title (OSC 0/2) drives tab titles (src/app.rs:2953-2959); color queries (OSC 10/11) and text-area-size queries are answered by the engine loop (src/app.rs:2936-2951). No OSC 7/133/9;4/99/777 handling — those OSCs are parsed-and-ignored by the engine.
• No notifications anywhere (grep for notif/zbus in src/: only the D-Bus activation hits), no panel applet, no autostart entry, no search, no splits, no profiles, no i18n.
• Deps of note: libcosmic pinned at rev 08a09e3 (Cargo.toml:30-33), alacritty_terminal 0.25.1, open 5.3.2. libcosmic at this rev has widget::toaster, dialog::file_chooser (ashpd/portal-backed), a cosmic::applet module, and no notification helper (see §7).

Findings

1. cosmic-term (pop-os/cosmic-term @ master 3ef31d7, 2026-10-01)

The closest sibling on the identical stack (alacritty_terminal 0.25.1, libcosmic). Its DE-integration surface beyond DropTerm’s:

• Search: Terminal::search(&value, forwards) — regex search over the grid via RegexSearch, origin at the current selection, scrolling to matches (src/terminal.rs:541-575); UI = Ctrl+Shift+F find bar (src/main.rs:2381-2401, FindSearchValueChanged src/main.rs:391), default bind bind!([Ctrl, Shift], "F", Find) (src/shortcuts.rs:458). DropTerm already vendors the same RegexSearch machinery for URL highlighting (src/terminal/engine.rs:116-119,246).
• Customizable shortcuts: ShortcutsConfig { defaults, custom } — user binds stored in cosmic-config as BTreeMap<Binding, KeyBindAction> layered over fallback_shortcuts(), with a Disable action to remove a default and per-action reset (src/shortcuts.rs:154-261,439-516); a searchable shortcuts editor window with type-to-filter (src/main.rs:1029-1046).
• Tab keybinds DropTerm lacks: TabActivate0..8 (Ctrl+Shift+1..9) and TabMoveLeft/Right (Ctrl+Shift+PageUp/PageDown — the newest commit, “Add moving tabs left and right with key shortcuts (#700)”), plus CopyOrSigint (bare Ctrl+C copies when there’s a selection, else sends SIGINT) and ToggleFullscreen (F11) (src/shortcuts.rs:482-499).
• Splits: pane_grid-based horizontal/vertical splits, focus moves, and per-pane maximize (PaneSplitHorizontal/Vertical, PaneFocus*, PaneToggleMaximized, src/shortcuts.rs:468-510; src/main.rs:2591).
• Profiles: BTreeMap<ProfileId, Profile> in config — name, command, per-profile dark/light scheme, tab_title, working_directory, drain_on_exit; a default profile for new tabs (src/config.rs:189-244) — the model DropTerm’s “per-tab profiles (e.g. SSH)” roadmap item would copy.
• CLI: --working-directory/-w, -e/--command/--, --no-daemon; daemonizes via fork::daemon(true, true) by default — deliberately not single-instance: every launch daemonizes and opens a window (src/main.rs:95-145).
• New-tab cwd inheritance: tab_new_inherit_working_directory config + active_terminal_working_directory() = the same /proc readlink DropTerm already uses (src/terminal.rs:446-455, src/main.rs:1542-1556).
• Password manager (feature-gated password_manager, on by default via default = ["dbus-config", "wgpu", "wayland", "password_manager"]): full CRUD against the freedesktop Secret Service over D-Bus (secret-service = "5.1.0", Cargo.toml:32,66,70; src/password_manager.rs 500 lines), bound Ctrl+Alt+P, pastes into the pane that opened it.
• Drag-and-drop: accepts text/uri-list and x-special/gnome-copied-files drops, converts to Vec<PathBuf> (src/dnd.rs:5-51).
• Bell: TermEvent::Bell => { //TODO: audible or visible bell options? } — cosmic-term drops it too (src/main.rs:2998-3000). Its primary-selection OSC 52/clipboard path is TODO (src/main.rs:3012-3014,3022-3024) where DropTerm already handles both clipboards.
• URL opening: identical open::that_detached(&url) (src/main.rs:2484, 2513). No notifications, no OSC 7/133 handling, no shell-integration injection anywhere in the tree (grep: zero hits).

