romty

romty = roam + tty

romty is a terminal workspace manager for macOS and Linux. A detached local daemon keeps shell sessions running while the TUI is closed, and the next TUI reconnects with the terminal output intact.

Website: romty.dev

Why romty

AI coding agents often need more time and compute than a laptop can reliably provide. romty is designed to run on an always-on workstation at home or at the office, beside the repositories and tools the agents use. Connect to that machine over Tailscale and SSH, start romty and an agent, then disconnect without terminating the terminal session. The next SSH login can reopen the same romty workspace and continue from its retained output.

Tailscale and SSH provide access to the machine; romty does not expose a network service. Its client and daemon communicate through a private Unix socket on that host. Sessions survive SSH disconnects and TUI exits, but not a machine shutdown or an explicit romty stop. A stop does save each running tab's output and agent session: the first tabs opened in that workspace afterwards replay the saved output and, when Claude Code or Codex was running, start with its resume command already typed at the prompt.

laptop -> Tailscale -> SSH -> always-on machine -> romty -> AI coding agent

Features

• Organize roots and their direct child directories as a workspace tree.
• Keep multiple terminal tabs alive independently of the TUI.
• Restore up to 8 MiB of recent output, and browse and search 10,000 lines of scrollback.
• Open full-width scrollback for native terminal selection and copying, with light or dark colors.
• Show Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode working and waiting states from their own output, and every phase through optional hooks.
• Save every tab's output and agent session across romty stop, and offer them back — output replayed, resume command pre-typed — in the workspace's next tabs.
• Use function-key navigation that remains reliable with an active IME.

Install

With Homebrew:

brew install opspresso/tap/romty

Or with Go 1.25 or later:

go install github.com/opspresso/romty/cmd/romty@latest

Start

romty

Press F2 to add a root directory. Use ↑/↓ to select a root or workspace, ←/→ to select a terminal tab or +, and Enter to open it. Closing the TUI with F4 leaves its shell sessions running.

Use romty stop outside the TUI when you intend to stop the daemon and every running shell.

Documentation

• Getting started — requirements, installation, first run, and CLI commands
• Interface — workspace behavior, keyboard shortcuts, scrollback, mouse, and Git state
• Runtime — session persistence, local data, security boundaries, and architecture
• Agent status hooks — Claude Code and Codex state reporting and hook installation
• Development — local checks, protocol compatibility, website deployment, and releases

The complete documentation index is in docs/README.md.