Slate Terminal

Slate Terminal is a native macOS terminal that lets users shape their workspace with custom panels, commands, and layouts.

Slate Terminal is a native macOS terminal for Apple silicon and macOS 27 or later, powered by libghostty. It offers tabs, nested splits, a floating pill to show agent activity, and a plugin system to build custom panels, commands, header buttons, background services, and workspace events using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Users can bring their own agents and models, use the slate-term CLI to let agents write plugins, split panes, and save layouts, and save layouts as launchers. The software is open source.

Slate Terminal at a glance

Best for: Software engineer
Runs on: macOS, CLI
Pricing: Free
Released: October 2026
Category: AI coding tool
Website: slate.weichart.de

Key features

Native macOS terminal powered by libghostty
Tabs and nested splits in a native Mac workspace
Floating pill showing agent activity in panes
Custom HTML, CSS, and JavaScript views beside the shell
Plugins for panels, commands, and background services
slate-term CLI to split panes, send input, and capture screen
Agent skill that teaches your agent Slate's API
Save layouts as apps or launchers

Use it for

Build an experiment workbench with loss curves and training runs
Manage pull requests with reviews and CI checks beside branches
Build a live dashboard, review queue, or scratchpad
Create script interfaces with inputs and run buttons

Alternatives to Slate Terminal

cmux — It features vertical tabs, notification rings, and split panes for AI coding.
agterm — It organizes sessions into named workspaces and includes a local control API.
Kaku — It works immediately out of the box with zero configuration required.
Wave Terminal — Integrates file previews, editing, AI, and web browsing directly into your terminal.
Intelligent Terminal — Provides native AI agent integration directly inside Windows Terminal.
jevgrep — Reduces coding agent costs by providing targeted, relevant repository context.
Pebrel — It brings local shells, remote hosts, and AI command-line tools into one workspace.
Shell GPT — Executes generated shell commands and code snippets directly within the terminal.
Neptune — It combines a fast native terminal engine with built-in management for AI coding agents.
Mirror — Runs parallel tasks in separate repository worktrees from your terminal.
Cursor — Autocomplete, inline edits and parallel agents in one editor
Cornercase Terminal — Run and monitor multiple coding agents in parallel with automated git worktrees.

All Slate Terminal alternatives