Tabs and Three Layouts

Choose a vertical, top, or bottom layout in Settings → Appearance → Layout. It applies immediately while Settings stays open. The vertical layout defaults to a 220 pt sidebar. Drag the divider between the left bar and central content to set a width from 180 to 360 pt; it darkens on hover. Double-click to reset to 220 pt. Dragging changes width and does not collapse the sidebar.

A tab row displays the directory name (~ for home), keeping its name when you switch tabs. Running commands show a spinner on the right; hover replaces it with × so you can close a background tab without switching to it. Old sidebar widths migrate when a workspace window first creates its Panel layout; each window then saves its own left and right widths. Tab rows are rounded cards with selection and hover backgrounds. Hover anywhere over the sidebar to reveal + at the upper right; moving up to the traffic-light row also reveals the collapse icon. + remains visible when you switch tabs. With the sidebar hidden, hover at the window top beside the traffic lights to reveal + and expand, or use View → Show/Hide Tab Bar. New tabs are appended by default. The tab panel can stay visible or hide when there is only one tab; a tab's context menu offers splits, a file browser, and close. Terminal content extends to the bottom of the window without the old workspace · path / PANE / UTF-8 status bar. Window size is saved after resizing; Window Size can restore the default.

In the top layout, traffic lights and the central directory capsule share a title row; the tab bar sits below it, clear of the traffic lights. In the bottom layout, tabs sit at the bottom and the title row stays at the top. Horizontal tabs fit their titles: the current tab is a rounded theme-colored capsule with a closing ×; other tabs are text with hover feedback. Context menus still offer rename, split, file browser, and close. Running and awaiting-input badges sit at the right of each tab, with long titles truncated at the end. + opens a new tab. The command palette uses ⌘⇧P or the View menu instead of a tab-bar icon. Tabs can still be dragged to other windows.

The organize icon beside TABS opens grouping and sorting: No Grouping / By Project / By Date, Created Time / Updated Time, Insert Divider after the current tab, and Remove All Dividers. Choices are saved; group headers appear only when grouping is enabled. Local projects use a folder icon and the final directory name, such as aster. SSH projects use a computer icon and group separately by the resolved server hostname. They have distinct identities, so an SSH tab does not stay in its originating local group. Full local paths remain the identity and tooltip, keeping equally named folders under different parents separate. ⌘T and sidebar + inherit the current tab's directory and local project. After an ssh command, Aster asynchronously resolves the final hostname using OpenSSH configuration: for example, ssh root@ubuntu@orb may resolve through ~/.ssh/config to 127.0.0.1 and form a separate SSH project. A failed connection, exit, or return to the local Shell restores the local directory group.

Right-click a tab and choose Rename Tab… to set a fixed name or a dynamic prefix that keeps updating with the running program. Restore Auto Title returns to the program's OSC title. Names, prefixes, and the last title are restored with the workspace. When an integrated Agent CLI such as Claude Code or Codex runs in the current Pane, its session title appears: preferably the Agent's own title (Claude Code's automatic title or /rename, or Codex's thread name), otherwise the first meaningful question after a brief delay following the initial prompt. A manually fixed name takes priority; the original title returns after the Agent exits.

New tabs receive an automatic title color. Within a window, colors are distinct until all 12 are used, then favor the least-used color. Title Color in the context menu lets you choose a color, request another random color, open a custom color picker, or reset to the default. Colors restore with the workspace. Disable Random Title Colors in Settings → View → Tab Icon and Badge to use the theme foreground again; manually chosen colors remain.

The tab-bar settings under Appearance also control new-tab position. Auto puts empty tabs at the end of the current group and tabs with directories or files after the current tab; you can instead always use the list end or the position after the current tab. In every case ⌘T inherits the current tab's live working directory, or home if no tab can provide one.

When a window loses keyboard focus, the workspace fades slightly toward the theme background and the terminal cursor stops blinking without changing shape. Focus restores it; the first click still reaches the terminal. When content exceeds the Pane height, scrolling or hovering at the right edge reveals a scrollbar that fades afterward. Its own narrow gutter does not cover text. It is hidden for content shorter than a screen and for full-screen TUIs.

The upper-right title area uses the same background as the terminal canvas and normally shows the active Pane's program title. Hover to reveal a gray working-directory capsule. With a titled Agent session, the capsule shows its session title and the full directory moves to the tooltip. Click for tab name/prefix, copy path, Finder or installed-editor actions, prefilled Git commands, splits, current/global find, Jump to, and the command palette. Notifications & Privileges opens Shell notification settings. Git write actions only prefill the terminal; you execute them with Return. Aster loads signed Shell Integration for zsh, Bash, and fish. Where supported, OSC 7 updates the sidebar and session snapshots in real time; file://localhost/... becomes a readable ~/... path and is safely restored as a local directory.

Shell Integration and Command Navigation

• zsh and fish inject resources only into the current Aster-started session. Bash and tmux subshells use managed blocks with clear boundaries in .bashrc, .bash_profile, .zshrc, or fish conf.d. Aster changes only its blocks and preserves user content, permissions, and symbolic links.
• Settings → Shell → Shell Integration is on by default. Turning it off asks for confirmation and removes managed blocks without losing dependent preferences such as notifications and badges. Set ASTER_DISABLE_INTEGRATION=1 before starting an individual Shell to disable it there.
• Command+Page Up / Page Down jumps to the previous or next command. Commands trimmed from scrollback do not jump to unrelated text. A running command shows a tab indicator; completion shows ✓ or a nonzero exit code according to settings.
• Ghostty Shell Integration supplies prompt markers and command navigation. The old engine's selection Backspace deletion behavior is not enabled in this version.