v0.7.0 Beta Β· All platforms

The terminal for
normal people.

No gatekeeping. No required memorization. No mandatory config file archaeology. Buttons instead of keyboard combos. AI help that actually helps. A real shell underneath.

Terminal with AI Help window open, showing a SAFE command Get-Command oci with Review & Run button

The main idea: AI Help sits next to your terminal, generates a command with a safety label, and waits for you to review it before anything runs.

Terminal look scary? Not ours.

We put the controls on screen. You shouldn't need a cheat sheet to use a program you're going to use every day.

Terminal apps shouldn't require a photographic memory

The rest of the terminal world really loves making this harder than it is.

Most terminal apps were built by people who memorized everything a long time ago and don't see the problem. There is a problem.

other terminals

😀25 keyboard shortcuts to do basic things. Memorize them or look them up every single time forever.
πŸ“Change your font by editing YAML in a dotfile in a hidden config directory. Three of them, actually.
🌐Don't know what a command does? Open browser. Search. Copy. Paste. Close tab. Forget tomorrow. Repeat.
πŸ’₯Type something wrong. Get an error. Zero context about what went wrong or how to fix it.
# How to change your theme in Most Terminalsβ„’
$ nano ~/.config/terminal/theme.yaml
# parse error on line 42
$ nano ~/.local/share/terminal/colors.toml
$ nano ~/.config/terminal/overrides/patch.yml
# restart. (it still looks the same)

ButtonsCLI

πŸ”˜Buttons for common commands, right on screen. No memorization.
🎨Theme settings in the UI. Sliders, pickers, live preview. Apply in one click.
πŸ€–Ask AI Help what to run. It reads your terminal context. No context-switching.
πŸ›‘οΈEvery AI-generated command gets a SAFE or CAUTION badge. Nothing runs without your ok.
πŸ“‹Named tabs β€” call them what they are. "prod-server", "local-dev", "building right now".

AI Help β€” built in

Ask it. Review it.
Run it or don't.

Type a question. Get a command with a safety label. See the AI's reason. Decide to run it, type-only (no autorun), or cancel. The AI doesn't touch anything until you say so.

β†’"Find where oci binary is" β†’ Get-Command oci SAFE
β†’"List directories by size sorted" β†’ du -sh * | sort -h CAUTION
β†’"What does this apt output mean?" β†’ reads your terminal, explains in plain English

Ships with OpenRouter, Groq, Nvidia NIM, Mistral β€” including free tiers. Guides included. Very little setup.

AI Help window: Get-Command oci in a SAFE command block, Review & Run button, Include terminal context checked

SAFE = read-only, low risk. CAUTION = modifies something. You always know before anything runs.

Review before running

The review dialog shows you the command,
the reason, and three options: cancel, type, run.

Review AI action modal showing AI reason, complex bash command, CAUTION badge, Cancel / Type only / Run now buttons β€” dark green theme

The review modal. It shows you what the AI wants to do and why. You pick what happens next.

How it looks in practice

Multi-pane layouts, AI visible on screen,
MCP control, and yes β€” very good themes.

4-pane layout: AI Help in center asking for htop PowerShell equivalent, CAUTION badge, file listings and process output in surrounding panes

4-pane layout. AI Help floating in the middle. CAUTION badge on the PowerShell htop alternative.

Settings MCP setup block: copyable JSON config for buttonscli MCP server listing exposed commands

The MCP setup block. Copy it into your agent config to let AI tools control tabs and send commands.

Dark green theme with Settings modal open showing Shell Colors, Tab Colors, Status Bar color pickers β€” neon green palette

Green theme. Color pickers for Shell Colors, Tab Colors, Status Bar. Change anything without touching a config file.

Idle effects

When you're not typing, it
does something fun.

Optional static noise / TV static effect ramps in when the terminal goes idle. Configurable intensity, timing, and ramp speed. It's optional. But it's one of the things people keep mentioning.

Also has a "Simple Noise" mode for a subtler constant texture.

Terminal with heavy TV static noise overlay on an SSH session, Settings window showing Pure Noise config with neon green sliders

TV static on an idle terminal. Settings: noise amount, resolution, frame rate, idle delay ramp.

Roadmap β€” vote for what matters to you

Real plans. Which ones matter most to you?

Send feedback directly from the app β€” or just click below to register interest. Nothing is vaporware, just priorities.

Pro Β· Useful

AI Safety Watch

Checks commands and context before execution. Flags destructive patterns. You still approve everything.

Pro Β· Useful

Agentic workflows

Give it a goal. It plans steps, runs commands, reads output, adjusts. You approve at each checkpoint.

Pro Β· Useful

Installer buttons

One-click installs for git, npm, coding agents. SSL setup. nginx config. Common server tasks automated.

Pro Β· Useful

More ADHD-friendly features

Focus mode, customizable visual hierarchy, reduced-motion support, neurodivergent-optimized workflows.

Pro Β· Fun

AI-generated themes

Describe a vibe, upload an image. Get a full JSON theme: 40 color slots, fonts, gradients. Import/export.

