Terax

Open-source lightweight cross-platform AI-native terminal (ADE)

---

Terax is a fast, lightweight AI-powered terminal environment (ADE) built with Tauri 2, Rust, and React 19. It combines a native PTY backend with a modern interface featuring multi-tab terminals, an integrated code editor, a file explorer and a dedicated AI side panel. Use your own API keys or run fully local models through LM Studio. The app stays under 10 MB on disk, includes no telemetry, and securely stores keys in the OS keychain.

Screenshots

Multi-tab terminal with WebGL rendering	Web preview of local dev servers
AI agentic workflow with edit diffs in the code editor

Features

Terminal

• xterm.js + WebGL renderer, multi-tab with background streaming
• Native PTY backend via portable-pty (zsh, bash, pwsh, …)
• Shell integration (cwd reporting, prompt markers) via injected init scripts
• Inline search, link detection, true-color

Editor

• CodeMirror 6 with language support for TS/JS, Rust, Python, HTML/CSS, JSON, Markdown
• Inline AI autocomplete and AI edit diffs
• Vim mode
• Prebuilt themes: Tokyo Night, Nord, GitHub, Atom One, Aura, Copilot, Xcode

File Explorer

• Catppuccin icon theme (Material Icon Theme resolver)
• Fuzzy search, keyboard navigation, inline rename, context actions

Web Preview

• Auto-detects local dev servers and opens them in a preview tab

AI (BYOK)

• Providers: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Groq, xAI, Cerebras, OpenAI-compatible
• Local / offline models via LM Studio
• Voice input, edit diffs, multi-agent and sub-agents
• Snippets / skills, customizable system prompt
• TERAX.md for project memory and configuration
• Tasks, plans, search, file read/write tools with approval flow

Quality

• Lightweight and fast (~7 MB bundle)
• API keys stored in the OS keychain
• No telemetry, no account required

Windows notes

• SmartScreen warning: Windows will show "Windows protected your PC" on first launch because we (temporarily) don't have a code-signing certificate yet. Click More info → Run anyway. This is normal for unsigned open-source apps.

The default shell is detected in this order: pwsh.exe (PowerShell 7+) → powershell.exe (Windows PowerShell 5.1) → cmd.exe.

Configure AI

1. Open Settings → AI.
2. Pick a provider and paste your API key. For local inference, point Terax at your LM Studio endpoint.
3. Keys are written to the OS keychain via keyring — they never touch disk or localStorage.

Build from source

Prerequisites

• Rust (stable) — https://rustup.rs
• Node 20+ and pnpm
• Platform-specific Tauri prerequisites — https://tauri.app/start/prerequisites/

Run

pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev          # development
pnpm tauri build        # production bundle

Checks

pnpm exec tsc --noEmit          # frontend type-check
cd src-tauri && cargo clippy    # Rust lint

Tech stack

Tauri 2 · Rust · portable-pty · React 19 · TypeScript · xterm.js · CodeMirror 6 · Vercel AI SDK v6 · Tailwind v4 · shadcn/ui · Zustand

Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome! Feel free to open issues, suggest features, or submit pull requests. See CONTRIBUTING.md for more details.

License

Terax is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License. For more information on our dependencies, see Apache License 2.0.