Key takeaways
- Now free for personal and open-source use (March 2026); commercial use is $25/month — a major shift from the original $250/year paywall
- Built by Alex Ellis, founder of OpenFaaS — the 'unknown team' question is resolved; it's a commercially supported OpenFaaS Ltd product
- Session-aware dashboard over tmux — sparklines, status orbs, bell detection, and a weekly heatmap across every agent session, with mobile/PWA access
FAQ
What is Superterm?
Superterm is a tmux dashboard that shows the status of all your parallel AI coding agents on one screen, with mobile access and a logbook for tracking intent across sessions. It's free for personal use and paid for commercial use.
How much does Superterm cost?
Free for personal, hobby, educational, and open-source use. Commercial use is $25/month (annual saves $60), with a single 30-day evaluation period per person.
Who makes Superterm?
Alex Ellis, founder of OpenFaaS. It's a commercial product of OpenFaaS Ltd, which states it is 'commercially supported, actively developed, and designed for the long term.'
Who competes with Superterm?
cmux (native Mac terminal with notifications), dmux (tmux-based multiplexer), and Emdash (GUI dashboard). For full orchestration, Tembo.
Does Superterm require a Mac?
No. The daemon runs on Linux, macOS, or Windows (WSL2) — including headless Linux servers, mini PCs, and cloud VMs. It's accessed via browser/PWA.
Executive Summary
Superterm is a tmux dashboard that solves the problem of running many AI coding agents and losing track of which ones need attention.[1] It wraps tmux with sparklines, status orbs, bell detection, a weekly heatmap, a logbook for intent tracking, and mobile access via PWA. Unlike native Mac apps, it's designed to run on any machine, including headless Linux servers.
Status update (June 2026): Superterm is alive and actively developed. Two material facts changed since the March 2026 profile: the maker went public — it's built by Alex Ellis, founder of OpenFaaS, under OpenFaaS Ltd[2] — and pricing flipped from $250/year with no free tier to free for personal/open-source use with commercial licenses at $25/month, or about $20/month billed annually (the free tier was announced March 20, 2026).[3]
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | OpenFaaS Ltd (Alex Ellis) |
| Founded | 2026 (product); OpenFaaS Ltd is an established indie company |
| Funding | Bootstrapped; no outside funding publicly disclosed |
| Headquarters | United Kingdom |
| Pricing | Free (personal/open source); $25/month commercial |
Product Overview
Superterm sits on top of tmux and provides a browser-based dashboard for monitoring agent sessions.[1] It detects agent status (working, waiting, errored, finished) via native hooks for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Amp, OpenCode, and Aider, or via custom superterm notify commands for shell scripts. Sessions can be launched from Superterm itself or from any terminal emulator (VS Code, Zed, Ghostty) and then monitored from the web or a phone.
The Logbook feature anchors goals to each session with Now/This Week/Horizon layers, so you don't lose track of what each agent is supposed to be doing when context-switching.
Key Capabilities
| Capability | Description |
|---|---|
| Status Dashboard | Sparklines, status orbs, bell detection, and a private weekly heatmap across all sessions |
| Native Agent Hooks | superterm agent-setup for Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Amp, OpenCode, Aider |
| Mobile Access | Phone/tablet optimized for quick checks and unblocking agents |
| PWA Install | Dock icon, no browser chrome, full keyboard shortcuts |
| Logbook | Notes, timeline, and saved prompts per session |
| Cross-Machine | Copy/paste works across machines; browser-based; pause any agent so copy/paste works[4] |
| Privacy Mode | Redacts session content for screenshots and streaming[4] |
| tmux Independent | Restart superterm without losing sessions; tmux runs independently |
| Built-in Tutorial | Interactive tmux tutorial via command palette ("Learn") |
Product Surfaces
| Surface | Description | Availability |
|---|---|---|
| Browser/PWA | Dashboard accessed via browser or PWA | GA |
| CLI | superterm command for setup and management | GA |
Technical Architecture
Superterm is a CLI binary that wraps tmux and serves a web dashboard.[5] Sessions run in tmux, so they persist independently of the superterm process.
