Verified project record

crynta/terax-ai

terax-ai is a lightweight, terminal-first AI-native developer workspace with an agentic AI side-panel. It supports bring-your-own API keys and fully local models while maintaining a strict privacy stance with no telemetry and no account required.

Project overview

It distinguishes itself through a lightweight footprint of about 7-8 MB on disk, offering a privacy-respecting, terminal-first environment equipped with an agentic AI workflow that supports diverse external providers and fully local offline models.

Project type: AI Agent · AI Coding · Model Runtime
Use cases: Chat Assistants · Coding & Development
Deployment: Refer to project documentation
License: Apache-2.0

Best for

Developers and AI engineers seeking a lightweight, terminal-first workspace with built-in agentic AI capabilities.
Users prioritizing strict privacy controls who prefer to use their own API keys or local models without creating an account.

Key capabilities

Native PTY backend with WebGL renderer, multi-tab support, split panels, and inline search.
CodeMirror 6 editor with inline AI autocomplete and AI edit diffs.
Git integration with staging, committing, branch display, and a real commit graph.
File navigation with fuzzy search, keyboard navigation, and inline rename.
Auto-detects local dev servers and opens them in a preview tab, plus external URL preview.
AI workflow with plans, sub-agents, project memory, file operations, bash execution, and custom agents.
Custom themes, bundled presets, background images with adjustable opacity and blur.
Supports running against local models via LM Studio, MLX, and Ollama.

Limitations and risks

Windows builds aren't code-signed yet, triggering a Windows protected your PC warning upon installation.
The Windows SmartScreen warning may deter users on first launch.

Getting started

Setup is straightforward. Download the appropriate installer from the GitHub Releases page, install the application, and launch it.

Evidence and sources

README: Terax is a lightweight open-source terminal (ADE) built on Tauri 2 + Rust and React 19. A native PTY backend with a WebGL renderer, an agentic AI side-panel that runs against your…
GitHub project description: Lightweight (7MB) Terminal-first AI-native dev workspace
README: Latest installers are on the [Releases](https://github.com/crynta/terax-ai/releases/latest) page. Terax auto-updates from there.
README: xterm.js with WebGL renderer, multi-tab with background streaming - GPU-accelerated block-based terminal with editor-like command input - Native PTY backend via `portable-pty` (zs…
README: CodeMirror 6 (supports all popular languages - TS/JS, Rust, Python, Go, C/C++, Java, HTML/CSS, JSON, Markdown, etc.) - Inline AI autocomplete with local model support - AI edit di…

Reviewed at: 2026-07-18T18:49:26Z