TernaryCode

One window for all your projects and the AI coding agents working in them.
A native, terminal-first workspace for macOS, Windows and Linux, written entirely in Rust.

Bahasa Indonesia · Install · Features · Shortcuts · Build

Running Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI or OpenCode in five projects at once usually means five editor windows, each with an agent hidden in a terminal panel, and no idea which one is waiting for you. TernaryCode puts every project in one window: each with its own terminals, tabs and split panes, a Grid that shows them all at once, and one question answered quickly and honestly: which agent needs me now?

It is one small native binary (no Electron, no webview, no Node.js): the window is up in about 0.2 s, it idles at 0 % CPU, and ten open panes take around 70 MB.

Highlights

• Agent status you can trust. Every pane knows whether its agent is working, waiting for you, done or failed, from the agent's own hooks, the terminal's notifications and the shell. Each status says where it came from; without a reliable signal it says only that the agent is Active instead of guessing.
• Jump to what needs you. ⌘J goes to the most urgent waiting agent and ⇧⌘J back. The status bar names it, the Dock shows a badge, and a notification arrives when the window is in the background. Keyboard focus never moves by itself.
• The Grid shows every project live, side by side, each terminal filling its tile: the Focus | Grid switch at the top of the sidebar (or ⌘0) opens it, and a project in the list opens on its own. Active, in the middle of its header, keeps only the projects where something runs or waits.
• An editor beside the terminal, with language servers you already have (rust-analyzer, gopls, typescript-language-server, Dart, pyright, clangd…): ⌘-click to a definition, references, rename across files, code actions, completion, hover and problems.
• Documents open right there: PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, CSV and images, read-only and fast, and ⌘F searches them.
• ternarycode my-app in any terminal opens that project (or folder) in the window.
• Review what an agent changed since it started, or since your last commit.
• Updates itself from GitHub releases, with one click.

Install

Download from the latest release:

System	Download
macOS 12 Monterey or later (Apple Silicon and Intel)	the one-line installer below, or TernaryCode-<version>.dmg
Windows 10 (1809) or later, x64	TernaryCode-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe, or the portable -windows-x64.zip
Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS	TernaryCode-<version>-linux-amd64.deb (-arm64.deb on ARM)
Fedora, RHEL, Rocky, AlmaLinux, openSUSE	TernaryCode-<version>-linux-x86_64.rpm (-aarch64.rpm)
Any Linux (Arch, Manjaro…)	TernaryCode-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage or .tar.gz (-aarch64 on ARM)

macOS

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ilhamnadhif/ternarycode/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

The script downloads the latest release, checks its SHA-256 and code signature, installs TernaryCode.app into /Applications and opens it. Run it again to update, or pass a version: … | bash -s -- v0.1.0.

Or download the .dmg, open it and drag TernaryCode onto Applications.

“TernaryCode” Not Opened / “Apple could not verify…”? Releases are not notarized by Apple yet, so macOS blocks an app downloaded with a browser. Use the one-line installer above (nothing downloaded with curl is blocked), or click Done, open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway next to “TernaryCode was blocked…”, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/TernaryCode.app.

Windows

Run TernaryCode-<version>-windows-x64-setup.exe. It installs for your user without administrator rights (choose Install for all users in its first window to use Program Files), adds TernaryCode to the Start menu, and can put ternarycode on the PATH so ternarycode . opens the current folder as a project (on by default). Or unpack the portable .zip anywhere.

Panes run PowerShell 7 (pwsh) when it is installed, otherwise Windows PowerShell, with shell integration loaded without touching your profile or execution policy. Agents run as they do in any terminal (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI and OpenCode all work natively on Windows), and their hooks reach the app over a named pipe. On Windows 10 the console host may drop the shell's prompt marks; status then comes from the agents' hooks and the running program.

“Windows protected your PC”? The builds are not code-signed yet, so SmartScreen warns about a new download. Click More info, then Run anyway.

Linux

TernaryCode runs on X11 and Wayland with OpenGL (a software renderer is fine) and needs glibc 2.28 or later (RHEL 8, Debian 10, Ubuntu 18.10 and newer).

sudo apt install ./TernaryCode-<version>-linux-amd64.deb               # Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS
sudo dnf install ./TernaryCode-<version>-linux-x86_64.rpm              # Fedora, RHEL, Rocky, AlmaLinux
chmod +x TernaryCode-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage && ./TernaryCode-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage
tar -xzf TernaryCode-<version>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz -C ~/.local --strip-components=1   # then: ternarycode

Open projects from a terminal

ternarycode .              # this folder, as a project
ternarycode ~/code/shop    # any folder
ternarycode shop           # the project named "shop" (or the folder "shop" beside your projects)

The project opens in the running window (TernaryCode starts if it isn't running, apart from the terminal, so closing the terminal doesn't close it). The command works in every TernaryCode pane; for other terminals, TernaryCode puts it on your PATH at launch on macOS (Homebrew's bin, /usr/local/bin or ~/.local/bin, whichever you can write; otherwise Settings → General → Command line), the Linux packages install it, and the Windows setup adds it to PATH.

