{"slug": "helium-terminal-a-tiny-macos-terminal-for-coding-agents-built-on-libghostty", "title": "Helium Terminal – A tiny macOS terminal for coding agents, built on libghostty", "summary": "Helium Terminal, a macOS terminal for coding agents built on libghostty by developer yowmamasita, launches at 15 MB and about 250 ms versus iTerm2 3.7's 176 MB and about 570 ms, per a benchmark script published in the project's GitHub repository. The terminal uses 62 MB idle memory and roughly 0.2% idle CPU against iTerm2's 203 MB and about 2%, and its sidebar shows each tab's branch, folder and ports while restoring Claude Code and Codex sessions after a quit. It installs via Homebrew on Apple Silicon running macOS 13 or later.", "body_md": "A tiny macOS terminal for coding agents, built on libghostty.\n\nThe sidebar shows every tab's branch, folder and ports. A pane waiting on you turns orange until you answer. Tabs split, group and take labels, and your Claude Code and Codex sessions come back after a quit.\n\n|  | Helium | iTerm2 3.7 | \n|---|---|---|\n| Size | 15 MB | 176 MB | \n| Launch | ~250 ms | ~570 ms | \n| Idle memory | 62 MB | 203 MB | \n| Idle CPU | ~0.2% | ~2% | \n\nApple Silicon, median of five launches. [Script](https://github.com/yowmamasita/helium-terminal/tree/main/bench).\n\n```\nbrew install --cask yowmamasita/tap/helium-terminal\nzb install yowmamasita/tap/helium-terminal\n```\n\nApple Silicon, macOS 13 or later.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/helium-terminal-a-tiny-macos-terminal-for-coding-agents-built-on-libghostty", "canonical_source": "https://helium-terminal.bensarmiento.com/", "published_at": "2026-10-10 08:14:01+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-10 08:40:06.363292+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["developer-tools", "ai-agents", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["Helium Terminal", "libghostty", "iTerm2", "macOS", "yowmamasita", "Claude Code", "Codex", "Homebrew"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/helium-terminal-a-tiny-macos-terminal-for-coding-agents-built-on-libghostty", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/helium-terminal-a-tiny-macos-terminal-for-coding-agents-built-on-libghostty.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/helium-terminal-a-tiny-macos-terminal-for-coding-agents-built-on-libghostty.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/helium-terminal-a-tiny-macos-terminal-for-coding-agents-built-on-libghostty.jsonld"}}