Features

Workspace Tabs

Tabby uses browser-style tabs where each tab is a fully independent workspace. Every tab has its own layout, its own set of panes, and its own running terminal sessions. Nothing is shared between tabs — switching from Tab 1 to Tab 2 and back will never interrupt a running process.

Typical setup:

• Tab 1 — Frontend dev: npm run dev in one pane, editor in another, browser preview in a third
• Tab 2 — Backend: API server running, database shell open, logs tailing
• Tab 3 — Git & monitoring: git log, htop, docker stats

Shortcuts:

Action	Shortcut
New tab	Cmd+T
Close tab	Cmd+W
Switch to tab 1-9	Cmd+1 through Cmd+9

Tabs display the active pane's working directory name in the tab title, so you can quickly identify which project each tab belongs to.

Grid Layouts

Every tab starts from a layout preset. After choosing a preset, you can drag pane borders to resize them freely.

Available Presets

1x1 — Single full-screen pane. The default. Good for focused single-task work.

┌─────────────────────┐
│                     │
│      Terminal       │
│                     │
└─────────────────────┘

1x2 — Two panes side by side. Great for code + output, or editor + tests.

┌──────────┬──────────┐
│          │          │
│  Pane 1  │  Pane 2  │
│          │          │
└──────────┴──────────┘

2x2 — Four-pane grid. The workhorse layout for multi-task workflows.

┌──────────┬──────────┐
│  Pane 1  │  Pane 2  │
├──────────┼──────────┤
│  Pane 3  │  Pane 4  │
└──────────┴──────────┘

2x3 — Six panes. Useful for monitoring dashboards or projects with many services.

┌───────┬───────┬───────┐
│   1   │   2   │   3   │
├───────┼───────┼───────┤
│   4   │   5   │   6   │
└───────┴───────┴───────┘

3x3 — Nine panes. Maximum density for comprehensive monitoring or microservice architectures.

┌─────┬─────┬─────┐
│  1  │  2  │  3  │
├─────┼─────┼─────┤
│  4  │  5  │  6  │
├─────┼─────┼─────┤
│  7  │  8  │  9  │
└─────┴─────┴─────┘

Tips:

• You can change the layout preset after creation — existing panes rearrange into the new grid
• Drag any border between panes to resize them to your preferred proportions
• The default layout preset is configurable in Settings

Persistent Live Terminals

Every pane runs an independent PTY (pseudo-terminal) session. This is a core design principle, not just a feature — Tabby guarantees that your running processes are never killed by normal UI interactions.

What survives:

• Switching between tabs
• Resizing panes or changing layouts
• Changing focus between panes
• Opening or closing other tabs
• Opening the settings modal

Practical example:

1. Start npm run dev in Pane 1 — your dev server is running
2. Switch to Tab 2 to check logs
3. Open Settings to adjust font size
4. Switch back to Tab 1 — npm run dev is still running with full scroll history intact

This means you can treat Tabby like a persistent workspace. Start your processes once, then navigate freely without worrying about restarts.

CLI Profiles

Each pane can run a different profile. Profiles determine what command launches when the pane starts.

Terminal

Launches your default login shell (whatever $SHELL is set to, usually zsh on macOS). This is the default profile for new panes.

Claude Code

Launches the Claude Code CLI directly in the pane. Requires the claude CLI to be installed and available on your $PATH.

Use case: Keep an AI coding assistant open alongside your terminals. One pane for Claude Code, another for your shell — collaborate with AI without leaving your workspace.

Codex

Launches the OpenAI Codex CLI. Requires the codex CLI to be installed.

Custom

Runs any shell command you specify. Examples:

• htop — system monitor
• docker compose up — start a Docker stack
• python manage.py runserver — Django dev server
• tail -f /var/log/system.log — log watcher

Switching profiles: You can change a pane's profile at any time from the pane header. The pane restarts with the new command while all other panes remain untouched.

Per-Pane Working Directory

Each pane starts in and tracks its own working directory independently. When you create a tab, each pane can be pointed at a different project folder.

