[ feature request ] Change window color when using sudo

[yonas]

ptyxis terminal changes window color to red when using sudo/doas.

Can we add this behaviour to kitty?

[kovidgoyal]

No, it's a silly feature. Your shell prompt already changes to indicate you are in root mode. There is no real advantage to changing titlebar color.

[yonas]

Your shell prompt already changes to indicate you are in root mode.

Perhaps if you happen to be using such prompts. For eg., by default, sh (bourne shell) - the default shell on FreeBSD - doesn't indicated this.

The big advantage is that the titlebar colour is a standard way of indicating root mode very clearly, even if you happen to be using a prompt that doesn't have this, or accidentally broke your prompt.

I really think this is a modern feature that all terminals should add, which could be disabled via some boolean toggle variable in the config / options menu.

[kovidgoyal]

Trot out the edge cases. Broken prompts, FreeBSD being brain dead. Really?!! OK then let me trot out the edge cases too. What happens if you are using server side window decorations so you cant control the titlebar colors, which is the default on everything but GNOME in Linux? What happens if the user chooses to hide the window chrome? What happens on tiling window managers with no window chrome? What happens when there are multiple windows/tabs inside one OS Window some of which are in root and some not. The *natural* and *correct* place to indicate that the command you are about to run will run as root is at the place where you are running the command, aka, the command prompt. Just because something is "modern" doesn't make it an actually good idea.

[yonas]

What happens if you are using server side window decorations so you cant control the titlebar colors, which is the default on everything but GNOME in Linux?

If you can't control the titlebar colors, then this feature would not be enjoyed in those situations. Otherwise, someone looking for this feature would make sure their setup allows for control of titlebar colors.

What happens if the user chooses to hide the window chrome?

If the user knows this feature won't be available, then that's fine.

What happens on tiling window managers with no window chrome?

Change the background color. Allow the user to choose the color.

What happens when there are multiple windows/tabs inside one OS Window some of which are in root and some not.

I just tried this on ptyxis. It will change the titlebar color when you're on the tabs that are in root mode and switch to normal mode for the other tabs automatically.

[kovidgoyal]

On Sun, Nov 02, 2025 at 10:11:27PM -0800, Yonas Yanfa wrote: > What happens if you are using server side window decorations so you cant control the titlebar colors, which is the default on everything but GNOME in Linux? If you can't control the titlebar colors, then this feature would not be enjoyed in those situations. Otherwise, someone looking for this feature would make sure their setup allows for control of titlebar colors.

The same argument applies to not having a prommpt configured to show root status.

> What happens if the user chooses to hide the window chrome? If the user knows this feature won't be available, then that's fine. > What happens on tiling window managers with no window chrome? Change the background color. Allow the user to choose the color.

And that will break any full screen application that relies on colors not being different form what the terminal says they are.

> What happens when there are multiple windows/tabs inside one OS Window some of which are in root and some not. I just tried this on ptyxis. It will change the titlebar color when you're on the tabs that are in root mode and switch to normal mode for the other tabs automatically.

Which means that if I am in a large window, with the prompt at the bottom of the screen (where it usually after even a few commands) and I switch windows/tabs I actually have no indication of being in root unless I happen to move my eyes all the way to the titlebar.

[yonas]

Which means that if I am in a large window, with the prompt at the
bottom of the screen (where it usually after even a few commands) and I
switch windows/tabs I actually have no indication of being in root
unless I happen to move my eyes all the way to the titlebar.

It would still be better to err on the side of caution than to worry about the small number of cases like this.

[yonas]

By the way, ptyxis terminal is the new default terminal as of Ubuntu 25.10. That means this feature has already been rolled out around the world.

[kovidgoyal]

On Sun, Nov 02, 2025 at 10:35:52PM -0800, Yonas Yanfa wrote: > Which means that if I am in a large window, with the prompt at the bottom of the screen (where it usually after even a few commands) and I switch windows/tabs I actually have no indication of being in root unless I happen to move my eyes all the way to the titlebar. It would still be better to err on the side of caution than to worry about the small number of cases like this.

Yes and the side of caution is putting the indication where it belongs, at the prompt.

[kovidgoyal]

On Sun, Nov 02, 2025 at 10:32:50PM -0800, Yonas Yanfa wrote: By the way, [ptyxis](https://gitlab.gnome.org/chergert/ptyxis) terminal is the new default terminal as of Ubuntu 25.10. That means this feature has already been rolled out around the world.

And?