Helix overrides Kitty Terminal's cursor_trail configuration

[genskyff]

I'm using Helix on macOS through the Kitty terminal emulator with the cursor_trail feature enabled. My kitty.conf is configured as follows:

cursor_trail 10
cursor_trail_decay 0.1 0.3

This configuration allows the cursor to have a trail effect similar to that of Neovide.

When I use Neovim within Kitty, the cursor trail effect works as expected because Neovim does not override Kitty's cursor settings.

However, when I use Helix, the cursor trail effect does not take effect. It appears that Helix's internal mechanisms override Kitty's cursor configurations.

Expected Behavior

Helix should respect the terminal emulator's cursor settings, allowing the cursor trail effect to function as configured.

Possible Solutions

Is there a way to prevent Helix from overriding the terminal emulator's cursor effects, or can this be configured through existing settings? If not, could this feature be added in a future update?

Environment

Operating System: macOS 14.7.2
Terminal Emulator: Kitty 0.39.0
Helix Version: 25.01.1 (e7ac2fc)

[pascalkuthe]

this is not possible, we always overwrite the terimnals cursor because we support multiple cursor and the terminal only supports a single cursor

[lavafroth]

kitty.conf

cursor_shape block
cursor_trail 1
cursor_trail_decay 0.1 0.3
cursor_trail_start_threshold 0
shell_integration no-cursor

.config/helix/config.toml

[editor.cursor-shape]
insert = "bar"
normal = "underline"
select = "underline"

Edit: switched normal and select mode to underline for easier distinction. Thank me later.

[sommerper]

@lavafroth Interesting, for some reason only the block shape doesn't work.

[lavafroth]

I believe this is because the block shape does not use the same block character as a shell. Helix simply inverts the background of what is under the cursor. For the other shapes like underline, helix has to print the underline character and kitty can latch on.

[sommerper]

Maybe Helix could render the main cursor as a real cursor and the rest as is. That would be awesome. I’m starting to like the kitty trail.