Hides at the edge
Snaps to the left or right edge of the screen and tucks away. Move the pointer to the edge, click the Dock icon or press ⌘` to bring it back.
Free, open-source terminal for macOS
Hides on the edge. Slides out when you need it. FREE
SideCli is a terminal that docks at the edge of your screen and stays out of the way. Touch the edge or press a shortcut and it slides out, with tabs and split panes for running several tasks at once.
macOS 14.6 or later · Apple silicon & Intel · Notarized by Apple
- Free and open source (MIT)
- Auto-hides on the screen edge, or works as a regular window
- Split panes top/bottom or left/right, nested any way you like
- Native terminal feel with familiar macOS shortcuts
- Lightweight: the whole app is under 5 MB
What's inside
Or a regular window
Drag it away from the edge and it becomes an ordinary window that other apps can cover. Double-click the toolbar or press the green button to fill the screen.
Split panes that stay usable
⌘D splits in the direction with more room. Zoom a pane with ⌘⇧↩, equalize the layout, and move between panes with ⌘⌥ and the arrow keys.
Room for side by side
A left/right split widens the panel automatically and it shrinks back when the split closes. Panes never get too narrow to read.
Picks up where you left off
Tabs, panes and each pane's working directory are saved as you go and restored on the next launch, even after a force quit — and the window comes back docked, floating or filling the screen, just where you left it.
Never loses a running job
Closing a pane or tab, or quitting, while a program is still running asks first. Full-screen tools like vim and AI coding CLIs redraw correctly after every split and resize.
Paste files and images
Paste a screenshot or a file from Finder and SideCli inserts its path, which is handy with AI coding CLIs.
Shortcuts you can find
The menu bar lists every command with its shortcut: ⌘1–⌘9 to switch tabs, ⌘K to clear the screen, ⌘0 to reset the font size, and more.
Private and light
No analytics and no usage data. Built on the SwiftTerm engine, with English and Chinese interfaces and inline input-method composition, and the whole app is under 5 MB.
Light or dark, your call
Switch between the dark and light theme from the toolbar and adjust the font size with ⌘= and ⌘-. The other panes are dimmed so you always know where you're typing.
While it's docked, pin the panel when you want it to stay out, or let it hide the moment your pointer leaves.
Why SideCli
I built SideCli because CLI-first workflows are becoming mainstream. More and more dev tools now ship CLI modes, especially in the AI coding era, but many popular terminal apps keep getting heavier as they try to include everything.
Meanwhile, loose terminal windows are scattered and hard to manage. SideCli keeps only what matters: a native macOS feel, split panes for parallel work, and a terminal that's there when you need it and gone when you don't.
- Reduces terminal clutter and keeps every session in one place
- Split panes let you run and compare workflows side by side
- Aims for a native feel instead of feature bloat
- Only the essentials, in an app under 5 MB