Updates

TernaryCode checks GitHub for a new release when it starts and every few hours while it runs. When one is out, the update window shows what's new; Install Update downloads it, verifies its size and the SHA-256 GitHub publishes (and on macOS the bundle id, version and code signature), then restarts into the new version with your projects and tabs restored. Later checks don't interrupt you: an Update item appears in the status bar instead.

The .dmg/installer copy on macOS, the Windows setup, the AppImage and the .tar.gz update themselves; the .deb, .rpm and the portable .zip are updated by installing the new package. Turn automatic checks off in Settings → General, or use Check for Updates… any time. The update check is the only network connection TernaryCode makes.

Features

Projects, terminals and agents

• A project is a folder. Its terminals start there, its files and git changes show beside them, and the sidebar shows its kind (Rust, Go, TypeScript, React, Flutter, Python…), branch, number of changes and what its agent is doing. Projects are listed by name, in the sidebar and in the Grid alike.
• Tabs and split panes per project, drag to rearrange, and restored when you open the app again. Restored shells start only when you look at them, so a workspace of twenty projects opens as fast as one.
• Run an agent in a new pane from presets (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, or your own command). Panes of agents that can continue a conversation offer Resume after a restart.
• A real terminal: 24-bit colour, mouse reporting, synchronized output, IME, pixel-exact box drawing, and scrollback search in one pane (⌘F) or all of them (⇧⌘F).
• Links open with ⌘-click or Ctrl-click (Ctrl-click on Windows and Linux), from a Grid tile too. A web address opens in the browser, even one wrapped over several rows or in brackets, and even inside a program that uses the mouse. OSC 8 hyperlinks also open. A path:line opens in the editor. Right-click a link to open or copy it.
• Drop a file on a terminal and its path is typed there, so an agent can read a screenshot. A folder dropped on the sidebar becomes a project. ⌘V with an image on the clipboard hands it to Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI or OpenCode.
• Local servers show up. When a pane prints http://localhost:5173 (Vite, Next.js, Rails, Django…), its address appears in the project header and on the Grid tile while the server answers. Click it to open it in the browser.
• Shell integration (zsh, bash, fish and PowerShell) marks prompts and commands, so a command that fails or finishes after a long time is noticed, and resizing never leaves prompt fragments behind.

Knowing which agent needs you

• Each pane's status comes from, in order of trust: the agent's hooks (installed per agent in Settings → Integrations, or added per launch without touching your config), terminal notifications (OSC 9, 99 and 777), shell integration (OSC 133) and the foreground process.
• Needs input, Running, Done, Failed and Idle show in the sidebar, on tabs, in Grid tiles and in the status bar; the attention list (⌥⌘J) shows everything waiting, oldest first.
• Desktop notifications and the Dock badge only when you are not already looking.

Agent	Per launch (no file changed)	Installed once
Claude Code	claude --settings "$TC_CLAUDE_SETTINGS" adds hooks for that run	hooks in ~/.claude/settings.json
Codex	codex -c "$TC_CODEX_HOOKS" -c "$TC_CODEX_NOTIFY"	a managed block in ~/.codex/config.toml
Gemini CLI	—	hooks in ~/.gemini/settings.json
OpenCode	—	the plugin ~/.config/opencode/plugins/ternarycode.js

Installing shows the exact change first and keeps a backup; Uninstall restores the file byte for byte when you have not edited it since.

Editor and language features

• Tabs, line numbers, syntax colours, find, and safe saves: it never overwrites a file an agent changed under your unsaved edits (you choose).
• With a language server installed: go to definition (F12 or ⌘-click), type definition, implementations, references (⇧F12), rename across files (F2, with one-step undo), code actions and quick fixes (⌘.), completion, hover, signature help, document and workspace symbols, problems (⇧⌘M) and format on save.
• Servers start when you edit a file they serve or ask for a language feature, so a file you only read costs nothing (Settings → Editor → Start servers only when needed; turn it off to start them when a file opens). They stop ten minutes after the last one closes. A missing server is named in the status line together with its install command.

Documents

Click a file in the tree and it opens in place: PDF pages rendered at your zoom, Word (.docx) and PowerPoint (.pptx) as readable text with headings, lists, tables and pictures, Excel (.xlsx, .xls, .ods) and CSV as a grid with sheet tabs and a header that stays in view, and images. Everything is read in pure Rust, off the UI thread; only what is on screen is kept in memory.

