aicoolies logo
Waveterm logo
Waveterm logo

Waveterm

AI-native open-source terminal for modern developers

open sourceupdated Apr 21, 2026

Cross-platform terminal with built-in AI chat, inline file previews, and durable SSH sessions. Supports OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, and Ollama for in-terminal AI assistance. With 18k+ GitHub stars, it combines modern terminal UX with AI-powered command suggestions, making remote development and server management faster and more intuitive.

Wave Terminal is an open-source, AI-integrated, cross-platform terminal that blends command-line power with modern visual tools for seamless workflows. It goes beyond traditional terminal emulation by embedding file previews, a code editor, a web browser, and an AI assistant directly into the terminal interface. Wave solves the problem of constant context-switching between different applications during development by bringing multiple tools into a unified workspace.

Wave Terminal features a Monaco-based code editor with syntax highlighting, multi-cursor editing, and search/replace for editing remote files directly in the terminal. It provides durable SSH sessions that survive connection interruptions and automatic reconnection, rich file previews for markdown, images, video, PDFs, and CSVs, and a flexible drag-and-drop workspace interface. The built-in AI assistant supports BYOK for OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, and local models via Ollama, and can read terminal output and scrollback for context-aware debugging and analysis.

Wave Terminal is designed for developers and DevOps engineers who work extensively with remote servers and want a more visual, integrated terminal experience. Its workspace-centric approach makes it ideal for managing complex development environments where you need to view files, edit code, monitor output, and interact with AI assistance simultaneously. Available on macOS, Linux, and Windows, Wave offers a unique alternative to traditional terminals for users who prefer a more graphical workflow without leaving the command line.

Pricing

Free (open-source)

Platforms

macOS, Linux, Windows

Categories

Tags

Use Cases

Alacritty logo

Alacritty

A fast, cross-platform terminal

Self-described 'fastest terminal emulator in existence' — a GPU-accelerated, cross-platform terminal written in Rust focused on simplicity and performance. No tabs, splits, or built-in multiplexer — designed to pair with tmux or Zellij. Configured via YAML with a minimal feature set that prioritizes speed above all else. Supports true color, Vi mode, regex search, and clickable URLs. Available on macOS, Linux, Windows, and BSD. 57K+ GitHub stars.

Open Source
kitty logo

kitty

The fast, feature-rich terminal

GPU-accelerated terminal emulator written in C and Python, focused on performance and features. Supports ligatures, true color, graphics protocol for displaying images/plots inline, tabs, splits, and remote control via IPC. Highly configurable via a plain text config file. Cross-platform on macOS and Linux. Features a kitten framework for writing terminal programs in Python. Known for innovation in terminal graphics. 26K+ GitHub stars and a dedicated power-user community.

Open Source
wezterm

WezTerm

GPU-accelerated terminal with Lua config

GPU-accelerated cross-platform terminal emulator written in Rust with configuration in Lua for maximum flexibility. Supports multiplexing (splits, tabs, workspaces), ligatures, true color, sixel/iTerm2/Kitty image protocols, and SSH multiplexer for remote sessions. Extensive keyboard/mouse customization, dynamic color schemes, and a built-in serial port mode. Works on macOS, Linux, Windows, and FreeBSD. Known for deep customizability. 19K+ GitHub stars.

Open Source

Related Tools

computed discovery: shared active categories · kept separate from editor-verified Alternatives

Grok logo

Grok Build

Top Pick

xAI's terminal coding agent with parallel subagents and worktree-aware automation

Grok Build is xAI's terminal-first coding agent for planning, editing, testing, and reviewing code from a local CLI. The early beta exposes subagent controls, worktree mode, headless JSON output, best-of-N parallel attempts, sandbox profiles, and experimental memory. It fits developers comparing Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini CLI for local agentic workflows with deeper parallel execution.

paid
Ghostty logo

Ghostty

Top Pick

Fast, native terminal emulator

GPU-accelerated terminal emulator written in Zig by Mitchell Hashimoto (HashiCorp co-founder). Native UI rendering on macOS and Linux. Supports ligatures, true color, Kitty graphics protocol, and splits/tabs. Configurable via a simple key-value file with sensible defaults. Open-source with 20K+ GitHub stars and a focus on correctness, speed, and minimal resource usage. Growing as a modern alternative to iTerm2, Alacritty, and WezTerm.

Open Source
Claude Code logo

Claude Code

Top Pick

Anthropic's agentic coding CLI

Anthropic's agentic CLI coding tool that delegates complex tasks to Claude directly from the terminal. Understands entire codebases via automatic context gathering, edits multiple files, runs shell commands, and manages Git workflows autonomously. Supports CLAUDE.md for persistent project instructions, integrates with VS Code and JetBrains, and uses Claude Opus/Sonnet with extended thinking for complex architectural decisions. Built for terminal-first developers.

paid
Codex logo

Codex

Top Pick

OpenAI coding agent for app, editor, terminal, and cloud work

Codex is OpenAI's coding agent for software development across the Codex app, editor, terminal, and cloud tasks. It helps write, review, debug, refactor, and automate code, with ChatGPT plan access for managed surfaces and API-key usage for CLI, SDK, and IDE workflows. The open-source CLI and SDK support local repository work, while cloud features add GitHub review, Slack/Linear integrations, worktrees, skills, MCP, and automations.

freemium
roborev logo

roborev

Continuous local code-review loops for commits produced by AI coding agents

roborev is an MIT-licensed local review system that checks every commit in the background, stores findings in a review queue, and feeds actionable issues back into AI coding sessions. Git hooks, a TUI, branch and dirty-tree analysis, Codex and Claude agent hooks, plus iterative fix/refine commands turn review into a continuous agent workflow.

Open SourceTelemetry
Windows-MCP logo

Windows-MCP

MCP server for controlling Windows desktops through UIAutomation

Windows-MCP is an open-source MCP server for giving AI agents structured access to Windows desktop automation. It focuses on UIAutomation, snapshots, input control, and Windows-specific app workflows, making it different from general filesystem or shell MCP servers.

Open Source

FAQ

What is Waveterm?

Cross-platform terminal with built-in AI chat, inline file previews, and durable SSH sessions. Supports OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, and Ollama for in-terminal AI assistance. With 18k+ GitHub stars, it combines modern terminal UX with AI-powered command suggestions, making remote development and server management faster and more intuitive.

Is Waveterm free?

Yes — Waveterm is open source and free to use. Free (open-source)

Is Waveterm open source?

Yes — Waveterm is open source.

What are the best Waveterm alternatives?

The top editor-verified Waveterm alternatives are Alacritty, kitty, WezTerm.