Tortie
Tortie is a native macOS application designed to multiplex AI coding agents and terminal sessions within a single window. It provides an integrated environment where developers can manage multiple projects and agents simultaneously, similar to how an IDE organizes workspaces, but with a focus on AI agent orchestration. Unlike traditional terminal multiplexers like tmux, Tortie offers a calm, graphical interface tailored for macOS. The tool emphasizes persistence and organization: agents survive restarts, allowing long-running tasks to continue across system reboots. It organizes terminal sessions per project, eliminating the need for manual tmux session management. By consolidating projects and agents in one window, Tortie aims to reduce context switching and cognitive load for developers working with multiple AI coding agents. Tortie is open source and positioned for developers who rely on AI agents for coding tasks. It bridges the gap between CLI-based multiplexers and full-fledged IDEs, offering a lightweight but structured workflow for managing agent interactions and terminal output.
- Category
- AI Agents
- Pricing
- Open Source
Problem solved
Developers using AI coding agents often need to manage multiple agent sessions and terminal windows, leading to clutter and lost context. Tortie solves this by providing a native macOS multiplexer that keeps all projects and agents in one window, persists agents across restarts, and organizes terminal sessions without requiring tmux.
Use cases
- Managing multiple AI coding agents simultaneously across different projects
- Keeping agent sessions alive across system restarts or crashes
- Organizing terminal sessions per project in a single macOS window
- Reducing terminal clutter when working with numerous concurrent agent tasks
- Replacing tmux for macOS users who prefer a native graphical interface
- Monitoring long-running agent jobs with persistent output
Audience
- Developers
- ML Engineers
- Startups
Pros
- Native macOS experience
- Agents persist across restarts
- All projects in one window
- No tmux needed
- Open source
Cons
- macOS only
- May have limited feature set compared to mature multiplexers
- Potential learning curve for tmux users
Official website: https://github.com/gregce/tortie
Canonical LambdaBase page: https://www.lambdabase.com/tools/tortie