Why I Built Terminal Workspace

May 28, 2026 ยท View on GitHub

Most terminal apps focus on the shell prompt. My daily problem was different: I had too many terminal windows open across too many local projects.

A typical local dev stack is not one terminal anymore. It is a frontend server, an API server, a worker, a tunnel, a log tail, a database script, and a few one-off commands across multiple repos. Terminal, iTerm, Warp, tmux, and shell scripts can all help, but I still wanted a visual workspace that remembered which terminal belonged to which project.

Terminal Workspace is an open-source macOS desktop app for that workflow.

It is not trying to replace your shell. It wraps the shells you already use with a project-aware desktop workspace.

What It Does

  • Keeps multiple projects in one sidebar.
  • Creates real local PTY terminals only when you start them.
  • Saves multiline launch commands per terminal.
  • Copies the saved command for the selected terminal.
  • Restores project and terminal metadata after restart without faking running processes.
  • Keeps inactive terminals lightweight until you click Start.
  • Scans the configured Project path only when you manually open Project Inspector.

The Project Inspector detects common local-dev entry points: package.json scripts, Docker Compose services, env files, GitHub workflows, Taskfile, justfile, Makefile, Cargo, Go, Maven, Gradle markers, README files, and docs markdown.

Why Not Just Use tmux?

tmux is excellent inside the terminal. Terminal Workspace is aimed at a different layer: cross-project desktop organization.

The goal is to make it easier to answer questions like:

  • Which repo is this terminal for?
  • What command starts this service?
  • Which terminals are stopped vs actually running?
  • What scripts and docs exist for this project?
  • Can I restart this local stack without rebuilding the context from memory?

Current Status

The current release includes macOS arm64 .dmg and .zip downloads.

The builds are ad-hoc signed and not notarized yet. If macOS blocks the first launch, open System Settings -> Privacy & Security and approve Terminal Workspace.

If your local development workflow involves many repos and too many terminal windows, try it and star the repo if you want to follow the roadmap.