tty7 is a desktop terminal for local and remote development. A background server owns workspaces and panes, so closing a window does not end the shell or coding agent running inside it.

Install

Download a native build from Releases.

Platform	Download	Installation
macOS	`…-macos-arm64.dmg` · `…-x86_64.dmg`	Drag into Applications
Windows	`…-setup.exe` · portable `….zip`	Run the installer, or unzip
Linux	`…-x86_64.AppImage`	`chmod +x` and run; X11/Wayland libraries are bundled

Each installer includes the tty7 CLI and adds it to PATH.

Performance

On an Apple M1 Pro running macOS 26.3.1, using a 155×40 grid and five-run averages (2026-07-04):

	tty7	Alacritty	Ghostty	Kitty
Plaintext I/O — 11 MB `cat` _{(lower is better)}	95 ms	239 ms	179 ms	185 ms
DOOM-fire frame rate _{(higher is better)}	888 fps	485 fps	552 fps	617 fps
Cold-launch memory	116 MB¹	105 MB	128 MB	130 MB

_{¹ GUI 105 MB + persistent server 11 MB.}

Methodology and a one-command reproduction script: scripts/bench/.

Terminal features

Input: history suggestions, explained tab completion, syntax highlighting, fuzzy search, multi-line editing, and mouse cursor placement.
Window: tabs, splits, command palette, scrollback search, IME, nine themes, custom theme editing, system-appearance sync, and a tmux keybinding preset.
Agents: session fork, context commands, and a tray indicator for agents waiting on input.

For details, see Features · 中文.

Persistent sessions

The server keeps shells and panes alive when the application exits. They can be restored after the machine restarts. This removes the need to run tmux solely to keep terminal work alive.

Remote workspaces

tty7 uses a native Rust SSH implementation (russh). It supports saved profiles with credentials in the OS keychain, ~/.ssh/config aliases, GUI authentication, SFTP, port forwarding, and jump hosts.

When you open a remote workspace, tty7 installs tty7-server on the host over the existing SSH connection. The installation is one-time and does not require sudo. The server holds the remote workspace and its panes; they continue running while the local app is closed or the connection is unavailable. Reconnect from this or another client to continue using them.

Agent-aware

tty7 detects supported coding agents in each pane, including Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Aider, and OpenCode. It shows their status, sends notifications when an agent needs input, and displays the pane's git branch and working-tree changes. Supported agent conversations can be resumed after a restart.

CLI + Skills

The tty7 CLI exposes workspaces and panes to coding agents. The companion agent skill teaches an agent this interface: what each command does, how to address a workspace or pane, and when a task needs a real terminal instead of an ordinary shell command.

Together, they let an agent use tty7 as a shared terminal environment: create a pane for a task, run a server or interactive program there, send more input later, read its output, inspect its processes and ports, and work with the same local or connected remote workspaces that you see.

tty7 ls                                  # list workspaces and panes
tty7 pane split %42 --v                  # create a sibling pane; prints its id
tty7 send %83 'pnpm dev' --enter          # start work in that pane
tty7 capture %83 --plain                 # read its output
tty7 procs %83                           # inspect its processes and listening ports
tty7 run -- cargo test                   # run a one-off command in a real PTY
tty7 -m devbox ls                        # use the same interface on a connected remote

--json gives agents structured results when they need to make a decision from workspace, pane, process, port, or agent status. The full interface is documented in skills/tty7/SKILL.md.

_{Built on gpui and alacritty_terminal · Apache-2.0 · Discord · Changelog}

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