2. Ghostty quick terminal (ghostty.org config reference, docs read 2026-10-02)

The same feature class as DropTerm, fully enumerated (https://ghostty.org/docs/config/reference, sections quoted by anchor):

• quick-terminal-position: top|bottom|left|right|center — five edges incl. vertical, vs DropTerm’s two. No default keybind; you must bind toggle_quick_terminal yourself — same “compositor/desktop owns the global key” stance as DropTerm.
• quick-terminal-size: percent (20%) or pixels (300px), bare value hits the primary axis (height for top/bottom, width for left/right, orientation- dependent for center); comma-separated pair sizes both axes. DropTerm’s percent-of-output model is the same shape minus explicit pixel sizes.
• gtk-quick-terminal-layer: overlay|top|bottom|background, default top — vs DropTerm’s default Overlay (with top as an option).
• gtk-quick-terminal-namespace: layer namespace as a scripting/effect hook — DropTerm already sets "cosmic-ext-dropterm" (src/surface.rs:30).
• quick-terminal-screen: main|mouse|macos-menu-bar, default main, “Only implemented on macOS.” — so on Linux, Ghostty’s quick terminal has no monitor choice at all. DropTerm’s “output under cursor” (Active) is already ahead of Linux Ghostty here.
• quick-terminal-animation-duration: “Only implemented on macOS.” — the Linux quick terminal doesn’t animate; DropTerm’s 130 ms slide exceeds the platform’s own bar.
• quick-terminal-autohide: hide on focus loss; default true on macOS, false on Linux/BSD, with the stated reason that global shortcuts on Linux are less accessible, so keeping the terminal open is preferable.
• quick-terminal-keyboard-interactivity: none|on-demand|exclusive, default on-demand, mapped 1:1 to wlr-layer-shell’s enum and documented as compositor-dependent — exactly DropTerm’s keyboard_mode (src/config.rs:59-69) with a different default (DropTerm: Exclusive).
• quick-terminal-space-behavior (macOS spaces): move|remain, Linux always move — N/A on COSMIC.
• Shell integration is auto-injected (shell-integration = detect by filename; features cursor/sudo/title/ssh-env/ssh-terminfo/path, #shell-integration + #shell-integration-features), enabling cursor-click-to-move (OSC 133-based click-to-prompt), cwd reporting for window/tab/split inheritance (window/tab/split-inherit-working-directory, all default true), and notify-on-command-finish (never|unfocused|always, needs OSC 133 or shell integration; action bell and/or notify; notify-on-command-finish-after 5 s default).
• Notifications/bell: desktop-notifications = true (OSC 9 and OSC 777), progress-style (OSC 9;4), bell-features (system|audio|attention|title| border, attention + title on by default — 🔔 prefix in the title and urgency until focused), app-notifications toasts for clipboard-copy / config-reload (GTK).
• Clipboard policy: clipboard-read/clipboard-write = ask|allow|deny, “allow clipboard reading after prompting the user and allow writing unconditionally” by default; clipboard-paste-protection against paste-with-newlines attacks.
• gtk-single-instance = detect — single-instance unless launched from a terminal (TERM_PROGRAM set) or given CLI args, because the running instance’s config wins.

3. Yakuake (invent.kde.org/utilities/yakuake @ master 9ddf4ba, 2026-09-26)

The original drop-down terminal (Konsole-based, Qt/KDE):

