Awal Terminal

_{ⴰⵡⴰⵍ — "word" in Amazigh}

The LLM-native terminal emulator for macOS.
Built for developers who work with AI coding agents.

Website · Download

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What is Awal Terminal?

A native macOS terminal built from scratch with Swift and Rust, designed specifically for working with AI coding agents like Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and Codex CLI.

Features

Feature	Description
GPU-Accelerated Rendering	Metal-powered rendering at 120fps with a glyph atlas and triple buffering. 10,000-line scrollback buffer
LLM Profiles	Switch between Claude, Gemini, Codex, or plain shell in one click. Save per-model configurations
AI Side Panel	Track token usage, costs, context window, file references, and git changes in real time
Smart Output Folding	AI tool calls, code blocks, and diffs auto-collapse into foldable regions. Click to expand
Screenshot to Session	Press Cmd+Shift+S or click the camera icon to capture a screen region and paste its file path into the terminal. Perfect for sharing screenshots with AI agents
Voice Input	Push-to-talk voice input powered by on-device speech recognition
AI Components	Auto-detect your project stack and inject skills, rules, prompts, agents, MCP servers, and hooks into AI sessions from shared registries. Supports git, localskills, and local directory sources. Visual mapping editor for non-standard registry structures. Per-component enable/disable, security scanning with rules toggle, hook approval gate with audit trail, and import/export
Sub-Stack Detection	Automatically detects frameworks like Next.js, Django, Flask, Vapor, NestJS, and more on top of base stack detection for more targeted component injection
Resume Sessions	Browse and resume past AI sessions from the startup menu. Claude sessions show turn count and time ago; Codex and Gemini launch their built-in session pickers
Plan-Aware Tab Naming	Automatically detects AI plan headers and offers to rename the tab to match the plan title
Smart Notifications	Desktop alerts when long-running AI tasks complete
Tabs & Windows	Multiple windows (Cmd+N), native tabs with drag-to-reorder, tab tearoff to new window, custom tab colors, per-tab titles, tab groups with collapse/expand, and vertical sidebar tab bar
Quick Terminal	Quake-style dropdown terminal with a global hotkey (`Ctrl+``)
Find in Terminal	Search through scrollback with match highlighting and keyboard navigation. OSC 8 hyperlinks and drag-and-drop file pasting
Syntax Highlighting	Language-aware coloring for code blocks and diffs inside AI output
Git Integration	Live branch, status, and changed files displayed in the status bar and side panel. Click any changed file to view its diff inline. Per-tab worktree isolation for parallel workstreams
Large Paste Protection	Confirmation dialog for large pastes with options to save to file, truncate, or paste all. Configurable threshold
Mission Control	Dashboard window (Cmd+Shift+D) showing all active AI agents across tabs and windows with real-time status, total cost, tokens, elapsed time, and per-agent kill switches
Session Recording	Record AI coding sessions (Cmd+Option+Shift+R to start/stop) and export as GIF. Idle time compression for compact output
Per-Tab Token Tracking	Each tab independently tracks its own token usage and cost, visible in the AI side panel and Mission Control
Danger Mode	Skip all AI tool confirmation prompts for unrestricted sessions. Toggle from the View menu; always resets on app launch
Automatic Updates	Checks GitHub Releases for new versions and shows an indicator in the status bar. Supports Homebrew and direct download updates
Command Palette	Quick-access to all actions via Cmd+Shift+P with fuzzy search
Copy as Markdown	Right-click or Cmd+Shift+C to copy terminal output with code fences, blockquotes, and formatting preserved
Smart Autocomplete	File path and command history completions as you type
Remote Control	Detect Claude Code's remote control mode, show a REMOTE badge in the status bar, and display a QR code popover to connect from your phone. Enable from the View menu
Prevent Sleep	Prevent macOS from sleeping during active terminal sessions. Auto-activates during remote control sessions
Stealth Mode	Full-screen black overlay that hides all terminal content while your session continues safely in the background. Press any key to return
Fully Configurable	Theme colors, fonts, keybindings, and voice settings in a single config file

Getting Started

Install with Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap AwalTerminal/tap
brew install --cask awal-terminal

No quarantine workarounds needed — Homebrew handles it automatically.

Download manually

Grab the latest build from GitHub Releases.

Since the app is not yet notarized with Apple, macOS will block it on first launch. To bypass this:

1. Right-click (or Control-click) the app and choose Open, then click Open in the dialog.

If that doesn't work, run this in Terminal:

xattr -cr AwalTerminal.app

Then open the app normally.

Build from Source

Requires Rust and Swift toolchains on macOS.

# Install just (task runner)
brew install just

# Build and run
just run

# Build release .app bundle
just bundle

# Create a new release
scripts/release.sh v0.15.0

Configuration

All settings live in ~/.config/awal/config.toml:

[font]
family = "JetBrains Mono"
size = 13.0

[theme]
bg = "#1e1e1e"
fg = "#e5e5e5"
accent = "#636efa"
cursor = "#ccccccb3"
selection = "#2d7fd44d"
tab_bar_bg = "#161616"
tab_active_bg = "#232323"
status_bar_bg = "#161616"

[voice]
enabled = true
language = "en"
vad_threshold = 0.02
dictation_auto_enter = false
dictation_auto_space = true
# command_prefix = ""

[recording]
max_duration = 300

[paste]
warning_threshold = 100000
truncate_length = 10000

[tabs]
random_colors = true
# random_color_palette = "#E55353, #3498DB, #27AE60"
confirm_close = true
loading_indicator = true
worktree_isolation = false
# worktree_branch_prefix = "awal/tab"

[quit]
confirm_close = true

[system]
prevent_sleep = false

[ai_components]
enabled = true
auto_detect = true
auto_sync = true
security_scan = true
require_hook_approval = true
remote_control = false

[ai_components.registry.awal-components]
url = "https://github.com/AwalTerminal/awal-ai-components-registry.git"
branch = "main"

[ai_components.registry.my-skill]
type = "localskills"
slugs = "ZpDEwZj1Yq"

[ai_components.registry.my-local]
type = "local"
path = "/path/to/local/registry"

Architecture

core/       Rust — terminal emulation, ANSI parsing, AI output analysis
app/        Swift — macOS UI, Metal rendering, voice input, AI side panel
scripts/    Build and release scripts
build/      Release artifacts
docs/       Promotional website (GitHub Pages)

Keybindings

Action	Shortcut
New window	Cmd+N
New tab	Cmd+T
Close tab	Cmd+W
Rename tab	Cmd+Shift+R
Next tab	Cmd+Shift+]
Previous tab	Cmd+Shift+[
New tab group	Cmd+Shift+G
Toggle group collapse	Cmd+Shift+.
Mission Control	Cmd+Shift+D
Command Palette	Cmd+Shift+P
Copy as Markdown	Cmd+Shift+C
Find	Cmd+F
AI side panel	Cmd+Shift+I
Quick terminal	Ctrl+`
Sync AI components	Cmd+Shift+Y
Screenshot to session	Cmd+Shift+S
Voice input (PTT)	Ctrl+Shift+Space
Preferences	Cmd+,
Session recording	Cmd+Option+Shift+R
Zoom in	Cmd+=
Zoom out	Cmd+-
Actual size (reset zoom)	Cmd+0

License

MIT