diff --git a/FAQ.md b/FAQ.md
index d2563e9fc..54600ee36 100644
--- a/FAQ.md
+++ b/FAQ.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
- [How can I select and copy text in a Textual app?](#how-can-i-select-and-copy-text-in-a-textual-app)
- [How do I center a widget in a screen?](#how-do-i-center-a-widget-in-a-screen)
- [How do I pass arguments to an app?](#how-do-i-pass-arguments-to-an-app)
+- [Why doesn't Textual look good on macOS?](#why-doesn't-textual-look-good-on-macos)
- [Why doesn't Textual support ANSI themes?](#why-doesn't-textual-support-ansi-themes)
@@ -172,6 +173,16 @@ Greetings(to_greet="davep").run()
Greetings("Well hello", "there").run()
```
+
+## Why doesn't Textual look good on macOS?
+
+The default macOS `Terminal.app` is getting rather old now; it has problems
+such as being limited to just 256 colors, being slow to draw and not all
+box-drawing characters are fully-supported. We recommend installing a newer
+terminal such as [iTerm2](https://iterm2.com/),
+[Kitty](https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/) or
+[WezTerm](https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/).
+
## Why doesn't Textual support ANSI themes?
diff --git a/questions/why-looks-bad-on-macos.question.md b/questions/why-looks-bad-on-macos.question.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9808a3c0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/questions/why-looks-bad-on-macos.question.md
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+---
+title: "Why doesn't Textual look good on macOS?"
+alt_titles:
+ - "looks bad on macOS"
+ - "dashed lines on macOS"
+ - "broken borders on macOS"
+ - "pale colors on macOS"
+ - "pale colours on macOS"
+ - "mac terminal"
+ - "macOS terminal"
+---
+
+The default macOS `Terminal.app` is getting rather old now; it has problems
+such as being limited to just 256 colors, being slow to draw and not all
+box-drawing characters are fully-supported. We recommend installing a newer
+terminal such as [iTerm2](https://iterm2.com/),
+[Kitty](https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/) or
+[WezTerm](https://wezfurlong.org/wezterm/).
diff --git a/src/textual/cli/cli.py b/src/textual/cli/cli.py
index 16ca139cb..c4d1da0a1 100644
--- a/src/textual/cli/cli.py
+++ b/src/textual/cli/cli.py
@@ -38,6 +38,38 @@ def console(verbose: bool, exclude: list[str]) -> None:
console.show_cursor(True)
+def _post_run_warnings() -> None:
+ """Look for and report any issues with the environment.
+
+ This is the right place to add code that looks at the terminal, or other
+ environmental issues, and if a problem is seen it should be printed so
+ the developer can see it easily.
+ """
+ import os
+ import platform
+
+ from rich.console import Console
+ from rich.panel import Panel
+
+ console = Console()
+
+ # Add any test/warning pair here. The list contains a tuple where the
+ # first item is `True` if a problem situation is detected, and the
+ # second item is a message to show the user on exit from `textual run`.
+ warnings = [
+ (
+ platform.system() == "Darwin"
+ and os.environ.get("TERM_PROGRAM") == "Apple_Terminal",
+ "The default terminal app on macOS is limited to 256 colors. See our FAQ for more details:\n\n"
+ "https://github.com/Textualize/textual/blob/main/FAQ.md#why-doesn't-textual-look-good-on-macos",
+ )
+ ]
+
+ for concerning, concern in warnings:
+ if concerning:
+ console.print(Panel.fit(f"⚠️ [bold green] {concern}[/]", style="cyan"))
+
+
@run.command(
"run",
context_settings={
@@ -119,6 +151,8 @@ def run_app(import_name: str, dev: bool, press: str, screenshot: int | None) ->
console.print("[b]The app returned:")
console.print(Pretty(result))
+ _post_run_warnings()
+
@run.command("borders")
def borders():