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Terminal & IDE IntegrationsEmbedded Terminal Workspace

Embedded Terminal Workspace

WorktreeWise features a built-in, hardware-accelerated terminal workspace powered by XTerm.js. Every terminal pane opens directly inside the specific worktree’s directory, enabling you to run commands, start local servers, execute tests, or run Git operations without managing external console windows.

Three terminals at once

Launching a Terminal

To open an embedded terminal for any worktree:

  1. In the Worktrees panel, locate the target worktree.
  2. Click the three-dot Actions menu and choose Open in Terminal.
  3. A terminal pane initializes instantly, with its working directory set to that worktree’s root folder.

Tiled Multi-Terminal Layout

WorktreeWise supports concurrent multi-terminal workflows with flexible tiling options:

Adding New Panes

Click New terminal in worktree in the top toolbar to add additional panes. You can:

  • Open another terminal in the same worktree (e.g. running a Vite dev server in pane 1 while running tests in pane 2).
  • Open a terminal in a different worktree (e.g. comparing build commands between main and a feature branch).

Column Configurations

Control the grid structure using the layout switcher:

  • Auto: Automatically organizes panes based on your window width.
  • 1 Column: Stacks terminals vertically in full-width rows.
  • 2 Columns: Splits the display into two side-by-side terminal columns.
  • 3 Columns: Arranges three concurrent terminal panes side by side.

Pane Controls & Features

Each terminal pane operates as an independent session:

  • Worktree Header: Identifies the attached worktree and displays its full path tooltip.
  • Mode Switching: Toggle seamlessly between raw Terminal shell mode and interactive AI Agent mode using the segmented control.
  • Focus & Maximize: Click the Expand icon to maximize a single pane to full view—useful for inspecting long stack traces or wide logs. Click Compress to restore the tiled grid.
  • Session Termination: Click ✕ to terminate the underlying shell process and close the pane.
  • Keyboard Navigation: Press Ctrl + PageUp or Ctrl + PageDown to cycle keyboard focus between open panes.

Shell Configuration & Auto-Detection

Terminals use the active shell configured under Settings → Shell (Shift + S):

Shell settings

WorktreeWise automatically detects installed shells on your system:

  • Windows: PowerShell Core (pwsh), Windows PowerShell (powershell), Command Prompt (cmd), Git Bash (git-bash), WSL (wsl).
  • macOS & Linux: Zsh (zsh), Bash (bash), Fish (fish), Nushell (nu), POSIX Shell (sh).
  • Custom Shell: Enter an absolute path to a custom shell executable in Settings.

Theme Synchronization

The terminal’s color palette adapts automatically to your application theme:

  • Dark Mode: High-contrast GitHub Dark palette (#0d1117 background with crisp ANSI colors).
  • Light Mode: Clean GitHub Light palette (#ffffff background with optimized contrast).
  • Meets WCAG accessibility contrast ratios (minimum 4.5:1).
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