Pro Β· Useful

Mobile remote control

iOS/Android apps to view and control running terminal sessions from your phone.

More screenshots

There is a lot more in the app than fits in the main scroll.

The page above keeps the pitch tight. This section is the full screenshot vault for the images not already used in the main story.

Open the screenshot vault
21 more screenshots: layouts, Linux server work, settings, themes, feedback, and AI tooling.
+
A terminal application called ButtonsCLI with a dark purple theme and a 4-pane grid layout. The left sidebar features vertical command buttons. Pane 2 displays an AI Help modal where the AI suggests reading a README file.
Layouts

4-pane grid view

Shows the denser multi-pane layout with sidebar buttons and AI Help inside the grid.

A Settings window displaying the AI Help tab with configured providers like OpenRouter, NVidia NIM, Mistral, and Groq, plus endpoint, API key, and model fields.
AI Setup

Provider settings

The provider list and model wiring for people who want more control over AI Help.

A terminal window showing an AI Help interface on the left and a debug side panel on the right with raw JSON payload and rendered markdown answer.
Debug

Debug side panel

Raw payloads and rendered answers for diagnosing provider or prompt issues.

A terminal window showing apt upgrade output in a clean dark blue grey theme, with AI Help explaining the Ubuntu system update and Ubuntu Pro message.
Linux

Update output explained

AI Help breaking down Ubuntu package and system messages without leaving the terminal.

A full-screen 4-pane terminal layout with htop in one pane, a file listing in another, PowerShell in another, and ANSI Colors settings in the fourth pane.
4 Panes

ANSI colors and process panes

A busier example that shows monitoring, file browsing, and theme controls all at once.

A screenshot of a browser showing an earlier landing page for ButtonsCLI with text reading The terminal for normal people and floating app screenshots.
Website

Earlier landing page

A previous web concept that still helps show the product voice and visual direction.

A two-pane terminal layout with a very clean dark blue grey aesthetic and a Pure Noise settings window with bright pink slider thumbs.
Themes

Clean blue theme

A calmer visual direction that still shows the effect controls and layered settings UI.

An isolated view of the AI Help settings with a detected models dropdown filtered by the word free, showing free model options.
AI Models

Free model filter

The settings flow for finding no-cost AI models without digging through provider docs.

A full four-pane terminal view with a long list of Hyper-V cmdlets in one pane and AI Help on the right providing categorized explanations of the commands.
PowerShell

Hyper-V explain mode

Long command lists turned into grouped explanations inside AI Help.

A four-pane terminal layout where AI Help offers to create a button for a PowerShell command in a SAFE command block.
Buttons

Create a command button

AI Help proposing a reusable button instead of just handing back text.

A two-pane terminal layout with apt update running on an Ubuntu server in one pane and a claude-menu interface listing AI model options in the other pane.
Servers

Linux split-screen work

Server output on one side, AI or model tooling on the other.

An isolated view of a Settings window focusing on the Terminal Font section, with a dropdown expanded showing numerous font options and a checkbox to enable Google Fonts loading.
Fonts

Font picker

The searchable font dropdown, including the optional Google Fonts loading toggle.

A full-screen single-pane terminal featuring a mild light mode theme with an AI Help window floating on the right explaining apt upgrade output.
Light Mode

Mild light theme

A softer light mode that still keeps AI Help readable and integrated.

A screenshot of the AI Help window with the Review AI action modal overlaid, displaying a SAFE badge and a simple Get-Command oci action with Cancel, Type only, and Run now buttons.
Review

SAFE review modal

The simpler review state for low-risk AI-generated commands.

A Send Feedback dialog box with a dark brownish-orange theme, showing category dropdown, reply email field, and message text area.
Feedback

Feedback dialog

The in-app place for bug reports, feature requests, and UI ideas.

A full-screen terminal heavily obscured by a strong static noise overlay, with the Pure Noise settings window open in the center.
Effects

Heavy idle static

The louder TV-static version of the idle effect with settings visible.

A Settings window showing Context and Response Tuning plus Stall Recovery options like provider selection, model overrides, stall seconds, and context lines.
Agents

Stall recovery settings

Controls for nudging stuck coding agents back into motion.

A stall recovery settings page showing an open detected models dropdown with openai/gpt-5.4-mini selected.
Agents

Recovery model picker

The model selection flow for the separate stall-recovery path.

A Settings window focused on Pure Noise configurations, highlighting sliders for Idle Target Amount, Idle Delay, and Ramp Duration.
Effects

Idle-time noise controls

The exact timing settings behind the idle-triggered static effect.

A Settings window showing the Themes tab with a Custom Theme Library and saved theme cards offering Apply and Export buttons.
Themes

Theme library

Saved themes, import and export, and the custom theme grid.

A close-up screenshot of the upper-right corner of the terminal showing the row of five layout arrangement buttons.
Controls

Layout button close-up

The row of pane arrangement controls that keeps layout actions visible.

Early access

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All platforms are live.

Windows, macOS (M1+), and Linux are all available now.

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