Terminal Grid

A desktop app for running multiple AI coding CLI tools side by side. View 2, 3, 6, 8, or 10 terminals simultaneously in an auto-arranged grid — no window management needed.

Built for Claude Code and Codex CLI, but works with any CLI tool.

Features

• Grid Layout — Choose 2, 3, 6, 8, or 10 terminals. They auto-arrange to fill your screen.
• One-Click CLI Launch — Select a directory, pick Claude or Codex, hit Start.
• Favorite Directories — Save frequently used project paths for quick access.
• Live Resizing — Change the terminal count on the fly. Active terminals are preserved.
• Pop-Out Windows — When reducing the grid count, active terminals pop out into their own windows instead of being killed.
• Real Terminal Emulation — Full PTY support via node-pty. Colors, interactive prompts, everything works.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18+)
• Python (for node-pty native compilation)
• Visual Studio Build Tools (Windows, "Desktop development with C++" workload)

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Pusselz/terminal-grid.git
cd terminal-grid
npm install

Note: node-pty requires native compilation. If the postinstall rebuild fails, run manually:

npx electron-rebuild -f -w node-pty

On some Windows setups you may need to patch node_modules/node-pty/deps/winpty/src/winpty.gyp and node_modules/node-pty/binding.gyp to remove Spectre mitigation flags if the corresponding MSVC libraries aren't installed.

Run

npm start

Usage

1. Launch the app — you'll see a start screen asking how many terminals you want.
2. Pick a number (e.g. 6). Six equal-sized terminal panels appear.
3. In each panel:
   • Click Durchsuchen (Browse) to select a working directory, or pick from your favorites.
   • Choose Claude or Codex.
   • Click Starten (Start).
4. Use the toolbar buttons at the top to change the grid count at any time.

Tech Stack

• Electron — Multi-window desktop app
• node-pty — Native PTY (pseudo-terminal) on Windows via ConPTY
• xterm.js — Terminal rendering (with WebGL acceleration)
• electron-store — Persistent favorite directories
• esbuild — Fast main process bundling
• Vite — Renderer dev server

Project Structure

src/
  main/
    main.js              # Electron app entry
    pty-manager.js       # PTY lifecycle (spawn, write, resize, kill)
    window-manager.js    # Pop-out window management
    favorites-store.js   # Persistent directory favorites
    ipc-handlers.js      # All IPC channel handlers
  preload/
    preload.js           # Secure context bridge API
  renderer/
    index.html           # Main HTML
    app.js               # Renderer entry (grid + popout modes)
    styles/              # CSS
    components/
      start-screen.js    # Initial terminal count selector
      terminal-grid.js   # Grid layout engine
      terminal-panel.js  # Individual terminal panel
      directory-picker.js # Directory selection + favorites
      popout-terminal.js # Pop-out terminal renderer

License

MIT