Example setup for a monorepo:

• Pane 1: ~/projects/my-app/frontend — running npm run dev
• Pane 2: ~/projects/my-app/backend — running cargo run
• Pane 3: ~/projects/my-app — running git status

Working directories persist through layout changes and tab switches. You can set the default working directory for new panes in Settings.

Browser Panes

Browser panes embed a web view directly inside your workspace layout, side by side with terminal panes. No need to Alt-Tab to a browser window.

Common use cases:

• Localhost preview — keep localhost:3000 visible while editing code
• Documentation — pin API docs or framework guides next to your terminal
• Dashboards — monitoring UIs, Grafana, CI/CD status pages
• Web apps — any URL works

Browser panes include a URL bar for navigation and support standard web interactions (scrolling, clicking, form input).

Git Integration

Built-in Git UI accessible from any pane's context. Currently read-only — gives you a full view of your repository state without leaving the workspace.

Repository Status

See which files are modified, staged, untracked, or conflicted at a glance. File status updates automatically as you work in your terminals.

Branches

Browse local and remote branches. See the current branch, switch branches, and view branch history.

Commit History

Full commit log with author, date, and message. Navigate through your project's history to understand what changed and when.

Diffs

Syntax-highlighted diff viewer with two modes:

• Unified — traditional patch-style diff with additions and deletions inline
• Split — side-by-side comparison of old and new versions

Blame

Line-by-line blame annotations showing who last modified each line, when, and in which commit. Useful for understanding the context behind code changes.

Stash

View your stash entries and their contents. See what's stashed without leaving the Tabby interface.

Theme System

Customize Tabby's appearance with the built-in theme editor.

Light and Dark Modes

Switch between light and dark base themes. The app follows your macOS system preference by default, or you can set it manually.

Custom Themes

Create and edit custom themes by modifying color tokens:

• Background colors (primary, soft, muted, alt)
• Text colors (primary, secondary, tertiary)
• Brand/accent colors
• Border and divider colors
• Font families (base and mono)

Changes preview live as you edit, so you can see exactly how your theme looks before saving.

Import / Export

Share themes with others by exporting them as files. Import themes from the community or your own backups.

Settings

Access settings with Cmd+, or through the app menu.

Configurable Options

Setting	Description	Default
Font size	Terminal text size, also adjustable with Cmd+= / Cmd+-	System default
Default layout	Layout preset for new tabs	1x1
Default profile	Profile for new panes	Terminal
Working directory	Starting directory for new panes	Home (~)
Theme	Light, dark, or custom	System preference

Keyboard Shortcuts

Tabby is designed for keyboard-first workflows. All major actions have keyboard shortcuts.

Tab Management

Action	Shortcut
New tab	Cmd+T
Close tab	Cmd+W
Switch to tab 1	Cmd+1
Switch to tab 2	Cmd+2
Switch to tab 3	Cmd+3
Switch to tab 4	Cmd+4
Switch to tab 5	Cmd+5
Switch to tab 6	Cmd+6
Switch to tab 7	Cmd+7
Switch to tab 8	Cmd+8
Switch to tab 9	Cmd+9

View

Action	Shortcut
Zoom in	Cmd+=
Zoom out	Cmd+-
Settings	Cmd+,

Tips

• Quick tab switching — Cmd+1 through Cmd+9 jumps directly to a tab by position, much faster than cycling through tabs
• Zoom — affects font size globally across all panes; great for presentations or pairing sessions
• Muscle memory — shortcuts match standard macOS conventions (Safari, Chrome), so they feel natural immediately

Performance

Tabby is built for responsiveness. Performance targets that guide development:

Metric	Target
Input latency	< 5 ms
Tab switch	< 50 ms
Session loss	Zero during normal UI navigation

The Rust backend handles PTY I/O on dedicated threads, and terminal output is streamed directly to the xterm.js renderer with minimal overhead. See ADR-001 for the technical details of the terminal output hot path.