• D-Bus is the product: three registered objects export scriptable slots — /yakuake/window (toggleWindowState), /yakuake/sessions (45 slots: addSession, addSessionTwoHorizontal/ Vertical/Quad, split*, runCommand, runCommandInTerminal, tryGrowTerminal{Left,Right,Top,Bottom}, keyboard-input broadcast setSessionKeyboardInputEnabled, activity/silence monitoring setSessionMonitorActivityEnabled/Silence, isSessionClosable, sessionIdList, …), /yakuake/tabs (tabTitle, setTabTitle, sessionAtTab) (app/mainwindow.cpp:67, app/sessionstack.cpp:26, app/tabbar.cpp:36; Q_SCRIPTABLE lists in app/sessionstack.h:45-108, app/tabbar.h:52-56, app/mainwindow.h:76). KDE advertises this on the app page: “Sophisticated D-Bus interface” (https://apps.kde.org/yakuake/).
• Window semantics (app/config/yakuake.kcfg): Screen 0 = “the screen the mouse pointer is on”, else a fixed screen number (L8-12); Width 90% (10-100), Height 50% (L13-26); Position = center point as a percentage from the left edge (L27-33) — a horizontal-slider model vs DropTerm’s discrete Left/Center/Right; KeepOpen default true (L39-43); ToggleToFocus (toggle key refocuses instead of retracting, default false, L49-53); KeepAbove true; ShowSystrayIcon default true (L74-78) — the tray icon is how you toggle without the global key; DynamicTabTitles; KeepOpenAfterLastSessionCloses false; ConfirmQuit true.
• Behavior: FocusFollowsMouse (per-terminal within splits, default false), OpenAfterStart (open the window on launch, default false — i.e. Yakuake can start hidden at login), RememberFullscreen (L80-96); mouse-edge auto-open (PollMouse, 500 ms interval, default false, L183-193).
• Animation: WM-assisted slide with fallback to progressive window-mask; Frames = 17 × 10 ms ≈ 170 ms default (L169-181) — DropTerm’s 130 ms is in-family.
• No session restore on quit in master (a work/session-save-restore branch exists); sessions = tabs-with-splits; shell integration is Konsole’s (OSC 7 etc. handled by the embedded Konsole part, not Yakuake itself).

4. Guake (github.com/Guake/guake @ master 0911ddf, 2026-08-19)

The GNOME original, Python/GTK, VTE-based:

• D-Bus org.guake3.RemoteControl at /org/guake3/RemoteControl (guake/dbusiface.py:31-40) with ~30 methods mirroring its CLI: show_hide/show/hide/get_visibility/fullscreen/unfullscreen, add_tab(directory), close_tab, select_tab(index), get_selected_tab(label), get_tab_count, select_terminal, get_selected_terminal, execute_command, v/h_split_current_terminal(_with_command), set_bgcolor/fgcolor(_current_terminal), change_palette_name, reset_colors, rename_tab(_uuid)/rename_current_tab, get_selected_uuidtab, show_about/show_prefs/quit (guake/dbusiface.py:42-217).
• CLI = the D-Bus surface: --toggle-visibility --is-visible --show --hide --preferences --about --new-tab --select-tab --selected-tab --selected-tablabel --select-terminal --selected-terminal --split-vertical --split-horizontal --execute-command --tab-index --bgcolor --fgcolor --change-palette --reset-colors --rename-tab --rename-current-tab --quit --no-startup-script --save-preferences --restore-preferences (guake/main.py:90-398).
• Settings (guake/data/org.guake.gschema.xml): mouse-display default true (appear on the mouse’s monitor) overriding display-n (L19-28); window-width 100 / window-height 50 percent (L189-198); window-halignment 0 center/1 left/2 right, window-valignment 0 top/1 bottom (L209-218) — DropTerm’s geometry model almost exactly; window-losefocus default false + lazy-losefocus (debounce the hide, for desktop-switch/IME flicker; L114-123); window-refocus (toggle refocuses instead of hiding, default false); window-ontop true; open-tab-cwd default true — new tabs open in the current working directory (L299-303); new-tab-after default false (append at end vs DropTerm’s insert-after-active); prompt-on-quit true and prompt-on-close-tab 0 never/1 if process running/2 always; use-popup (startup notification, default true); startup-script — a shell script run at launch that configures tabs via the CLI above (L154-158); the homepage advertises “Start Guake automatically at login, and define a script … to configure Guake tabs” (https://guake.github.io/#more).
• Quick Open: Ctrl+click a filename in the output → opens it in your editor at line:col; quick-open-enable default false, configurable command line, “in current terminal” variant (gschema L139-152; homepage “Quick Open” feature blurb).

