Zentty Docs

Use Zentty without memorizing its internals.

Zentty is a native macOS terminal for agent-driven development. These docs cover the mental model, first run, worklanes, panes, agent integrations, shortcuts, the embedded CLI, themes, settings, and tmux compatibility.

Applies to current public Zentty builds. Last updated May 11, 2026.

What Zentty Is

Zentty is a native macOS terminal built with Swift/AppKit and libghostty rendering. It adds worklanes, pane-aware restore, an agent status sidebar, and a bundled zentty CLI around normal shells so agent work stays visible without a nested pane manager.

Zentty window showing multiple terminal panes with a sidebar tracking active work and agent state — Zentty keeps panes, worklanes, and agent state visible in one native window.

After these docs, you should know how to install the app, create durable work contexts, run supported agent CLIs, script panes, tune settings, and debug the local integration points.

Get Started

Install Zentty, open a worklane, split a pane, and launch an agent in a normal shell. The app will keep the workspace structure around that work so you do not have to rebuild context every time.

Getting Started Install, update, and take the first successful path. Worklanes & Panes Use columns, pane stacks, search, bookmarks, and restore. Agent Workflows Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Gemini, OpenCode, and more.

Express path: install Zentty, open one pane, run zentty version, then launch claude or codex from inside the pane. You should see the sidebar attach the tool within a few seconds.

Migration Notes

If you already have terminal muscle memory, start with the comparison closest to your current setup.

tmux Use native panes with a compatibility shim for agent workflows that emit tmux commands. iTerm2 Use worklanes and restore instead of rebuilding tab and split layouts manually. Ghostty Keep Ghostty rendering and themes while adding native workspace and agent state. Warp / agents Run agent CLIs in normal shells while Zentty surfaces status, hooks, and attention state.

Glossary

WorklaneA durable horizontal workspace for one task, repo, release, or investigation.

ColumnA vertical stack inside a worklane. Width presets decide how many columns are visible.

PaneA terminal session with working directory, shell, scrollback, title, and optional agent state.

AdapterTool-specific logic that turns Claude, Codex, Gemini, or other hook payloads into Zentty status events.

Pane tokenA pane-scoped local token that authorizes out-of-pane CLI control.

The Model

Zentty starts with a normal terminal pane, then adds a native workspace model around it. A window contains worklanes. A worklane contains horizontal columns. A column can contain one or more vertically stacked panes. The sidebar mirrors that structure and adds agent state, git context, colors, bookmarks, and notifications.

Window
  Worklane: website
    Column 1
      Pane 1: editor
      Pane 2: tests
    Column 2
      Pane 3: Codex
  Worklane: app
    Column 1
      Pane 1: Xcode build