Skip to main content
Traycer has two terminal-looking surfaces with very different roles. One is an agent session; the other is a shell.
DifferenceTerminal AgentTerminal
What it isA coding-agent session that runs through a terminal-style interface.A plain shell session that you control directly.
Traycer contextReceives Task context, mode instructions, artifact guidance, skills, and agent-to-agent instructions. Claude Code Terminal Agents can use agent-to-agent communication today.Does not receive agent prompts, skills, artifact instructions, or agent-to-agent tools.
SetupStarts with a workspace folder or worktree, coding agent, model, mode, thinking effort, and optional CLI arguments.Starts with a workspace folder and shell command.
After launchLaunch choices stay fixed for that Terminal Agent.You control the shell directly.
Session continuityTraycer stores the coding agent’s upstream session id and uses it to resume the same agent session when reopened on its original Host.No coding-agent session id; it is just a PTY shell.
Listed inChats, because it is an agent session.Terminals, because it is a shell session.
They can look similar because both use a terminal surface. The difference is that Terminal Agents are still Traycer agent sessions, while Terminals are just shells.

​
Terminal Agents

A Terminal Agent runs a coding agent in a PTY, but Traycer still wraps that session with Task context. Terminal Agents can receive:
  • Traycer’s system prompt for Regular Mode or Epic Mode
  • the Task id and agent identity
  • artifact instructions for specs, tickets, stories, and reviews
  • guidance for creating or updating artifacts as markdown files
  • Traycer skills and planning/execution instructions
  • agent-to-agent communication instructions when that agent path supports them
That means a Terminal Agent is not the same as opening the coding-agent CLI yourself. Traycer prepares the session so the agent understands the Task, the artifact model, and the multi-agent environment.

​
Supported Terminal Agent Paths

Terminal Agents currently support:
Coding agentTerminal Agent support
Claude CodeSupported
CodexSupported
OpenCodeSupported
For the full chat and terminal compatibility matrix, see Agents & Models.

​
Plain Terminals

A Terminal is a shell session. Use it to run commands yourself: package scripts, tests, dev servers, logs, local debugging, or one-off shell work. A plain Terminal does not receive Traycer’s agent prompt, does not use Traycer skills, does not create artifacts by itself, and does not participate in agent-to-agent communication. It is still part of the Task, but it is not an agent session.

​
Launch Setup

When you create a Terminal Agent, you choose its launch setup:
  • workspace folder or worktree
  • coding agent
  • model, when supported
  • Regular Mode or Epic Mode
  • thinking effort, when supported
  • terminal-agent CLI arguments, when supplied
Those choices stay fixed after launch. Start a new Terminal Agent when you need a different mode, model, workspace folder, worktree, or argument set. Worktree choices are covered in Worktrees. Traycer also keeps the upstream coding-agent session id for the Terminal Agent. When the app or Host restarts and the same Terminal Agent is reopened on its original Host, Traycer resumes the underlying coding-agent session instead of starting from scratch. Plain Terminals do not have agent mode, model, thinking effort, or artifact behavior. They only need the shell/workspace context used to start the terminal.

​
Agent-To-Agent Communication

Claude Code Terminal Agents can participate in Traycer’s agent-to-agent system today. Codex and OpenCode Terminal Agents can run terminal-style work, but they do not receive agent-to-agent messages. When a Terminal Agent participates, it still appears in the Task’s chat hierarchy so you can see where delegated terminal work came from. The coordination model is covered in Agent-to-Agent. Multi-agent defaults are configured in Settings > Agents. Supported agent paths are listed in Agents & Models. If you are looking for a terminal-style coding agent, use Chats. If you are looking for a shell you operate yourself, use Terminals.