diff --git a/doc/profile.conf.example b/doc/profile.conf.example
index 2610cb7..a771d02 100755
--- a/doc/profile.conf.example
+++ b/doc/profile.conf.example
@@ -21,8 +21,10 @@ HISTIGNORE="&:[bf]g:exit"
 # Default pager
 PAGER=less
 
-# Terminal colour capability
-TERM=xterm-256color
+# Terminal type.
+#   smart      — auto-detect the best available capability at startup (default)
+#   <specific> — force a specific terminfo entry, e.g. xterm-256color or vt100
+#TERM=smart
 
 # ==============================================================================
 [compress]
diff --git a/profile.d/conf.sh b/profile.d/conf.sh
index 9cfac55..1cf7691 100755
--- a/profile.d/conf.sh
+++ b/profile.d/conf.sh
@@ -256,4 +256,97 @@ export -f conf_dump
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
+# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Set TERM to the best terminal capability available on this system.
+# Called automatically at sourcing time.
+#
+# If TERM is already set to a specific value (not empty, not the sentinel
+# "smart"), it is honoured as-is — standard Unix behaviour.
+# If TERM is empty or set to "smart", terminal emulator hints are checked first
+# (COLORTERM, TERM_PROGRAM, VTE_VERSION, WT_SESSION, TMUX, STY), then terminfo
+# is probed in preference order: xterm-256color → xterm-color → xterm → vt100.
+#
+# Usage: term_set
+term_set()
+{
+    local _current="${TERM:-}"
+
+    # Specific value already set — nothing to do.
+    if [[ -n "$_current" && "$_current" != "smart" ]]; then
+        export TERM="$_current"
+        return 0
+    fi
+
+    # Return true when terminfo has an entry for the given terminal type.
+    local _term_has
+    _term_has() { tput -T "$1" longname >/dev/null 2>&1; }
+
+    local _candidate=""
+
+    # 1. Explicit truecolor hint set by modern terminal emulators.
+    if [[ "${COLORTERM:-}" == "truecolor" || "${COLORTERM:-}" == "24bit" ]]; then
+        local _t
+        for _t in xterm-direct xterm-256color; do
+            _term_has "$_t" && { _candidate="$_t"; break; }
+        done
+    fi
+
+    # 2. Terminal programme name hints.
+    if [[ -z "$_candidate" ]]; then
+        case "${TERM_PROGRAM:-}" in
+            iTerm.app)
+                _term_has "xterm-256color" && _candidate="xterm-256color"
+                ;;
+            WezTerm)
+                _term_has "wezterm"        && _candidate="wezterm"
+                [[ -z "$_candidate" ]] && _term_has "xterm-256color" && _candidate="xterm-256color"
+                ;;
+            Hyper|vscode)
+                _term_has "xterm-256color" && _candidate="xterm-256color"
+                ;;
+        esac
+    fi
+
+    # 3. VTE-based terminals (GNOME Terminal, Tilix, Xfce Terminal, …).
+    if [[ -z "$_candidate" && -n "${VTE_VERSION:-}" ]]; then
+        _term_has "vte-256color"  && _candidate="vte-256color"
+        [[ -z "$_candidate" ]] && _term_has "xterm-256color" && _candidate="xterm-256color"
+    fi
+
+    # 4. Windows Terminal.
+    if [[ -z "$_candidate" && -n "${WT_SESSION:-}" ]]; then
+        _term_has "xterm-256color" && _candidate="xterm-256color"
+    fi
+
+    # 5. tmux — prefer tmux-256color, fall back to screen-256color.
+    if [[ -z "$_candidate" && -n "${TMUX:-}" ]]; then
+        _term_has "tmux-256color"  && _candidate="tmux-256color"
+        [[ -z "$_candidate" ]] && _term_has "screen-256color" && _candidate="screen-256color"
+    fi
+
+    # 6. GNU screen — prefer screen-256color, fall back to screen.
+    if [[ -z "$_candidate" && -n "${STY:-}" ]]; then
+        _term_has "screen-256color" && _candidate="screen-256color"
+        [[ -z "$_candidate" ]] && _term_has "screen" && _candidate="screen"
+    fi
+
+    # 7. Generic terminfo probe in preference order.
+    if [[ -z "$_candidate" ]]; then
+        local _t
+        for _t in xterm-256color xterm-color xterm vt100; do
+            _term_has "$_t" && { _candidate="$_t"; break; }
+        done
+    fi
+
+    unset -f _term_has
+
+    export TERM="${_candidate:-vt100}"
+}
+export -f term_set
+# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+term_set
+
+
 # EOF
diff --git a/profile.d/help.sh b/profile.d/help.sh
index dc80753..df559de 100644
--- a/profile.d/help.sh
+++ b/profile.d/help.sh
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ help()
     printf "showinfo\tDisplay welcome banner and system information (figlet + neofetch/fastfetch)\n"
     printf "ssr\t\tSSH into a server as root, forwarding extra ssh options\n"
     printf "taz\t\tCompress files and directories into a chosen archive format\n"
+    printf "term_set\tSet TERM to the best available terminal capability (auto-detect or honour config)\n"
     printf "urlencode\tURL-encode a string\n"
     printf "utaz\t\tSmartly uncompress archives (zip, tar.gz/bz2/xz/lz, rar, arj, lha, ace, 7z, zst, cpio, cab, deb, rpm)\n"
     printf "ver\t\tDisplay the installed profile version\n\n"