pterm

A fast, secure, and memory-efficient terminal emulator for macOS.

Features

• Single window, multiple terminals — Manage multiple shell sessions in one window with an integrated overview grid.
• Memory-controlled scrollback — Unlike macOS Terminal, scrollback memory is capped and automatically rolled. No more runaway memory from tail -F.
• Metal-accelerated rendering — GPU-rendered terminal with sRGB color management, glyph atlas caching, and offscreen thumbnail compositing.
• Shell flexibility — Defaults to your system shell (typically zsh), with automatic fallback to bash and sh.
• Full IME support — Japanese and other multi-byte input via macOS Input Methods with correct cursor positioning.
• Workspace management — Organize terminals into named workspaces with persistent notes.
• Dark theme — Black background, optimized for CLI tools like Claude Code.
• Code signed and notarized — Distributed with Developer ID signature and Apple notarization for Gatekeeper compatibility.
• Zero external dependencies — Built entirely on macOS system frameworks (AppKit, Metal, Security). No third-party libraries.

Requirements

• macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later
• Xcode Command Line Tools (for building from source)

Install

Download the latest pterm.zip from Releases, unzip, and move pterm.app to /Applications.

Build from Source

Debug build:

make debug
open .build/pterm.app

Release build:

make build

make build runs the full regression test suite before producing the release app bundle.

Run tests:

make test

Profile CPU hot paths:

make profile-cpu

Signing and Distribution

Sign with a Developer ID certificate:

make sign IDENTITY='Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)'

Build, sign, notarize, and package in one step:

make notarize \
  IDENTITY='Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID)' \
  NOTARY_PROFILE='your-notarytool-profile'

The notarized app is stapled and verified automatically. Distribute .build/pterm.zip.

Development

This application was built with Claude Code and Codex.

License

MIT