5. kitty (sw.kovidgoyal.net, docs read 2026-10-02; kitty 0.49.x)

• OSC 52 policy — the reference security model: clipboard_control write-clipboard write-primary read-clipboard-ask read-primary-ask (default): writes allowed, reads ask, because “any program, even the ones running on a remote server via SSH can read your clipboard” (https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/conf/#opt-kitty.clipboard_control); clipboard_max_size 512 MB. kitty also extends OSC 52 with OSC 5522 (arbitrary MIME types, chunking, per-request passwords to avoid repeated prompts, EPERM/EFBIG-style error codes) (https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/clipboard/). Peers’ defaults agree on “write ok, read gated”: Alacritty terminal.osc52 = OnlyCopy default (extra/man/alacritty.5.scd L618-624), Ghostty read=ask, iTerm2 “Allow sending of clipboard contents? … requires you to consent each time” (https://iterm2.com/documentation-one-page.html, Selection prefs). DropTerm’s engine-default OnlyCopy is the mainstream position.
• Notifications: an extensible OSC 99 desktop-notification protocol — title/body chunking, icons, buttons, sounds, a=focus|report click actions (focus the originating window and/or reply an escape code), c=1 close events, f/t app-name/type keys for filtering via filter_notification (https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/desktop-notifications/). Bell side: enable_audio_bell yes, visual_bell_duration/color, window_alert_on_bell yes (urgency/demand-attention), bell_on_tab "🔔 " (tab indicator while unfocused), command_on_ball hook (conf#opt-kitty.* in the conf reference).
• Remote control: allow_remote_control no|yes|password|socket|socket-only (default no) + listen_on unix/tcp socket; fine-grained per-action permissions and a user authorization program — i.e. remote control is powerful (send-text, launch, get-text, screenshot, …) and deliberately off by default (https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/conf/#opt-kitty.allow_remote_control, remote-control doc). Contrast: Yakuake/Guake expose their D-Bus unconditionally on the session bus.
• Shell integration is auto-injected (shell_integration enabled, features no-rc no-cursor no-title no-cwd no-prompt-mark no-complete no-sudo; conf#opt-kitty.shell_integration) — OSC 7 cwd, OSC 133 prompt marks — and kitty ≥ 0.42 ships an official quick-access-terminal kitten (“Access kitty with a single keypress”, quake-style layer-shell window; docs TOC https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/kittens/quick-access-terminal/).
• allow_hyperlinks yes processes OSC 8, with an ask value that confirms before opening a clicked link (conf#opt-kitty.allow_hyperlinks).

6. Escape-sequence specs — who owns what

• OSC 52 — xterm ctlseqs, “Manipulate Selection Data”: base64 payload writes the selection; ? queries it back; gated by xterm’s allowWindowOps resource — i.e. even xterm treats it as disable-able window op (https://invisible-island.net/xterm/ctlseqs/ctlseqs.html, OSC Ps=52; patch #411, 2026-08-23). xterm’s OSC table has no OSC 7, 8, 9, 133 — those all came from elsewhere.
• OSC 7 (cwd) — canonical form OSC 7 ; file://host/path ST, from VTE’s __vte_osc7 (src/vte.sh.in:56-58 @ gitlab VTE 1a63c87, emitted per prompt via PROMPT_COMMAND/precmd_functions); WezTerm’s shell-integration doc notes the sequence “originated in the macOS Terminal application” (https://wezterm.org/shell-integration.html). Implemented by: VTE/GNOME Terminal, Konsole, kitty (feature no-cwd), WezTerm (shipped assets/shell-integration/wezterm.sh, distro-packaged to auto-activate), iTerm2 (as OSC 1337 ; CurrentDir), VS Code (OSC 633 ; P ; Cwd=…). Not by xterm; DropTerm gets cwd via /proc instead — equivalent locally, useless over SSH (which is also the spoofing argument for treating remote OSC 7 with care).
• OSC 8 (hyperlinks) — already handled by DropTerm’s engine (cell hyperlink() in src/terminal/widget.rs:1692-1711); spec-wise it’s the iterm2/kitty proposal, documented in kitty conf (allow_hyperlinks) and iTerm2’s escape codes page.
• OSC 133 (prompt marks) — FinalTerm’s “shell integration” sequences, documented by iTerm2 as its Shell Integration foundation: A prompt start, B command start, C pre-exec, D ; exit-code finish (https://iterm2.com/documentation-one-page.html, “FinalTerm escape sequences”; plain-text excerpt verified). VS Code supports 133 and its own OSC 633 A/B/C/D/E;cmdline;nonce/P;Cwd= superset — the nonce specifically “to prevent command spoofing” — and spells out the payoff: exit-code decorations, command navigation, sticky scroll, quick fixes, run-recent-command, go-to-recent-directory, reliable cwd (https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/terminal/shell-integration, “Supported escape sequences”). Ghostty’s notify-on-command-finish explicitly requires OSC 133 or shell integration (§2). Nobody implements 133 in the alacritty_terminal engine DropTerm embeds (vte parses-and-drops unknown OSCs), so this would be engine work.
• OSC 9 (notification) / OSC 9;4 (progress) — iTerm2: OSC 9 ; message posts a notification; OSC 9 ; 4 ; st ; pr drives a progress bar with states 0 clear / 1 percent / 2 error / 3 indeterminate / 4 paused (iterm2 one-page doc, “Post a notification” + “Progress Bar”). ConEmu-originated; Ghostty gates both (desktop-notifications, progress-style, §2). rxvt’s OSC 777 ; notify ; Title ; Body is the third notification spelling (supported by Ghostty’s desktop-notifications alongside OSC 9).
• Desktop notifications, done properly — kitty’s OSC 99 spec is the most complete (buttons, activation reports, filtering; §5). The freedesktop delivery side is the org.freedesktop.Notifications D-Bus spec (referenced from kitty’s doc for categories).

