What it does
Tintpad is a launcher for coding agents on macOS. A global hotkey opens a panel that falls out of the notch, or hangs below the menu bar on a Mac without one. You choose a repo, press Return, and your own terminal opens at that folder with the agent already running. The site names Claude Code and Codex, and says it works with whichever agent you use. It opens the terminal you already have rather than replacing it, and lists Ghostty, iTerm2, kitty, WezTerm, Alacritty, Terminal and Warp. Two chips show exactly what Return will run, and the chip turns red first when permissions are being skipped. Under frecency, the repos you actually use float up along with the agent and mode you used last, and one keystroke starts a fresh worktree branch with an agent inside. It is free and MIT licensed, with no account and no Pro version, and the site says nothing leaves your Mac. It needs macOS 14 or later and installs with Homebrew or a download. Depending on the terminal, macOS asks for Accessibility or Automation permissions.
Capabilities
- Hotkey, repo, Return opens your terminal with the agent running
- Works with seven terminals including Ghostty, iTerm2 and Warp
- Chips show what Return will run and warn when permissions are skipped
- Frecency: the repos you actually use float up, with the agent and mode you used last
- One-keystroke worktree checkout with an agent inside
When to use it
- You switch between several repos and coding agents through the day
- You want a Mac launcher in front of the terminal you already use
- You want a visible warning before an agent runs with permissions skipped
