The AI terminal for Mac that keeps your real shell
An AI terminal should not replace your shell, it should sit inside it. Ghost in Shell runs the zsh or bash you already use, on a real PTY, and adds one thing at the prompt: you can type English and get a command back. Free, no account, macOS 13 or later.
What "AI terminal" means here
Three things, all optional and all switchable off in Settings:
- Ask at the prompt. A line your shell can run goes straight to the shell. A question ("why did that build fail") is answered inline under a violet
ghost >label. A task ("compress the logs folder into a tarball named for today") comes back as a ready-to-run command staged on your prompt. Ghost never presses Enter for you. - Files beside the shell (Cmd E). A git-aware directory tree, search across folder names, file names and file contents, and a syntax-highlighted editor. Fix the config, save, rerun.
- An agents panel (Cmd J). A floating, always-on-top list of every AI coding agent running in any tab or window: Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, aider, goose, Copilot. It tells you who is working, who finished and who is blocked waiting for your answer.
Bring your own model, including a free local one
Ghost does not sell you an AI subscription. In Settings you pick OpenAI GPT-5.x, Anthropic Claude Opus, Sonnet or Haiku, any custom model id, or a local model through Ollama that you browse and install without leaving the app. With a local model nothing ever leaves your Mac. With a cloud model, your directory, recent commands and a slice of output travel only with the question you asked, and your key is stored on this Mac only.
Still a real terminal
- Your actual zsh or bash on a true PTY, not a re-implementation of the shell
- Tabs named for their folder, each with a chip for its foreground process (claude, codex, node, python, vim, git, docker) that spins while an agent works and shows a ? when it is blocked
- Drag tabs to reorder, tear one off into its own window, drop it onto another
- Ten color profiles, adjustable fonts, drag a file from Finder to type its path
- Native macOS app, Apple Silicon and Intel, shipped as a .dmg
How it compares to other AI terminals for Mac
Warp bundles its own cloud AI, needs an account and meters usage. iTerm2, Ghostty and Terminal.app are excellent emulators with no AI layer. Wave adds AI widgets around the terminal. Ghost keeps the terminal a terminal and lets you choose the brain. The full comparison table covers each one line by line.
Who it is for
Developers who live in the terminal and run AI coding agents there. If you have three Claude Code sessions, a Codex run and a dev server open across four windows, Ghost is the terminal that tells you which one is waiting on you. If you just want find written for you without opening a chat window, it does that too.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ghost in Shell really free?
Yes. It is a free public beta with no account. You bring your own OpenAI or Anthropic key, or run a free local model through Ollama.
Does it replace my shell?
No. It runs your existing zsh or bash on a real PTY. Aliases, dotfiles, plugins and prompts all work as before.
Can I turn the AI off?
Every AI behavior can be switched off in Settings, and the system prompt behind each one can be opened and edited.
Does it run on Intel Macs?
Yes. There are separate .dmg builds for Apple Silicon and Intel, macOS 13 or later.