Getting Started

What is Tabby?

Tabby is a free, open-source terminal workspace app built for macOS. Instead of scattering terminals across multiple windows or relying on tmux to keep sessions alive, Tabby gives you a single window with browser-style tabs, split-pane layouts, and persistent terminal sessions that never die when you switch context.

Think of it as a workspace manager for your terminal life. Each tab is an independent workspace. Each pane inside a tab runs its own terminal session with its own working directory and launch profile. Switch between tabs, resize panes, change layouts — your running processes stay exactly where you left them.

Tabby is built with Tauri v2 and Rust on the backend, React and TypeScript on the frontend. It ships as a lightweight native macOS app with real PTY sessions — not a web app pretending to be a terminal.

Core Concepts

Understanding four concepts unlocks everything Tabby can do:

Workspace

The top-level container. One Tabby window = one workspace. Everything lives inside it.

Tabs

Browser-style tabs along the top of the workspace. Each tab is fully isolated — its own layout, its own set of panes, its own terminal sessions. Create with Cmd+T, close with Cmd+W, jump between them with Cmd+1 through Cmd+9.

Panes

Each tab contains one or more panes arranged in a grid layout. Every pane is an independent terminal (or browser) surface with its own PTY process, working directory, and runtime profile. Panes can be resized by dragging their borders.

Profiles

Profiles define what runs inside a pane. Out of the box, Tabby ships with:

• Terminal — your default shell (zsh, bash, etc.)
• Claude Code — launches the Claude Code CLI
• Codex — launches the OpenAI Codex CLI
• Custom — any shell command you specify

You can swap a pane's profile at any time without affecting other panes.

Quick Start

Option A: Download the App

The fastest way to get started. Grab the latest .dmg from the releases page, drag Tabby to your Applications folder, and launch it.

First launch: macOS will warn you about an unsigned app. Right-click the app icon, choose Open, and confirm. You only need to do this once. See FAQ for details.

Option B: Build from Source

For developers who want to contribute or run the latest code:

git clone https://github.com/markbrutx/Tabby.git
cd Tabby
bun install
bun run tauri dev

See Installation for prerequisites and detailed setup instructions.

Next Steps

• Installation — download the app or set up the development environment from source
• Features — full walkthrough of tabs, layouts, profiles, Git integration, themes, and keyboard shortcuts
• CLI Usage — automate workspace creation with command-line flags and shell scripts
• FAQ — answers to common questions and troubleshooting tips