Many terminal sessions

The Terminals view runs several real terminal sessions in one window. Each session can run a different AI coding tool, in its own copy of the project on its own branch, so a login form, a dark mode and a bug fix can be built at the same time without overwriting each other. Maxtkn starts the tools; it does not sign in to them, embed them or store anything for them.

Open it from the left rail, from the Many terminals button on the Terminal tab, or with Ctrl+K. It needs the desktop app and git.

The tools

The Run picker in the New sessions dialog lists the tools. Each uses the login you already made in a normal terminal.

Install a tool once

The picker checks your computer and shows “installed” or “not found” next to each tool. A tool that is not found cannot be started, and the dialog says why. Install it the way its maker describes, then sign in once in an ordinary terminal. For example:

Check each maker’s current instructions; install steps change.

Start sessions

1. Press New sessions.
2. Give them a name and choose how many (1 to 20).
3. Pick the tool. A batch is one tool; start another batch for another tool, so ten sessions can be six Claude Code and four Codex.
4. Choose where they work: each in its own copy of the project (recommended, on a maxtkn/ branch) or in the shared folder. The shared folder warns you first because sessions could overwrite each other.
5. Optionally type a setup command such as npm install to run first in each new copy.
6. Start.

Working with the sessions

• Each tile shows its tool, whether it is working, quiet, waiting for you or stopped, and how many files it changed. They keep running while you use other views, and the left rail counts the ones that need you.
• Send one line to the sessions you select. Start, Resume and Stop act on all of them from one toolbar.
• Resume continues the last conversation only for tools that can. Sessions whose tool cannot continue are skipped and say so.
• Change the tool on a stopped session. The new tool starts fresh and the setup command does not run again.
• Sessions are remembered. After a restart, Resume continues each conversation where the tool allows it.

Add your own tool

Choose Add a tool… in the picker. Give it a name, the command that starts it and, optionally, the command that continues its last conversation. It then appears in the list for every project, and Remove this tool takes it away again. You can add up to twelve. Sessions saved with a tool you later removed still open with the command that was saved with them.

What it costs your computer

The header shows the memory the running sessions use together, and each session shows its own. Around 350 MB per Claude Code session is a reasonable expectation, so twenty sessions need several gigabytes. From six sessions a note says what they cost. Removing a session can also remove its copy and branch, and warns you if it has changes.