Krill

Krill

_{한국어 · Website · CLI Reference · Getting Started · Releases}

Run many CLI coding agents side by side in a native app — no Electron, no web view.
Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, Cursor, and OpenCode each get a Git worktree and terminal, with a queue of the agents waiting on you and diff review. In our latest 10-terminal benchmark (2026-10-28, Krill 0.2.20 vs Orca 1.4.242, screen on) Krill used 153.3 MiB instead of 1,153.6 MiB, about 1/7th.

_{Native English UI preview with an ordinary terminal in a disposable Git repository (installed macOS 0.1.37). See also an actual Claude Code session in Korean.}

Why Krill over Orca (Electron) & tmux?

Agent workspaces like Orca already keep terminal sessions alive across app restarts and manage Git worktrees. Session survival across app restarts is table stakes — not the differentiator.

The difference is resource efficiency and process architecture. Orca is built on Electron (Chromium + Node.js), spawning separate main, GPU, renderer, and daemon processes while keeping a terminal instance in the renderer for every open tab. Krill delivers the same parallel-agent workflow as a single Rust (gpui) UI process with no Electron or web view, attaching UI render state only to visible panes while keeping terminal state in a single lightweight daemon (krilld) backed by a panic-free PTY parent (krill-holder).

Re-measured: Krill 0.2.20 vs. Orca 1.4.242 (2026-10-28, screen on)

Same harness and machine as the 2026-10-25 run below, but with the display on (windows visible) and a busy machine (load average 11–52 during runs). Krill auto-updated from 0.2.19 to 0.2.20 after the first run; every 10- and 20-terminal Krill run used 0.2.20. 3-run medians.

• 20 terminals: memory 309.4 vs 1,347.6 MiB. 1 terminal: 125.4 vs 853.7 MiB.
• With the screen on, krill-app itself used about 111 MiB (it was 30 MiB with the screen locked in the earlier run), which is why the memory ratio is lower than 1/15.

Earlier run: Measured Benchmark: Krill 0.2.2 vs. Orca 1.4.237 (2026-10-25)

Measured on the same Mac mini (Apple M6, 32 GB, macOS 27.0.1) using unmodified /Applications release builds, fresh isolated profiles, identical 1200×760pt windows (1176×746 actual), and 3-run medians across 18/18 valid runs (each terminal printing 20,000 lines / ~2.8 MB of Korean, ANSI color, and >120-column text; screen locked):

Where the Memory Goes (10 Terminals, Median phys_footprint)

Scaling by Terminal Count (1 · 10 · 20 Terminals, 3-Run Median)

Features

Also in the box:

• Headless krill CLI & Remote SSH Hosts — Drive every session, worktree, and orchestration run without the GUI (krill ls, new, send, read, wait, attach, handoff) or across supported remote Mac hosts (krill --host user@host).
• Account Switcher & Auto-Switch (krill account) — Switch agent accounts or automatically rotate accounts when usage rate limits are reached.
• Scheduled Agent Runs (krill schedule) — Run recurring agent tasks on a UTC cron schedule (Scheduling docs).
• 45 Terminal Themes & First-Class Korean IME — Ships with 15 Krill themes (including Krill Deep) plus 30 Orca-compatible built-in themes (and Ghostty/Warp theme import) and a dedicated Hangul IME composition state machine.
• Quick Open & Workspace Context — Search across worktrees, sessions, files, detected local server ports (krill ports), and attached reference URLs (krill reference).

Supported Agents

Works with any CLI agent or TUI — if it runs in a terminal, it gets persistent PTY protection in Krill. Built-in profiles and status hooks (krill hook install) are included for:

Claude Code   OpenAI Codex   Antigravity (agy)   Cursor CLI   OpenCode   + any shell, dev server, or TUI

Install a Release

Binary installation does not require Rust or a source build. Install and authenticate your chosen AI agent separately; Git is needed for Git worktrees. Krill does not include agent subscriptions or credentials.

