Problem solved

Developers using AI coding agents often struggle to maintain visibility into agent actions, leading to uncertainty about progress, difficulty debugging errors, and reduced trust in automated workflows. Terminal Mode solves this by providing a dedicated, always-on terminal interface that streams agent activity in real time, allowing developers to monitor, debug, and interact with agents without context switching.

Use cases

• Monitoring the activity of an AI agent performing a large-scale code refactor to ensure it doesn't introduce regressions
• Debugging failed agent tasks by scrolling through a live log stream to pinpoint where the agent made an incorrect decision
• Running multiple agents in parallel (e.g., one for testing, one for documentation) and keeping tabs on all progress from a single terminal view
• Intervening manually when an agent gets stuck in a loop by sending a stop command directly from the terminal interface
• Logging agent output for later analysis and auditing without relying on external logging services
• Integrating agent monitoring into existing terminal-based workflows (e.g., with tmux) for a seamless developer experience

Audience

• Developers
• ML Engineers

Pros

• Always-visible agent status reduces the need for context switching
• Supports monitoring multiple agents simultaneously
• Lightweight and integrates naturally with terminal-centric workflows
• Enhances debuggability and trust in AI coding agents
• Configurable and extensible for different logging preferences

Cons

• Terminal-only interface may lack rich visualizations and dashboards
• Requires compatibility with specific coding agents; may not work out-of-the-box with all tools
• Potential for terminal clutter if many agents are active