All 100 ideasDesktop and OS
#38 of 100 · Desktop and OS
A terminal with editor manners
A fast, simple terminal with editor-style mouse and text editing, richer shell integration and saved SSH hosts, on Windows and iPad too.
Asks per year
What the askers want
- Would pay0%
- Want it local or private45%
- Object to subscriptions9%
- Want it open source or self-hosted9%
- Want AI to do it0%
Share of the 11 asks that say so, as judged by Jev.
What exists on Show HN
Built, still asked for6 Show HN launches do this job, and 23 more do part of it. People still ask, so the launches are missed, unknown, or not what they want. Ask what they’re missing before you build.
- Warp, a Rust-based terminal2022 · 946 pts
- Blink Shell for iOS, an Open-Source, Mosh and SSH Terminal for Pros2016 · 219 pts
- WindTerm 0.8 – A whole new generation of terminal emulator2019 · 13 pts
- Termix, a powerful SSH client for iOS and macOS with no subscription2025 · 5 pts
- Echo, a new SSH client for iOS built on Ghostty2026 · 4 pts
- Shellwing – an open-source SSH client built on libghostty and GPUI2026 · 1 pts
Instead of: Ghostty, PowerShell
The idea, as matched
A modern terminal app that stays simple and fast while adding editor-like mouse and text editing, rich shell integration and good SSH host management, on desktop or iPad.
Jev first matched 11 requests to this idea; a second reader kept 11 of 11.
Every ask, newest first
Each line is an AI paraphrase of what the writer wanted. The link goes to their own words on Hacker News.
Reader’s note. Older asks just want a better Windows terminal.
- Apr 2026Wants a terminal that is richer and more abstract than iTerm2 or Ghostty, but less overwhelming than Warp. Read it: a comment in “Warp is now open-source”
- Feb 2026Asks for a better iOS terminal app than Blink for using remote coding sessions. Read it: a comment in “Claude Code Remote Control”
- Jan 2025Wants an iPad terminal that can SSH into servers, to pair with a git sync app. Read it: a comment in “Ask HN: Coding on an iPad?”
- Dec 2024Wants an open source Termius alternative: synced SSH profiles per device, themes, native feel, local and serial access. Read it: a comment in “Ghostty: Reflecting on Reaching 1.0”
- May 2024Wants a terminal that edits like an email field, with click-to-place cursor and typing over selections. Read it: a comment in “State of the Terminal”
- Sep 2023Wants shell and terminal merged so they offer rich features like file pickers, dropdown completions, tooltips and images. Read it: a comment in “The case for Nushell”
- Mar 2016Wants a better terminal app for PowerShell, ideally one that runs on Windows 7. Read it: a comment in “Microsoft and Canonical partner to bring Ubuntu to Windows 10”
- Jun 2015Wants a well-supported Windows SSH client replacing the aging PuTTY. Read it: a post: “Ask HN: Alternative for putty?”
- Jan 2015Wants a decent Windows command-line app, disliking PowerShell and currently using Git Bash. Read it: a comment in “Why I Quit OS X – Geoff Wozniak”
- May 2014Complains that the PowerShell terminal is poor and asks for a better one. Read it: a post: “Powershell terminal sucks. Is there a better choice?”
- May 2014Wants a small launcher that lists hosts from the SSH config file and connects by picking a number. Read it: a comment in “Use a config file to SSH into a server”
Building this?
Read ten of the asks above first, because they say what the existing launches miss. If you ship it, post it as a Show HN so the next run of this list finds it.
Ship it like Vercel, on a server you own
This site runs on ShipTiffin. A push to GitHub deploys it, the way it would on Vercel, but the server is a Hetzner box in your own account. Postgres, sign-in, email, jobs and analytics are already on it, every project gets a hard limit, and nothing is billed by usage.
$19 a month per box, plus about $10 for the server at Hetzner. Open source, so you can also run it yourself for free.