Open-source AI terminal
Unterm vs Terax
Both are AI-native terminals — Terax bundles its own agent IDE; Unterm lets any external agent drive the terminal over MCP.
Terax is an impressive, tiny (~7 MB) Tauri terminal with a built-in code editor, a git graph, a web preview pane, and a multi-agent AI side-panel using your own keys or local models. Unterm shares the open-source, AI-native, BYO stance but draws the line differently — instead of bundling an agent, it exposes the terminal over MCP so the agents you already use can operate it, and renders natively rather than in a webview.
| Capability | Unterm | Terax |
|---|---|---|
| Driveable from outside via MCP | ✓ | ✗ |
| Scriptable CLI for every action | ✓ | ✗ |
| Built-in AI coding-agent launcher | ✓ ×5 | ✓ built-in |
| Agents auto-wire to the terminal's MCP | ✓ | ✗ |
| Identity profiles (creds per window) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multi-instance orchestration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Session recording → markdown | ✓ md | ✗ |
| Screenshot + file upload from MCP | ✓ | ~ preview |
| Built-in proxy management | ✓ | ✗ |
| Local-first, no cloud / no login | ✓ | ✓ |
| AI baked inside the terminal | ✓ agent-driven | ✓ built-in (BYO) |
| GPU rendering | ✓ | ✓ WebGL |
| macOS + Linux + Windows | ✓ | ✓ +Android |
| Open-source client | ✓ MIT | ✓ |
| Native UI languages | ✓ ×9 | en |
| Price | $0 | $0 |
✓ yes · ✗ no · ~ partial · ×N count. The ✗ by design on "AI inside" is the whole thesis: Unterm keeps the AI outside and exposes the terminal as the surface it grips.
Why teams choose Unterm
- ✓ Drive-any-agent, not one bundled agent. Unterm's MCP server + CLI let Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, and others list panes, run commands, and read the screen — you keep your agent of choice.
- ✓ One-click install + auto-wiring. Set up and sign into the major coding agents in a click, and Unterm registers itself into each one's global MCP config.
- ✓ Native terminal, agent-ops built in. A native (non-web) renderer plus identity profiles, multi-instance, session recording, screen capture, and proxy — the surface for running agents, not an editor bundled in.
Where Terax is stronger
Terax packs more into one app: a real code editor, a git graph, a web-preview pane, and a built-in multi-agent workflow — all in a ~7 MB download, with an Android build too. If you want an all-in-one AI coding IDE that happens to live in a terminal, Terax bundles more out of the box.
Bottom line
Want a bundled editor + agent IDE in one tiny app? Terax is a great pick. Want a terminal that the external coding agents you already run can drive over MCP, natively rendered? That's Unterm.
MIT-licensed · macOS / Linux / Windows · no account, no login.