I really like the amount of exploration going on right now in this space. Even if this particular project (or the many terminal trackers/mergers/splitters, session managers, etc) don't end up being the thing, exploration is useful and might inform the next platforms.
The IDE has been "static" for most of the past ~20 years, with obvious improvements, but they were always incremental. The kind of exploration we see now is a bit more extreme, and I like it. It also seems like a lot of people are looking for alternatives, and I like some ideas. Even the funky ideas (I once saw a post comparing and proposing IDEs to follow RTS games UI) are interesting. Who knows what might stick.
Nice, but I'd love to see something more native. Maybe rust written for better performance without using any sort of GPU acceleration to keep the battery running longer on laptops. Even better if we can have a headless setup where you can connect from any computer without using VNC or what's so ever. Probably can also have collaborative sessions and have AI-assisted sessions with a 2nd cursor rendered like in the OpenAI examples weve seen lately.
Cate is an open source desktop workspace built around an infinite canvas. Instead of constantly switching between terminals, editors, browser previews, docs, and AI tools, you arrange everything spatially in one place.
Big improvements since the earlier posts:
docking, tabs, and splits
detachable native OS windows
git worktree support
unified Cmd+K search
much smoother rendering/performance on larger canvases
AI provider + MCP integration
Stack:
Electron, React, Monaco, xterm.js/node-pty, Zustand.
Runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux. MIT licensed.
Would love feedback from people with heavy multi-window or terminal-based workflows.
The IDE has been "static" for most of the past ~20 years, with obvious improvements, but they were always incremental. The kind of exploration we see now is a bit more extreme, and I like it. It also seems like a lot of people are looking for alternatives, and I like some ideas. Even the funky ideas (I once saw a post comparing and proposing IDEs to follow RTS games UI) are interesting. Who knows what might stick.
Cate is an open source desktop workspace built around an infinite canvas. Instead of constantly switching between terminals, editors, browser previews, docs, and AI tools, you arrange everything spatially in one place.
Big improvements since the earlier posts:
docking, tabs, and splits detachable native OS windows git worktree support unified Cmd+K search much smoother rendering/performance on larger canvases AI provider + MCP integration Stack: Electron, React, Monaco, xterm.js/node-pty, Zustand.
Runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux. MIT licensed.
Would love feedback from people with heavy multi-window or terminal-based workflows.