Key Technical Details
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Deployment | CLI binary + web dashboard (any machine with tmux); installed via arkade from a container image[5] |
| Runtime | tmux 3.0+; Linux, macOS, Windows (WSL2) |
| Model(s) | None — agent-agnostic |
| Integrations | Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Amp, OpenCode, Aider (native hooks), any CLI via superterm notify |
| Open Source | No — proprietary; free Community Edition for personal/open-source use[2] |
Strengths
- Headless Linux focus — Run agents on a $300 mini PC or €37/mo Hetzner server instead of a $3,900 MacBook; unique positioning in the category[1]
- Mobile access — Check and unblock agents from your phone; few competitors offer this
- Logbook for intent — Track what each agent is working toward with Now/This Week/Horizon; solves the "what was this agent doing?" problem
- tmux independence — Sessions survive superterm restarts; no lock-in to the dashboard process
- Agent-agnostic — Works with any CLI agent plus shell scripts via
superterm notify - Known, credible maintainer — Built by Alex Ellis (OpenFaaS), with a stated commitment to commercial support and long-term development[2]
- Free for personal use — The Community Edition (March 2026) removes the cost barrier for individuals[3]
Cautions
- Commercial use requires a paid license — $25/month for any work-related use, with a strict EULA: a single 30-day evaluation per person, no repeat trials[2]
- Not open source — Proprietary; can't inspect or modify the code, and the Community Edition license is "revocable"[2]
- Minimal public traction — The March 2026 "free for personal use" Hacker News post drew 2 points and 1 comment; there's little independent discussion or review coverage as of June 2026[3]
- Browser-based — No native app; some developers may find the PWA approach less polished
- No worktree management — Dashboard only; doesn't manage git worktrees, branches, or merges
What Developers Say
As of June 2026, there is essentially no independent community discussion of Superterm to quote. The product's only Hacker News appearance — "Superterm.dev is now free for personal use" (March 20, 2026) — drew 2 points and 1 comment,[3] and no substantive Reddit threads or third-party reviews surfaced in searches. The most visible commentary comes from the creator himself, Alex Ellis, who pitches it as managing agents "the way it was meant to be" and highlights the agent-pause feature as fixing his "biggest bug bear" — broken copy/paste — with these tools.[4] Treat the lack of user testimony as a data point: adoption appears early and small.
Pricing & Licensing
| Tier | Price | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Community Edition | Free | Personal, hobby, educational, and open-source use only |
| Professional | $25/month ($60 savings annually) | Commercial and team use; covers all your devices |
Licensing model: Per-person subscription (not per-machine). Commercial use — anything connected to a job, client, employer, or organization — requires a paid license. One 30-day evaluation period per person; no repeat trials.[2]
Hidden costs: Agent CLI subscriptions are separate. Server costs if running on cloud.
Competitive Positioning
Direct Competitors
| Competitor | Differentiation |
|---|---|
| cmux | Native macOS terminal with notifications — superterm is browser-based, cross-platform, headless-friendly |
| dmux | tmux-based multiplexer with worktrees — superterm is monitoring/dashboard, not orchestration |
| Emdash | GUI dashboard with issue trackers — superterm is lighter, works on headless servers |
| Tembo | Full orchestration platform — superterm is individual monitoring layer |
When to Choose Superterm Over Alternatives
- Choose Superterm when: You run agents on headless Linux servers and need mobile monitoring
- Choose cmux when: You want a native macOS terminal with notification rings
- Choose Emdash when: You want issue tracker integration and GUI-based agent management
Ideal Customer Profile
Best fit:
- Developers running agents on headless Linux servers or cloud VMs
- Anyone wanting to monitor agents from mobile/tablet
- Power users running 10+ parallel agent sessions who need a status overview
Poor fit:
- Developers who only work from a Mac and prefer native apps
- Commercial teams unwilling to pay $25/month/person when open-source alternatives exist
- Teams needing orchestration, not just monitoring
Viability Assessment
| Factor | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Financial Health | Bootstrapped under OpenFaaS Ltd — an established indie software company with a track record of commercially supporting products[2] |
| Market Position | Niche — headless Linux + mobile monitoring; differentiated but early |
| Innovation Pace | Active — pricing overhaul, Gemini CLI/Aider hooks, weekly heatmap, privacy mode, and built-in tmux tutorial all shipped since March 2026 |
| Community/Ecosystem | Minimal — near-zero independent discussion as of June 2026[3] |
| Long-term Outlook | Moderate — credible maintainer and active development, but adoption is unproven |
Bottom Line
Superterm carves out a unique niche: the developer who runs agents on cheap headless Linux hardware and monitors from a phone. The headless Linux pitch is genuinely differentiated — most competitors assume you're on a MacBook. Two of the March 2026 concerns have resolved favorably: the maker is now public (Alex Ellis of OpenFaaS, a credible indie maintainer) and personal use is free.[3] What hasn't resolved is adoption — there's almost no independent community discussion, and the product remains closed source with a strict commercial EULA.
Recommended for: Developers running agents on headless servers who need mobile monitoring — especially individuals, now that personal use is free.
Not recommended for: Mac-centric developers, anyone wanting open-source tooling, or commercial teams not ready to pay $25/month/person.
Outlook: Stronger than three months ago. A known maintainer, active development, and a free personal tier address the sustainability and cost objections; the open question is whether the niche is big enough to build a community around.
Research by Ry Walker Research • methodology