Compare · Terminal workspace
Zentty vs SoloTerm
A local agent workspace, and a native Mac terminal with worklanes.
Overview
Solo and Zentty both respond to the same pressure: CLI agents create too many long-running panes and processes to track by memory. Solo solves that as a project workspace and process dashboard. Zentty solves the terminal side: real panes, durable worklanes, and one readable attention model for agents.
What each tool is
Zentty is a native macOS terminal, written in Swift and AppKit and built on libghostty. It runs your agents in real shells across worklanes and surfaces the moment an agent needs you: running, idle, needs input, needs approval, done. No telemetry. No editor, file tree, git diff UI, or cloud runtime. It stays a terminal.
Solo is a native terminal workspace for agents, project commands, and shell sessions. It manages local processes, can expose project state through MCP, and is designed to keep agents and development commands visible in one workspace.
Who each tool is best for
Zentty is best for Mac developers who run CLI agents like Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, or OpenCode in parallel and want to stay in flow while those agents work in other panes and worklanes.
Solo is best for developers who want a dashboard for agents, dev servers, queues, workers, project commands, and shared startup configuration.
Capability comparison
| Dimension | Zentty | SoloTerm |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Native Mac terminal with worklanes and agent attention | Agent workspace and local process dashboard |
| Process management | No — run commands in panes | Yes — project commands, status, restart flows |
| Agent model | Agents run in real terminal panes | Agents run alongside managed project processes |
| MCP surface | No | Yes — exposes process and project state |
| Agent attention | Running / idle / needs input / needs approval / done | Varies by tool |
| Built-in editor | No — keep your editor | Varies by tool |
| Cloud runtime | No — local only | Varies by tool |
| Product boundary | Terminal-first | Workspace and process-control surface |
How to choose
- You want the terminal itself to be the center of the workflow.
- You want worklanes and visible agent attention without adopting a process dashboard.
- You prefer to keep project command management in existing scripts or tools.
- You want one dashboard for agents, dev servers, queues, and project commands.
- You want process restarts, shared project config, or MCP visibility into your stack.
- Your main pain is local process sprawl, not terminal pane awareness.
Common questions
Solo includes terminal surfaces, but its main value is the workspace around agents and local project processes. Zentty is narrower: it stays a terminal.
Yes. Use Zentty when you want terminal-first panes and worklanes. Use Solo when you want a separate project process dashboard.
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Sources
Last reviewed: 2026-05-23
Run your agents in real panes, and see which one needs you.
Free Native macOS No telemetry