7. The COSMIC/libcosmic environment (what is even possible today)

• Portals — xdg-desktop-portal-cosmic @ 4902f57 (2026-09-30) implements exactly: org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Access; FileChooser; RemoteDesktop; Screenshot; Settings; ScreenCast (data/cosmic.portal). No GlobalShortcuts, no Notification, no Secret, no OpenURI, no Background. Consequences: (a) DropTerm’s custom-shortcut toggle is the only sanctioned global-key path (README is right); (b) notifications must go directly to D-Bus org.freedesktop.Notifications, not a portal — served on COSMIC by pop-os/cosmic-notifications (“Layer Shell notifications daemon which integrates with COSMIC”, per the repo); (c) URL opening via open/xdg-open is correct because there is no OpenURI portal to use; (d) libcosmic’s dialog::file_chooser (ashpd-backed, src/dialog/file_chooser/open.rs:157) does work on COSMIC since FileChooser is implemented.
• libcosmic @ 08a09e3 (DropTerm’s pinned rev; local cargo checkout): cosmic::applet module (panel-applet Context, Size, PanelAnchor, column/row layout, tooltips, cosmic::applet::run — src/applet/mod.rs:1-60, plus a complete examples/applet); zbus 5.15 is a first-class (optional) dependency and single-instance/dbus_activation are built on it (Cargo.toml:68-116, src/dbus_activation.rs); widget::toaster for in-app toasts (src/widget/mod.rs:313); command::file_transfer_send/receive via ashpd (src/command.rs:51-67); desktop.rs DesktopEntryCache for launching apps. There is no notification helper at this rev (grep notif in src/: zero hits) — use notify-rust (or raw zbus) as a direct dependency, the way cosmic-term added secret-service rather than waiting for toolkit support.
• Panel applets — applets are separate binaries identified by app id (com.system76.CosmicApplet* listed in cosmic-panel-config’s default container config, cosmic-panel @ f4ba4ef, cosmic-panel-config/src/container_config.rs:151-156); libcosmic’s applet module hosts them in the panel via layer-shell. A DropTerm applet would be a second process talking to the main one over the existing single-instance D-Bus seam.
• Autostart — no Background/autostart portal on COSMIC, but the classic XDG ~/.config/autostart/*.desktop mechanism works (no sandbox), matching Yakuake OpenAfterStart/Guake start-at-login rather than a portal.

8. Briefly: WezTerm & Alacritty conventions

• WezTerm: shell integration = OSC 7 + OSC 133 + OSC 1337 user vars (WEZTERM_PROG/USER/HOST/IN_TMUX), shipped as shell scripts, distro packages auto-activate them (https://wezterm.org/shell-integration.html). Its CLI wezterm start --cwd explicitly notes the cwd comes from OSC 7; it’s a multiplexer (cli subcommands connect/ls/set-tab-title/…) — the remote-control-rich model DropTerm’s single-instance D-Bus echoes in miniature.
• Alacritty: config-first, no D-Bus remote control at all; OSC 52 policy enum Disabled|OnlyCopy|OnlyPaste|CopyPaste default OnlyCopy; visual-bell table (animation/color/duration/command); hints with hyperlinks = true inclusion (extra/man/alacritty.5.scd L495-530, 618-624, 685-694). DropTerm inherits the engine’s defaults verbatim today.

