# Show HN: I made Niri-like terminal colm (cmux alternative)

> Source: <https://colm.sh/>
> Published: 2026-09-19 04:44:43+00:00

# colm

The terminal for

      A Linux workspace manager for coding agents, built on
      [Ghostty](https://github.com/ghostty-org/ghostty).
      Workspaces live in a sidebar, terminals live in a horizontal column
      strip, and everything is scriptable over a JSON control socket.
    

## FEATURES

- **Workspace sidebar.** Pin, mute, group, and drag-reorder workspaces. Each row shows task status, git branch, agent activity, and a live notification preview.
- **Column strip.** Terminals tile horizontally like niri. Split, zoom, and jump between columns without leaving the keyboard.
- **Column overview.** A native-style grid of live column thumbnails — search, click, or arrow-key to any tile in the active workspace.
- **Agent aware.** Permission prompts, exit plans, and questions from Claude Code and friends surface as cards you can answer from the feed sidebar.
- **Remote workspaces.** Attach whole workspaces to remote machines over SSH with tmux-backed persistence.
- **Scriptable.** Every window, workspace, and pane is addressable over a JSON-RPC unix socket — create, focus, split, close, snapshot.
- **Ghostty core.** GPU-accelerated rendering, fast startup, and the full Ghostty terminal engine underneath.
- **Open source.** MIT licensed, like the Ghostty it stands on.

## INSTALL

```
git clone https://github.com/al3rez/colm
cd colm
zig build -Doptimize=ReleaseFast -p ~/.local/opt/colm
```

Requires Zig 0.15, GTK 4.16+, and libadwaita 1.5+.

## FAQ

How is this different from Ghostty?

colm is a fork focused on managing many agent sessions at once: a workspace sidebar, a niri-style column strip, live overviews, and an automation socket. The terminal underneath is unmodified Ghostty.

Which platforms?

Linux with GTK 4 and libadwaita. Wayland and X11 both work.

Which agents?

Anything that runs in a terminal. Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, aider — permission and plan prompts integrate with the feed when the agent supports it.

Is it free?

Yes. MIT licensed, no accounts, no telemetry.