crystl
crystl is a macOS terminal for managing projects with many CLI agents like Claude Code and Codex and open models.
Built by Chris Bolton · Artificial Intelligence · Productivity · Paid
In category: #948 of 2007 · Artificial Intelligence
crystl is an Instant Launch listing on Launch Llama with 17 total upvotes, founded by Chris Bolton who joined in May 2026, compared against 4 alternatives.
Instant Launch listing
Listing status
17upvotes
Community score
Chris Bolton (Joined May 2026)
Founder
Compared against 4 alternatives
Market comparison
Launched on Launch Llama May 9, 2026 · #11 of 21 that day
About
crystl is a macOS terminal app built to manage cli agents like claude code, codex, kimi, and others. Assign orchestrators and superorchestrators to manage other agents. Manage your tasks and backlog with your agents in workbench. Use Project Optimizer to set up your agent files and crystl keys to safely manage your secrets.
The crystl rail allows you to control and monitor agents across various projects without constantly flipping through tabs or hunting down windows.
Use Cases
- Running several Claude Code or Codex agents on the same repo at once, each isolated in its own git worktree and branch
- Monitoring multiple agents across many projects and approving their permission requests without switching between terminal tabs
- Keeping CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md agent configuration files healthy across repos using the project optimizer
Who it is for
- Developers who run multiple CLI coding agents like Claude Code across several projects at once
- Developers managing agent setups that span many repositories and need consistent agent configuration files
- Developers who want to steer and approve AI agents from their iPhone while away from their Mac
Pricing
Free to get started, with a pricing page linked from the site.
FAQ
What is a multitasking terminal for AI agents?
It's a terminal that lets you handle many different tasks and agents at once without getting lost in tabs and windows. crystl solves this in several ways. Every project is discoverable by name and a custom colored icon, and a dockside rail keeps them all in one place: click an icon and that project comes forward. Agentic hooks surface 'floating cards' for approvals, questions, and notifications that you can act on by clicking a button or typing a reply, without switching to that project at all. Orchestration makes multitasking easier still: assign an orchestrator agent to run subagents, or launch crystl quest to spawn a preselected party of agents that collaborate on a task together. And a per-project workbench keeps a shared task list your agents read and write alongside you, so nothing falls through the cracks.
Does crystl only work with Claude Code?
No. Any CLI agent runs in crystl, since every shard is a full terminal session. The deeper integrations depend on what each agent exposes: Claude Code has the deepest integration, and Codex supports hooks too, so approval cards and notifications work for both. Antigravity CLI doesn't support hooks yet, so those features aren't available for Antigravity sessions, but everything else works.
Do I need crystl if I already run Claude Code in a terminal?
Probably not, if one agent on one project at a time is all you do. crystl is for the point where you want more than that. Several agents running at once, each on its own branch. Notifications telling you which one is stuck and what it needs. A searchable record of every session, kept on your own machine. Schedules that run work while you're away from the desk. The friction it removes mostly shows up once you stop working one session at a time.
Why was crystl built?
Every feature started as a problem that came up running agents across half a dozen projects in a day. Switching tabs just to find out which agent was waiting. Writing the same long catch-up prompt at the start of every session. Two agents editing the same file and overwriting each other. Work that needed to happen at 6am without anyone watching it. None of it was on a roadmap; each one was a day where the friction got annoying enough to build something. The full list is on the about page.
Can I use crystl for regular terminal work?
Yes. Every shard is a full terminal session. You can use crystl as your daily terminal for any command-line work: git, npm, docker, ssh, whatever you need. The AI-specific features are there when you want them.
What is the CLAUDE.md manager?
crystl lets you store and name different CLAUDE.md starter files. When you open a project, you can insert the right starter file into the directory, useful if you maintain different instruction sets for different types of work.
Why did my new shard open in a different directory than my last one?
Every shard starts at its gem's project directory. Running cd in one shard only moves that shard; the next shard you create still starts at the gem root, so a project's shards stay predictable no matter where any one of them has wandered. crystl prints a hint in the new shard when this happens. If you do want a shard to start where you are, right-click (or control-click) the shard button. And if you start an agent in a sub-project (a git repo inside your gem), crystl offers to open that folder as its own gem, a suggestion you can always dismiss.
Where did the isolation button go?
Its jobs moved closer to the things they act on. Creating an isolated shard now happens with the isolated-shard button in the shard bar (or the File menu). Merging and rebasing live on each shard's tab: a shard with unmerged commits shows a small ↑N badge you can click, and every action names the branch, target, and commit count so you know exactly what will move. A 'branches' button appears in the shard bar only when orphaned worktree branches exist, listing parked work from closed shards so you can reattach, merge, or discard it.
Is crystl free?
The free plan includes isolated shards & parallel sessions, floating cards, the agent activity panel, split view, history navigator, token tracking, workbench, project optimizer, agent file editor, screenshot & copy bars, MCP servers, API key storage, remote development over SSH, Metal-accelerated GPU rendering, facet inserts, and scheduling, agent or command, up to 3 schedules. The Guild plan ($170/year) adds the Prompt Library integration, formations (with session restore), CLI orchestration, unlimited scheduling, and priority support.
Does crystl work on Linux or Windows?
crystl is macOS only. It's a native Swift app and it uses macOS-specific features like the Keychain for secure API key storage.
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Supporters
2 founders
2 founders supported crystl on Launch Llama.
Reviews
5.0 · 1 review · 2 comments
crystl is how you manage ai agents period. There's nothing else that comes close. I live in this apo.
i would love to see a version for teams.
I Needed a tool for multi-tasking with claude. I run multiple agents at a time to do website updates, SEO audits, and app development, it was hard to keep track and i couldn't find a tool that helped, so I built crystl.
As a technical marketer, I do lots of website work for clients. I'm in and out of tools all day long and frankly, it can be really quite difficult to manage so much context switching. Using AI has helped a lot because I can set up MCPs and and connect to APIs without opening 500 browser tabs, but I eventually ran into a new issue: too many terminal windows and tabs. In order to be efficient I often have agents working on 4-6 different projects at once and keeping tack of what each agent is doing and knowing when they need feedback or have stopped working or need approval was driving me nuts. I built crystl to solve that problem and it worked. It's allowed me to keep on top of what my agents are doping without getting lost in tabs and windows. Additionally it uses visual cues, colors, and icons to make it easy for me to identify which projects have active agents in them. By the time I got this far along in development I figured others would probably benefit from it too, so I shared it on Reddit and a few other places and I've had over 200 downloads. If you use multitask with CLI agents, like Claude Code, you'll likely appreciate how much crystl can help.
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