Multiterminal-UI

README

Multiterminal UI (mtui)

A native GUI terminal multiplexer built for Claude Code power users. Run multiple Claude Code sessions side-by-side, track token costs, and get visual notifications when Claude needs your attention.

Features

• Native desktop app — Real GUI window with tabs, toolbar, and styled terminal panes (powered by Wails + Svelte)
• Multi-pane terminals — Run up to 10 shells and Claude Code sessions per tab in a tiled grid layout
• Project tabs — Each tab has its own working directory; add projects via folder picker
• Token / cost tracking — Per-pane and total cost displayed automatically for Claude Code sessions
• Activity detection — Pane borders glow green (done) or blink red (needs input) so you never miss a prompt
• File browser sidebar — Navigate your project and insert file paths directly into the terminal
• Zoom — Ctrl+Z to maximise/restore a pane, Ctrl+Mouse Wheel to zoom font size per terminal
• Custom accent color — Pick your terminal color via color wheel, hex input, or presets (default: toxic green)
• Themes — Five built-in colour themes: dark, light, dracula, nord, solarized
• Commit reminder — Footer shows time since last commit with green/yellow/red color coding
• Session persistence — Tabs, panes, and layout are saved automatically and restored on restart
• Clipboard support — Ctrl+V paste, Ctrl+C copy (when text selected)
• Pane rename — Double-click any pane name to rename it
• GitHub Issues — View, create, and manage GitHub Issues directly from the sidebar (requires GitHub CLI)
• Cross-platform — Windows, Linux, macOS

Tech Stack

• Language: Go 1.21+
• GUI framework: Wails v2 (Go backend + WebView2 frontend)
• Frontend: Svelte 4 + Vite
• Terminal emulation: xterm.js with FitAddon
• PTY: go-pty (cross-platform: Unix PTY / Windows ConPTY)
• Config: YAML (~/.multiterminal.yaml)

Prerequisites

To run:

• GitHub CLI (gh) — required for GitHub Issues integration

To build from source:

• Go 1.21+
• Node.js 18+
• Wails CLI: go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest

Build & Run

# Development mode (hot-reload)
wails dev

# Production build
wails build

# Debug build (with DevTools)
wails build -debug

The binary is output to build/bin/mtui.exe (Windows) or build/bin/mtui (Linux/macOS).

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Ctrl+T	New project tab (opens folder picker)
Ctrl+W	Close tab
Ctrl+N	New terminal pane (opens launch dialog)
Ctrl+Z	Maximise / restore focused pane
Ctrl+Scroll	Zoom in/out (font size per terminal)
Ctrl+V	Paste from clipboard
Ctrl+C	Copy selection to clipboard
Ctrl+B	Toggle file browser sidebar
Esc	Close dialogs

Smart Features

Token / Cost Tracker

Claude Code panes automatically scan for token usage and cost information.

• Per-pane cost is shown in the pane title bar (e.g. $0.12)
• Total cost across all Claude panes is shown in the global footer

Activity Detection

Pane borders change when Claude changes state:

• Green glow — Claude finished generating (prompt returned)
• Red blink — Claude needs user input (confirmation, Y/n, permission, etc.)
• Pulsing dot — Claude is actively working

This works across all panes, so you can work in one terminal and see at a glance when another needs attention.

Pipeline Queue

Queue up multiple prompts for a Claude pane. They execute sequentially — when Claude finishes one task, the next prompt is automatically sent.

1. Click the ▶ button in any pane's title bar to open the queue panel
2. Type a prompt and press Enter to add it to the queue
3. If Claude is idle, the first prompt starts immediately
4. When Claude finishes (activity → done), the next prompt is sent automatically

Use this to plan a batch of tasks, queue them up, and walk away. The badge on the ▶ button shows how many items are pending.

Commit Reminder

The footer shows how long ago the last git commit was, with color coding:

• Green — under 15 minutes
• Yellow — 15 to 29 minutes
• Red (pulsing) — 30+ minutes

Custom Terminal Color

Open Settings (gear icon in toolbar) to pick your accent color:

• Native color wheel picker
• Direct hex code input
• 8 preset colors (toxic green, matrix green, cyan, orange, purple, rose, gold, sky blue)
• Live preview — changes apply instantly

File Browser Sidebar

1. Open the sidebar with Ctrl+B
2. Navigate and search files
3. Click a file to insert its path into the focused terminal

Configuration

A config file is auto-created at ~/.multiterminal.yaml on first run.

theme: dark
terminal_color: "#39ff14"
default_dir: /path/to/project
max_panes_per_tab: 12
sidebar_width: 30
claude_command: claude
commit_reminder_minutes: 30
claude_models:
  - label: Default
    id: ""
  - label: Opus 4.6
    id: claude-opus-4-6
  - label: Sonnet 4.5
    id: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929
  - label: Haiku 4.5
    id: claude-haiku-4-5-20251001

Available Themes

Theme	Description
dark	Catppuccin Mocha (default)
light	Clean light theme
dracula	Dracula color scheme
nord	Nord color scheme
solarized	Solarized Dark

Project Structure

main.go                          Wails entry point
wails.json                       Wails project config
frontend/                        Svelte + Vite frontend
  src/
    App.svelte                   Root component
    components/
      TabBar.svelte              Project tabs
      Toolbar.svelte             Action bar (new terminal, files, settings)
      PaneGrid.svelte            Terminal grid layout
      TerminalPane.svelte        xterm.js terminal wrapper
      Sidebar.svelte             File browser
      Footer.svelte              Status bar (branch, cost, commit age)
      LaunchDialog.svelte        Shell/Claude/YOLO picker
      ProjectDialog.svelte       Add project folder dialog
      SettingsDialog.svelte      Color picker settings
    stores/
      tabs.ts                    Tab & pane state management
      config.ts                  App configuration store
      theme.ts                   Theme management & accent color
    lib/
      terminal.ts                xterm.js setup & themes
internal/
  backend/                       Wails-bound Go backend
    app.go                       Main app struct & session management
    app_scan.go                  Activity detection loop
    app_git.go                   Git branch & commit helpers
    app_files.go                 File system API
  terminal/                      PTY session & VT100 emulation
    session.go                   PTY lifecycle (start, read, resize, close)
    activity.go                  Claude activity & token scanning
    screen.go                    VT100 screen buffer
    screen_csi.go                CSI dispatch & SGR handling
    screen_ops.go                Screen operations
    screen_render.go             Screen rendering & plain text
  config/                        Configuration & persistence
    config.go                    YAML config loader
    session.go                   Session state persistence

License

MIT

Documentation

Overview

Multiterminal UI (mtui) – A GUI terminal multiplexer optimised for Claude Code.

Stack: Go · Wails · Svelte · xterm.js · go-pty