Termy → Tutorial → Getting started
Getting started
Install Termy, give it two permissions, and open your first session.
1. Install
Download Termy, open the disk image, and drag Termy onto the Applications folder shown next to it. Then open it from Applications. There's no window — Termy lives in the menu bar as a >_ icon, and in your notch.
Install it from Applications rather than running it from the disk image or your Downloads folder, and don't copy the app out of a folder by hand: that breaks the signature and macOS will refuse to open it.
Using Homebrew? brew tap ycankasal/termy && brew trust --tap ycankasal/termy && brew install --cask termy does all of this for you. Termy then updates itself, so there's no need to brew upgrade it.
You also need the agent itself on your PATH: the claude command for Claude Code, or codex for Codex CLI. Termy's setup screen checks this for you and links to the install guide if it's missing.
2. The permissions Termy asks for
The setup screen asks for two, and both are optional if you don't want the feature:
- Accessibility — so Termy notices when your cursor is over the notch. Without it, open the panel from the menu bar icon or ⌥`.
- Automation (Xcode) — so Termy can ask Xcode which projects you have open. Without it, drag folders onto the notch instead.
Two more are asked for later, the first time you use the feature: notifications, and the microphone and speech recognition when you first dictate a prompt.
3. Your first session
Open a project in Xcode, VS Code or Cursor, then hover the notch. Termy has already made a tab for it. Click the tab and the terminal starts: it changes into your project's folder and launches your agent.
No project open? Click + in the panel for a plain terminal, drag any folder onto the notch, or use Open Folder… in the menu bar menu.
Free vs Pro. The free version runs one session at a time and includes everything in the notch. Pro ($4.99, once) adds unlimited sessions, split view, automatic checkpoints, the workflow toolbar and usage insights, with a 14-day trial.
4. Choose your agent
Termy launches Claude Code by default. In Settings → Agent you can switch to Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Amp, or a plain shell with no agent at all.
Claude Code and Codex get the full experience — exact status, approvals in the notch, plan-usage bars — because Termy uses their hook systems. Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Amp and plain shells work, but their status is read from the terminal output, which is a guess rather than a fact. A few features read Claude's own session files and work with Claude Code only: the session browser, conversation search, tracking sessions started outside Termy, and cost figures in usage insights.