diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 236908d08..18245508f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -169,6 +169,9 @@
 
 * Adds `leftmost` and `rightmost` to `Control.Order`, a generalisation of `min` and `max`.
 
+* Adds `getTermCols` and `getTermLines` to the base library. They return the size of the
+  terminal if either stdin or stdout is a tty.
+
 #### System
 
 * Changes `getNProcessors` to return the number of online processors rather than
diff --git a/libs/base/System/Term.idr b/libs/base/System/Term.idr
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0c0a50605
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libs/base/System/Term.idr
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+module System.Term
+
+%default total
+
+libterm : String -> String
+libterm s = "C:" ++ s ++ ", libidris2_support, idris_term.h"
+
+%foreign libterm "idris2_setupTerm"
+prim__setupTerm : PrimIO ()
+
+%foreign libterm "idris2_getTermCols"
+prim__getTermCols : PrimIO Int
+
+%foreign libterm "idris2_getTermLines"
+prim__getTermLines : PrimIO Int
+
+export
+setupTerm : IO ()
+setupTerm = primIO prim__setupTerm
+
+export
+getTermCols : IO Int
+getTermCols = primIO prim__getTermCols
+
+export
+getTermLines : IO Int
+getTermLines = primIO prim__getTermLines
diff --git a/libs/base/base.ipkg b/libs/base/base.ipkg
index 81f829bfb..920834668 100644
--- a/libs/base/base.ipkg
+++ b/libs/base/base.ipkg
@@ -127,4 +127,5 @@ modules = Control.App,
           System.File.Virtual,
           System.Info,
           System.REPL,
-          System.Signal
+          System.Signal,
+          System.Term
diff --git a/src/Libraries/Utils/Term.idr b/src/Libraries/Utils/Term.idr
index 3a8eec70d..69b08d79e 100644
--- a/src/Libraries/Utils/Term.idr
+++ b/src/Libraries/Utils/Term.idr
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ module Libraries.Utils.Term
 
 %default total
 
+-- TODO: remove this file and use System.Term after version following 0.6.0 is released
+
 libterm : String -> String
 libterm s = "C:" ++ s ++ ", libidris2_support, idris_term.h"
 
diff --git a/support/c/idris_term.c b/support/c/idris_term.c
index 80e826928..3b3887d40 100644
--- a/support/c/idris_term.c
+++ b/support/c/idris_term.c
@@ -36,13 +36,23 @@ void idris2_setupTerm() {
 
 int idris2_getTermCols() {
   struct winsize ts;
-  ioctl(0, TIOCGWINSZ, &ts);
+  int err = ioctl(0, TIOCGWINSZ, &ts);
+  if (err) {
+    err = ioctl(1, TIOCGWINSZ, &ts);
+  }
+  if (err)
+    return 0;
   return (int)ts.ws_col;
 }
 
 int idris2_getTermLines() {
   struct winsize ts;
-  ioctl(0, TIOCGWINSZ, &ts);
+  int err = ioctl(0, TIOCGWINSZ, &ts);
+  if (err) {
+    err = ioctl(1, TIOCGWINSZ, &ts);
+  }
+  if (err)
+    return 0;
   return (int)ts.ws_row;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/Main.idr b/tests/Main.idr
index ae109ea3c..030fd22ea 100644
--- a/tests/Main.idr
+++ b/tests/Main.idr
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ idrisTestsAllSchemes : Requirement -> TestPool
 idrisTestsAllSchemes cg = MkTestPool
       ("Test across all scheme backends: " ++ show cg ++ " instance")
       [] (Just cg)
-      [ "scheme001"
+      [ "scheme001", "scheme002"
       , "channels001", "channels002", "channels003", "channels004", "channels005"
       , "channels006"
       ]
diff --git a/tests/allschemes/scheme002/TermSize.idr b/tests/allschemes/scheme002/TermSize.idr
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fdba50480
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/allschemes/scheme002/TermSize.idr
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+import System.Term
+
+main : IO ()
+main = do
+  width <- getTermCols
+  height <- getTermLines
+  printLn "Success \{show $ width > 0} \{show $ height > 0}"
diff --git a/tests/allschemes/scheme002/expected b/tests/allschemes/scheme002/expected
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5dbe5530d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/allschemes/scheme002/expected
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+"Success False False"
diff --git a/tests/allschemes/scheme002/run b/tests/allschemes/scheme002/run
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..ef7704711
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/allschemes/scheme002/run
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+rm -rf build
+
+# observe that errors are correctly reported as zero.
+$1 --exec main TermSize.idr </dev/null
+
+# The following should report True True, but the ci scripts don't
+# provide a terminal
+# $1 --exec main TermSize.idr
+
+# The following should also report True True if the output is a terminal,
+# but the testing framework redirects output.
+
+# idris2 --exec main tests/allschemes/scheme002/TermSize.idr </dev/null