| Type | Preview support |
|---|---|
| Text and code | Plain text, source code with syntax highlighting, Markdown, logs, and source-like HTML. |
| Structured data | JSON, JSONC, JSON5, YAML, TOML, .env files, CSV/TSV, and SQLite metadata. |
| Documents | PDF, EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, Office/OpenDocument files, and Apple Pages metadata where supported. |
| Media | Image metadata and inline previews, audio metadata and covers, and video metadata and thumbnails. |
| Folders and archives | Directories, ZIP/TAR/RAR/7z archives, CBZ/CBR comics, torrents, ISO images, and similar containers. |
| Binary files | Metadata-focused previews for non-text files when richer previewers do not apply. |
PREVIEWS
Previews
Preview coverage, image support, SSH behavior, and useful environment options.
COVERAGE
What elio can preview
Optional preview tools
Install preview tools for rendered PDFs, video thumbnails, album art, SVGs, comic archives, and extra archive formats.
View optional toolsIMAGE PREVIEWS
Inline visual previews
Terminal support
| Terminal | Protocol | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Kitty | Kitty Graphics Protocol | Auto-detected |
| Ghostty | Kitty Graphics Protocol | Auto-detected |
| Warp | Kitty direct-placement protocol | Auto-detected |
| WezTerm | iTerm2 Inline Protocol | Auto-detected |
| iTerm2 | iTerm2 Inline Protocol | Auto-detected |
| Konsole | Kitty direct-placement protocol | Auto-detected |
| foot | Sixel | Auto-detected |
| Windows Terminal | Sixel | Auto-detected |
Notes
- Sixel terminals can render large or first-time previews more slowly than Kitty Graphics or iTerm2 Inline backends.
- In Konsole, inline previews are temporarily cleared while modal popups are open to avoid rendering artifacts.
SSH
Using elio over SSH
Remote preview behavior
Text and code previews work well over SSH. Rich visual previews depend on image protocol support in the local terminal and optional preview tools on the remote host. Terminal apps chosen through Open With run inside the current SSH session, while GUI/default openers use the remote host opener stack.
ENVIRONMENT
Useful environment variables
| Variable | Effect |
|---|---|
ELIO_IMAGE_PREVIEWS=1 | Force-enable Kitty Graphics Protocol on unrecognized compatible terminals. |
ELIO_ZOXIDE_OPTS | Extra options appended to the zoxide interactive picker options. |
ELIO_DEBUG_PREVIEW | Log image preview activity to elio-preview.log in the system temp directory. |
ELIO_LOG_MOUSE | Log raw mouse events to elio-mouse.log in the system temp directory. |