Usage metrics are enabled by default without a consent dialog: a random installation ID, first launch, app launches, daily interaction, version, OS, and architecture. Prompts, terminal output, commands, project paths, and account details are excluded. Run krill telemetry disable to stop collection; DO_NOT_TRACK=1 also disables it. See usage metrics for delivery status and operator setup. Error reporting has a separate, default-off setting.

macOS (Apple Silicon arm64)

The installer requires Bash, curl, Python 3, and the macOS system archive/signature tools. It installs /Applications/Krill.app, links the CLI at ~/.local/bin/krill, and opens the app:

curl -fsSL https://krill.page/install.sh -o /tmp/krill-install.sh
# Review the installer before running it.
bash /tmp/krill-install.sh
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
krill --help

The macOS release is not notarized. The installer verifies the archive checksum and app signature and removes the downloaded app's quarantine attribute. A valid local/ad-hoc signature is not Apple Developer ID approval. See packaging details (Korean).

Windows (x64 Preview)

In PowerShell, download and review the installer, then run it:

Invoke-WebRequest https://krill.page/install.ps1 -OutFile "$env:TEMP\krill-install.ps1"
Get-Content "$env:TEMP\krill-install.ps1"
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "$env:TEMP\krill-install.ps1"

The installer verifies the ZIP's SHA-256, installs under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Krill, adds a Start menu shortcut and user PATH entry, and opens the app. Open a new terminal for the updated PATH, then run krill --help. Windows Authenticode signing remains pending; checksum or update-signature verification does not mean the app has a trusted publisher signature.

Release assets · Windows packaging (Korean). Check the assets attached to the release you choose; do not infer downloads from source directories. The Homebrew tooling currently assembles a personal tap, rather than providing an official Homebrew installation command.

Platform Support Matrix

First Successful Session

1. Open Krill and use Open folder… to select a local Git repository. If the interface is Korean, select 설정 → 일반 · 외관 → 언어 → English (Settings → General & Appearance → Language).
2. Open the New session (+) menu and choose Terminal, or choose an installed, authenticated agent such as Claude Code or Codex. Ask the agent to inspect the repository.
3. Use New worktree in the sidebar, enter a unique name, and choose Create. Review any setup script before approving it, or choose Skip setup. Start a second agent there to work independently.
4. Record the session IDs with krill ls. Quit and reopen the app while leaving the session tabs intact; check that the running sessions reconnect with the same IDs. Closing a session tab/pane explicitly terminates that session.

For copyable GUI, CLI, and source-build walkthroughs, see Getting started.

What Survives a Failure

This is continuity across app restarts, not a guarantee against every form of data loss. Platform-specific recovery and validation limits are defined in Architecture §4.1.

Build and Contribute

Source builds need Rust 1.98 or newer (MSRV in Cargo.toml, Homebrew rustc recommended, rustup not required), Git, and macOS Command Line Tools on Apple Silicon. Python 3.9+ is needed for release assembly scripts; a full Xcode installation and Apple Developer membership are not required for local source execution. Follow the source walkthrough.

Contributing explains checks by change scope: Markdown-only changes use git diff --check; the full scripts/check.sh is a release-candidate gate. Security policy and private reporting · Code of conduct.

Design documents currently remain in Korean: Architecture, Roadmap, Code conventions, UI style guide.

License

Apache-2.0 — LICENSE, Copyright 2026 Krill contributors. See third-party notices and license records. Do not read or copy Zed's GPL-3.0 terminal or terminal_view code when contributing; credit any permitted Orca source reuse as described in Contributing.

Usage metrics are enabled by default without a consent dialog: a random installation ID, first launch, app launches, daily interaction, version, OS, and architecture. Prompts, terminal output, commands, project paths, and account details are excluded. Run krill telemetry disable to stop collection; DO_NOT_TRACK=1 also disables it. See usage metrics for delivery status and operator setup. Error reporting has a separate, default-off setting.