Ranked applicability

Ranked by applicability × effort × dependency risk (libcosmic rev / portal status). “Blocked” marks the known constraints.

Rejected, and why

• Shell-integration auto-injection (Ghostty detect, kitty enabled, WezTerm distro packaging): powerful but a large, security-sensitive surface — shipping shell scripts for 5 shells, injecting env (TERM_PROGRAM-gated), and maintaining them. DropTerm’s /proc cwd covers the drop-down’s actual needs (rows 3/10) without touching user dotfiles. Revisit only if OSC 133 features (prompt marks, command-finish notify) become a goal.
• OSC 133 / OSC 633 prompt marks & command awareness: not rejected on merit (VS Code and iTerm2 show the payoff) but on cost — the alacritty_terminal grid records no marks, so this is engine-fork territory; 633 specifically is VS Code-private and TERM_PROGRAM=vscode-gated by design. Do the bell/notification path (row 1) first, which needs no shell cooperation.
• kitty OSC 5522 advanced clipboard: single implementer, zero client demand on a COSMIC drop-down; OSC 52 (copy-only) is the interoperable subset everything speaks.
• Notification / OpenURI portals: not implemented by xdg-desktop-portal-cosmic (§7) — using them would silently no-op. Direct D-Bus notifications and open/xdg-open are the correct COSMIC-native mechanisms today.
• Yakuake mouse-edge auto-open (PollMouse): polling the pointer against the screen edge to open the window — a gimmick even Yakuake ships disabled; conflicts with DropTerm’s toggle-only interaction model.
• Yakuake skins / Guake palette-count one-upmanship: theming belongs to the COSMIC system theme + DropTerm’s scheme registry (see terminal-theming.md), not per-app skin bundles.
• Ghostty quick-terminal-space-behavior: macOS Spaces concept; no COSMIC equivalent (workspaces are compositor-side).
• iTerm2-style deep integrations — tmux control-mode, buried sessions, instant replay, coprocesses, Python API: excellent but orthogonal to drop-down DE integration; each is a project, none is on the ROADMAP.
• tmux/multiplexer-style remote control (kitty @, WezTerm mux): remote control powerful enough to read the screen and send keystrokes needs kitty-grade permission machinery (passwords, per-action grants); Guake/ Yakuake’s narrow action-menu (row 4) is the right scope for DropTerm.
• Flatpak packaging: non-goal per README — layer-shell and toplevel-management aren’t exposed to sandboxes on cosmic-comp.
• Fullscreen toggle (cosmic-term F11): a percent-height drop-down already reaches 100 % via config/drag; a distinct fullscreen mode adds a state for no new capability.
• Changing the hide-on-focus-loss default: not a new integration, but note DropTerm ships the minority default (hide; peers keep open — see TL;DR). Any behavior change should be a deliberate product decision with the README corrected either way, since the current prose mis-cites the peers.