⌘F (Ctrl+Shift+F) after clicking in a document searches it: words on PDF pages are highlighted where they are printed, Word and PowerPoint text is highlighted in place, and in a spreadsheet the selection moves from cell to matching cell, across sheets. Enter and ⇧Enter go to the next and previous match.

Review

⇧⌘R shows what changed: since the agent in this pane started (a snapshot taken outside your git index, so your staging area is never touched), or since the last commit. Open any file from the diff in the editor. When an agent finishes, Review on its Grid tile and in the list of what waits opens it straight away.

Keyboard shortcuts

On Windows and Linux, ⌘ shortcuts are Ctrl+Shift+… (⌥ stays Alt), so Ctrl+C, Ctrl+D and friends still reach the terminal. The command palette (⌘K / Ctrl+Shift+K) lists everything, with its shortcut.

macOS	Windows, Linux
⌘J · ⇧⌘J	Ctrl+Shift+J · Ctrl+Alt+J	next waiting agent · back
⌥⌘J	Ctrl+Shift+Alt+J	attention list
⌘K	Ctrl+Shift+K	command palette
⌘P	Ctrl+Shift+P	switch project
⇧⌘A	Ctrl+Shift+A	run an agent
⌘0	Ctrl+Shift+0	Grid of all projects
⌘T · ⌘W	Ctrl+Shift+T · Ctrl+Shift+W	new tab · close pane
⇧⌘] · ⇧⌘[	Ctrl+Shift+PageDown · Ctrl+Shift+PageUp	next tab · previous tab
⌘D · ⇧⌘D	Ctrl+Shift+D · Ctrl+Shift+E	split right · split down
⌘] · ⌘[	Ctrl+Shift+] · Ctrl+Shift+[	next pane · previous pane
⌘O · ⌘E · ⌘S	Ctrl+Shift+O · Ctrl+Shift+Y · Ctrl+Shift+S	open file · show editor · save
⇧⌘R	Ctrl+Shift+R	review changes
⌘F · ⇧⌘F	Ctrl+Shift+F · Ctrl+Shift+G	find in the pane, file or document · in all panes
⌘B · ⌘1–⌘9	Ctrl+Shift+B · Ctrl+Shift+1–9	sidebar · project 1–9
⌘= · ⌘-	Ctrl+Shift+= · Ctrl+Shift+- · Ctrl+Shift+Backspace	bigger · smaller · actual size text
⌥⌘K	Ctrl+Shift+Alt+K	clear the scrollback
F12 · ⇧F12 · F2 · ⌘.	F12 · Shift+F12 · F2 · Ctrl+.	definition · references · rename · code actions

In the editor, Ctrl+Shift+- is Forward (⌃⇧- on macOS), as in VS Code; elsewhere it makes the text smaller.

Privacy

No account, no telemetry. The only connection TernaryCode makes is the update check to GitHub, which you can turn off. Hooks talk to the app over a private local socket (a named pipe on Windows), and each pane has its own secret token.

Settings and the workspace live in ~/Library/Application Support/ternarycode (macOS), %APPDATA%\ternarycode (Windows) or ~/.local/share/ternarycode (Linux).

Build from source

Requires a recent stable Rust toolchain (built with 1.99).

cargo build --release      # ternarycode and ternarycode-hook, side by side in target/release
./target/release/ternarycode

ternarycode-hook must stay next to the app binary: agents' hooks run it, and it does nothing outside a TernaryCode pane.

scripts/package.sh	macOS: TernaryCode.app, .dmg and .zip (ad-hoc signed unless you set an identity)
scripts/package-linux.sh	Linux: .tar.gz, .deb, .rpm, .AppImage
scripts/package-windows.ps1	Windows: Inno Setup installer and portable .zip
scripts/e2e.sh	end-to-end checks of the real app on macOS (injected keyboard and mouse events)
scripts/release.sh <x.y.z>	tests, builds macOS, tags, and lets CI build Windows and Linux and publish

Layout

Crate
crates/tc-term	terminal core (alacritty_terminal), PTY (Unix and ConPTY), OSC signals, search, the egui terminal widget
crates/tc-core	model, agent presets and recognition, status state machine, attention queue, atomic files
crates/tc-agent	process info, hook protocol and server, ternarycode-hook, agent integrations, shell integration
crates/tc-git	snapshots and diffs through the git CLI, never touching the index
crates/tc-lsp	language server client: transport, server registry, positions, edits
crates/tc-doc	PDF, Word, PowerPoint, spreadsheet, CSV and image readers
src/	the app (egui)

The Ternary family

TernaryCode is one of four small, native Rust apps that share a look and a 3 × 3 lattice icon: TernaryGrid (SQL client), TernaryWire (API client), TernaryShell (SSH and SFTP client) and TernaryCode.

License

MIT. Fonts: Inter (SIL OFL 1.1) and Phosphor icons (MIT).