Terminator

A macOS desktop terminal app optimized for working with multiple AI agents simultaneously. Built with Tauri v2, React, TypeScript, and xterm.js.

Features

Multi-Agent Terminal

• Run multiple agents side-by-side in split panes (shell, Claude, GPT, custom scripts)
• Each agent gets a real PTY with full terminal emulation via xterm.js
• Visual state indicators per agent: idle, running, streaming, done, error

Split-Pane Layout

• Horizontal and vertical splits with draggable dividers
• Binary tree layout model (like tmux/VS Code)
• Drag-and-drop pane rearrangement — drag headers to reposition or swap panes
• Tab system for organizing workspace groups

Command Bar & Broadcast

• Global command bar (Cmd+K) to send input to any agent
• Target modes: active pane, specific agent, or broadcast to all
• Command history with arrow key navigation

Agent Pipes

• Connect agents together — pipe output from one agent as input to another
• Visual pipe indicators in pane headers
• Create/remove pipes via the Pipe modal (Cmd+P)

Workspace Management

• Save and restore entire layouts with agent configurations
• Workspaces stored in ~/.terminator/workspaces/

Session History

• All sessions are logged automatically to ~/.terminator/sessions/
• Browse past sessions with full terminal output logs
• Session metadata includes agent type, label, timestamps, and duration

Terminal Search & Export

• Per-pane terminal search (Cmd+F) powered by xterm.js SearchAddon
• Export terminal buffer to file from any pane

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18
• Rust >= 1.88 (via rustup)
• macOS (primary target)

If your system Rust is outdated, use the rustup toolchain:

rustup update stable
export PATH="$HOME/.rustup/toolchains/stable-aarch64-apple-darwin/bin:$PATH"

Install

npm install

Development

npx tauri dev

This starts the Vite dev server (with HMR) and the Tauri app pointing to it.

Production Build

npx tauri build

The built app is at src-tauri/target/release/terminator.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+D	Split horizontal (new shell)
Cmd+Shift+D	Split vertical (new shell)
Cmd+N	New agent (type picker)
Cmd+T	New tab
Cmd+W	Close active pane
Cmd+K	Toggle command bar
Cmd+F	Search in active terminal
Cmd+P	Pipe modal
Cmd+S	Workspace manager
Cmd+H	Session history
Cmd+[ / Cmd+]	Cycle between panes
Cmd+Shift+[ / Cmd+Shift+]	Cycle between tabs

Inside the command bar:

Key	Action
Enter	Send command
Escape	Close
Tab / Shift+Tab	Cycle target (active → broadcast → specific agent)
Arrow Up / Down	Command history

Architecture

terminator/
├── src/                            # React frontend (TypeScript)
│   ├── components/
│   │   ├── layout/                 # AppShell, SplitPane, TabBar, StatusBar, PaneContainer
│   │   ├── terminal/               # TerminalView, useTerminal hook, TerminalSearch
│   │   ├── agent/                  # AgentBadge, AgentStatusBar, AgentConfigModal
│   │   ├── input/                  # CommandBar, PipeModal, PipeIndicator
│   │   └── workspace/              # WorkspaceManager, SessionHistory, ExportDialog
│   ├── stores/                     # Zustand state management
│   │   ├── useWorkspaceStore.ts    # Layout tree, tabs, active pane
│   │   ├── useAgentStore.ts        # Agent sessions, lifecycle
│   │   └── usePipeStore.ts         # Agent-to-agent pipes
│   ├── lib/
│   │   ├── layout-engine.ts        # Binary split-tree operations
│   │   ├── tauri-commands.ts       # Typed wrappers for Tauri invoke()
│   │   ├── agent-registry.ts       # Agent type definitions
│   │   └── drag-manager.ts         # Drag-and-drop utilities
│   └── types/
│       ├── agent.ts                # AgentSession, AgentConfig, AgentState
│       └── layout.ts               # SplitNode, LeafNode, Tab
├── src-tauri/                      # Rust backend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── lib.rs                  # Tauri setup, command registration
│   │   ├── state.rs                # AppState (agent handles, PTY writers)
│   │   ├── agent/
│   │   │   └── process.rs          # PTY spawning, I/O streaming, resize
│   │   └── commands/
│   │       ├── workspace.rs        # Save/load workspaces, sessions, export
│   │       └── system.rs           # Shell detection
│   └── tauri.conf.json             # Tauri app config
└── package.json

Key Design Decisions

PTY via portable-pty — Each agent spawns a real pseudo-terminal in Rust. This gives proper TTY behavior (colors, cursor control, line editing) that xterm.js expects.

Tauri events for streaming, commands for control — High-frequency PTY output flows via Tauri events (fire-and-forget). Control operations (spawn, kill, resize, send input) use Tauri commands (request-response).

Binary split tree layout — The pane layout is a recursive tree where each node is either a split (direction + ratio + two children) or a leaf (pane ID). Operations like split, close, resize, move, and swap are tree transformations.

Zustand for state — Lightweight stores with no boilerplate. useWorkspaceStore owns the layout tree, useAgentStore owns agent sessions, usePipeStore owns pipe connections.

Session logging — Terminal output is buffered (500ms) and appended to per-session .log files to avoid excessive IPC overhead.

Agent Types

Type	Icon	Default Command	Description
Shell	>_	/bin/zsh -l	Interactive shell session
Claude	CL	claude	Claude AI agent via CLI
GPT	GP	chatgpt	OpenAI GPT agent
Custom	CS	(configurable)	Any command or script

New agent types can be added in src/lib/agent-registry.ts.

Data Storage

Path	Contents
~/.terminator/workspaces/*.json	Saved workspace layouts
~/.terminator/sessions/*.json	Session metadata
~/.terminator/sessions/*.log	Terminal output logs

License

ISC