Sources

• DropTerm local tree: src/main.rs, src/app.rs, src/config.rs, src/keybinds.rs, src/surface.rs, src/session.rs, src/terminal/{mod,engine,widget}.rs, Cargo.toml, README.md, ROADMAP.md
• pop-os/cosmic-term @ 3ef31d750d3b09a73f266923b0d64c5df038cf9f (master, 2026-10-01): src/shortcuts.rs (whole file, 588 L), src/config.rs L189-244, src/terminal.rs L440-575, src/main.rs L95-145, L391-531, L1029-1046, L2381-2401, L2484-2513, L2996-3024, src/password_manager.rs, src/dnd.rs, Cargo.toml — https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-term
• Ghostty config reference (read 2026-10-02): https://ghostty.org/docs/config/reference — quick-terminal-position, -size, -screen, -animation-duration, -autohide, -space-behavior, -keyboard-interactivity, gtk-quick-terminal-layer, -namespace, shell-integration(-features), cursor-click-to-move, notify-on-command-finish(-action/-after), bell-features, desktop-notifications, progress-style, app-notifications, clipboard-read/write, gtk-single-instance, window/tab/split-inherit-working-directory
• Yakuake @ invent.kde.org master 9ddf4ba3106cdd3cc78f641895c32aec923069bd (2026-09-26): app/config/yakuake.kcfg (whole file, 207 L), app/mainwindow.{h,cpp} L67/L76, app/sessionstack.h L45-108, app/tabbar.h L52-56 — https://invent.kde.org/utilities/yakuake; feature summary https://apps.kde.org/yakuake/
• Guake @ github master 0911ddfe25a0c4019d2516b90982854d192e91cd (2026-08-19): guake/dbusiface.py (whole file, 217 L), guake/main.py L90-398, guake/data/org.guake.gschema.xml L19-303, docs/source/user/{cli,dbus}.rst — https://github.com/Guake/guake; homepage https://guake.github.io/
• kitty docs (read 2026-10-02, current for 0.49.x): https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/conf/ (clipboard_control, clipboard_max_size, allow_remote_control, listen_on, shell_integration, bell options, allow_hyperlinks, confirm_close), https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/desktop-notifications/ (OSC 99 spec), https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/clipboard/ (OSC 5522 spec), quick-access-terminal kitten TOC
• xterm ctlseqs (patch #411, 2026-08-23): https://invisible-island.net/xterm/ctlseqs/ctlseqs.html — OSC table (Ps=0..52; no OSC 7/8/9/133), OSC 52 “Manipulate Selection Data”
• iTerm2 documentation (one-page, read 2026-10-02): https://iterm2.com/documentation-one-page.html — FinalTerm OSC 133 section, OSC 9 notification, OSC 9;4 progress states, OSC 1337;CurrentDir, hotkey window, Notification Center alerts, clipboard consent prefs, tab activity indicators
• VS Code shell integration docs (read 2026-10-02): https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/terminal/shell-integration — OSC 633 A/B/C/D/E/P incl. Cwd property and anti-spoofing nonce; OSC 133 support; feature list (decorations, sticky scroll, quick fixes, cwd detection)
• GNOME VTE @ gitlab 1a63c87b0702c112406229f3cf98c389d51ca4d4 (2026-09-17): src/vte.sh.in L56-136 (__vte_osc7 emits OSC 7;file://host/path) — https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/vte
• WezTerm shell integration: https://wezterm.org/shell-integration.html (OSC 7 origin note, OSC 133 zones, OSC 1337 user vars, distro activation); CLI reference (wezterm start --cwd / OSC 7)
• Alacritty @ master: extra/man/alacritty.5.scd L495-530 (bell), L618-624 (terminal.osc52), L685-694 (hints hyperlinks) — https://github.com/alacritty/alacritty
• alacritty_terminal 0.25.1 (local cargo registry, Apache-2.0): src/term/mod.rs L345-390 (Config::osc52, Osc52 enum, default OnlyCopy), L1706-1728 (store/load gating); src/event.rs L18-51 (Title/ResetTitle/Bell/ClipboardStore events)
• libcosmic @ 08a09e3dfa1f729d52585fcedd6e731130235363 (DropTerm’s pinned rev, local cargo checkout): src/applet/mod.rs + examples/applet, src/dialog/file_chooser/open.rs:157, src/command.rs:51-67, src/widget/mod.rs (toaster), Cargo.toml (zbus 5.15, ashpd, single-instance, applet features) — https://github.com/pop-os/libcosmic/tree/08a09e3dfa1f729d52585fcedd6e731130235363
• xdg-desktop-portal-cosmic @ 4902f57242bc79f78588e245e5636e0d722c694a (2026-09-30): data/cosmic.portal (Interfaces list), src/{access,app,file_chooser,remote_desktop,screenshot,screencast,main}.rs — https://github.com/pop-os/xdg-desktop-portal-cosmic
• cosmic-panel @ f4ba4efb89bf070df91efe291272788e6d009da7 (2026-10-01): cosmic-panel-config/src/container_config.rs L151-156 (applet app-ids) — https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-panel
• cosmic-notifications (COSMIC notifications daemon serving org.freedesktop.Notifications): https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-notifications