{"slug": "rio", "name": "Rio", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 7, "warners": 2, "score": 1.399, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2026-02-18", "latest": "2026-10-27", "why": "", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/rdap/rio", "official_url": "https://github.com/rdap/rio", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Rio", "rio"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 796281088, "item_id": 49767568, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49767568", "by": "calvinmorrison", "date": "2026-09-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "rio?", "excerpt": "rio? and there's a detailed write up https://aryx.github.io/assets/pdfs/Windows-7.pdf", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A graphical desktop for the ZX Spectrum"}, {"id": 759699717, "item_id": 47481232, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481232", "by": "anthk", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "rio instead of the X11 disaster", "excerpt": "I used to use OpenBSD, but license wise I'm more pro-GNU. Hyperbola will rebase their OS from GNU/Linux to Hyperbola BSD. The thing is: - wifi blobs under OpenBSD = easy kernel panics. Atheros ath9k drivers were many times easier to debug - Ditto with nasty Radeon blobs. The more blobs you have, the less stuff you can understand. Again, these are a good source of kernel panics. - Blobs from sound SOCs are no better a", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Revert \"userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records"}, {"id": 757094656, "item_id": 47318416, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47318416", "by": "BirAdam", "date": "2026-03-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "https://github.com/rdap/rio", "excerpt": "https://github.com/rdap/rio", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "ma"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 804227874, "item_id": 50264242, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50264242", "by": "dimator", "date": "2026-10-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "i tried ghostty, rio, wezterm, they all stuck for about a month or so... then the subtle usability issues become too much", "excerpt": "i tried ghostty, rio, wezterm, they all stuck for about a month or so... then the subtle usability issues become too much, and i wonder why i switched from iterm2 to begin with. there's something to be said for years of polish, and feature work that is well-baked. iterm2 is fast, reliable, and second nature. i don't have to edit settings every day.", "context": "", "use_case": "terminal emulator", "switched_from": "iTerm2", "story": "Ghostty 1.4"}, {"id": 753004705, "item_id": 47062794, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47062794", "by": "networked", "date": "2026-02-18", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "If we literally used rio GUIs designed around the three-button mouse and desktop pixel density, it would be a lot less ergonomic.", "excerpt": "(I didn't downvote you.) Plan 9 made some really cool design decisions, and I keep looking for places to use 9P. I also believe that Plan 9, as an artifact of its era, bet too heavily on the mouse and pixel-mapped graphics. Text, character-cell terminal emulation, and SSH won for good reasons. \"GUI > terminal\" is a separate matter from \"Plan 9 > Unix\". In some important ways, even text with hacky escape codes is more", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Terminals should generate the 256-color palette"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["terminal emulator", "window system mouse multiplexing", "window system"], "compared": [{"slug": "iterm2", "name": "iTerm2", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "plan-9", "name": "Plan 9", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "9front", "name": "9front", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 756915872, "item_id": 47307242, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47307242", "by": "carlos-menezes", "date": "2026-03-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a modern TypeScript HTTP client for Node.js 24+, Deno and Bun", "excerpt": "I started working on Rio[0], a modern TypeScript HTTP client for Node.js 24+, Deno and Bun. It's built on the native `fetch` API and fully type-safe from request to response. It's still very much a work in progress but I'm working towards an alternative to fetch/Axios/ky I wish I had. [0] https://github.com/carlos-menezes/rio", "context": "", "use_case": "TypeScript HTTP client", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47286511", "title": "ma", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50261998", "title": "Ghostty 1.4", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49766676", "title": "A graphical desktop for the ZX Spectrum", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49154249", "title": "9front \"This Was Supposed to Be Fun\" Released", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47471213", "title": "Revert \"userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47303111", "title": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"warn": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"warn": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 804227874, "item_id": 50264242, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50264242", "by": "dimator", "date": "2026-10-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "i tried ghostty, rio, wezterm, they all stuck for about a month or so... then the subtle usability issues become too much", "excerpt": "i tried ghostty, rio, wezterm, they all stuck for about a month or so... then the subtle usability issues become too much, and i wonder why i switched from iterm2 to begin with. there's something to be said for years of polish, and feature work that is well-baked. iterm2 is fast, reliable, and second nature. i don't have to edit settings every day.", "context": "", "use_case": "terminal emulator", "switched_from": "iTerm2", "story": "Ghostty 1.4"}, {"id": 796281088, "item_id": 49767568, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49767568", "by": "calvinmorrison", "date": "2026-09-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "rio?", "excerpt": "rio? and there's a detailed write up https://aryx.github.io/assets/pdfs/Windows-7.pdf", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A graphical desktop for the ZX Spectrum"}, {"id": 786611169, "item_id": 49163198, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49163198", "by": "MisterTea", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Rio and other window managers like Lola, multiplex it", "excerpt": "> I do know that in Plan9, 'everything is a file' is literally correct. Almost correct. There are also shared memory segments via segment(3). You segattach(2) to a segment from a user space process then read/write that memory as a file from a user space process [1]. Drivers can expose memory mapped IO (e.g. PCI cards) using a physical segment and segattach to that from a user space process. The vga(8) program does th", "context": "", "use_case": "window system mouse multiplexing", "switched_from": "", "story": "9front \"This Was Supposed to Be Fun\" Released"}, {"id": 759699717, "item_id": 47481232, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481232", "by": "anthk", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "rio instead of the X11 disaster", "excerpt": "I used to use OpenBSD, but license wise I'm more pro-GNU. Hyperbola will rebase their OS from GNU/Linux to Hyperbola BSD. The thing is: - wifi blobs under OpenBSD = easy kernel panics. Atheros ath9k drivers were many times easier to debug - Ditto with nasty Radeon blobs. The more blobs you have, the less stuff you can understand. Again, these are a good source of kernel panics. - Blobs from sound SOCs are no better a", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Revert \"userdb: add birthDate field to JSON user records"}, {"id": 759451137, "item_id": 47465696, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47465696", "by": "kalterdev", "date": "2026-03-21", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Rio, Acme, and occasionally Sam from plan9port", "excerpt": "I use Rio, Acme, and occasionally Sam from plan9port [1]. The only major problems are X.org dependency, lack of mouse warping in XWayland (essential for Acme), and slow text rendering on Raspberry Pi 5. [1]: https://9fans.github.io/plan9port/", "context": "", "use_case": "window system", "switched_from": "", "story": "ma"}, {"id": 757094656, "item_id": 47318416, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47318416", "by": "BirAdam", "date": "2026-03-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "https://github.com/rdap/rio", "excerpt": "https://github.com/rdap/rio", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "ma"}, {"id": 753004705, "item_id": 47062794, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47062794", "by": "networked", "date": "2026-02-18", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "If we literally used rio GUIs designed around the three-button mouse and desktop pixel density, it would be a lot less ergonomic.", "excerpt": "(I didn't downvote you.) Plan 9 made some really cool design decisions, and I keep looking for places to use 9P. I also believe that Plan 9, as an artifact of its era, bet too heavily on the mouse and pixel-mapped graphics. Text, character-cell terminal emulation, and SSH won for good reasons. \"GUI > terminal\" is a separate matter from \"Plan 9 > Unix\". In some important ways, even text with hacky escape codes is more", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Terminals should generate the 256-color palette"}]}