Zeus is a native macOS command center for coding agents. It gives Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Grok, OpenCode, Gemini, and ordinary shells their own live terminals, then lets you run them side by side in local Git worktrees or on machines reached through SSH.

Every session advertises a simple state: working, waiting for you, or finished. You can supervise the group without continually scanning terminal output. The sessions belong to a background Engine, not the window: quitting Zeus does not stop them, and an Engine restart can recover their conversations.

Get Zeus

Zeus requires macOS 15 or later. Version 0.3.0 is available as a universal DMG from the GitHub release. Download it, move Zeus into Applications, then right-click the app and choose Open. The package supports both Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

The illustrated macOS install guide shows the complete one-time Gatekeeper flow, including the Privacy & Security → Open Anyway fallback.

Version 0.3.0 is ad-hoc signed. It is not Developer ID signed or notarized, so Gatekeeper may reject a normal double-click. It cannot be installed through Homebrew, and the built-in updater will not accept it. Read the security notes before installing.

Homebrew installation and in-app updates are planned for a future release once Developer ID signing and Apple notarization are in place.

A quick first run

1. Choose a project with ⌘O or ⌘P, then create a session with ⌘N. ⌘T starts the configured default agent.
2. Launch more sessions as needed. Put concurrent writers in separate Git worktrees, and let a capable parent agent use spawn_agent when it should coordinate its own children.
3. Follow the sidebar rather than tailing every terminal. ⌘⇧J selects the next session awaiting input; Agent Workflow Tree is available from ⌘K.
4. Review proposed changes in the inspector's Review tab. You can close and reopen the app without surrendering the PTYs held by the Engine.

The complete guide is published at docs.zeus.nasrul.info. It covers the workbench, shortcuts, agent setup, orchestration, fleet patterns, remote execution, and removal. To preview that book locally, run mdbook serve docs.

The operating model

• Parallel sessions without terminal juggling. Every agent receives a real PTY. Sessions can share a project, occupy isolated worktrees, or execute on an SSH host.
• State at a glance. Zeus interprets the screen an agent actually renders and reduces it to useful states such as active, attention required, and done.
• Processes independent of the UI. PTYs are retained outside the desktop process, so closing the window does not end the work behind it.
• Agent-driven coordination. Through Zeus's MCP interface, one running agent can create another session, observe it, collect its output, and respond when it asks a question.

Claude Code and Codex currently have the deepest resume and state integration. Cursor, Grok, OpenCode, Gemini, and the rest of the catalog still receive a full PTY and sidebar presence. If no manifest exists for a command, Zeus opens it as a basic terminal and reports only whether it is running or has exited.

How it is assembled

The desktop and session machinery are implemented in Rust:

• Desktop application: zeus, built with GPUI, renders the workbench, terminal, sidebar, command palette, and usage views. Its workspace is zeus/.
• Local Engine: zeusd-rs owns the session registry, child processes, PTYs, persistence, worktrees, and local control socket. It is launched by the app but is able to remain alive after the app exits.
• Session holders: zeus-holder retains local PTY ownership across Engine replacement or restart. Remote sessions use a bootstrapped Rust Remote PTY Holder over SSH rather than a remote terminal multiplexer.
• Automation CLI: the bundled zeus command provides hooks, notifications, the MCP bridge, and commands such as status and doctor.

The desktop communicates with the Engine through a versioned protocol; the app does not launch SSH on its own. See zeus/REMOTE_PORT.md for the remote transport's active design constraints.

Extending agent support

Agent behavior is catalog data. Files under zeus/crates/zeus-engine/manifests/ declare each agent's launch and resume behavior, its prompt approval and denial keys, and the screen patterns used for status detection. Supporting an agent does not require hard-coding it into the application.

Compile it yourself

The required Rust version is fixed by zeus/rust-toolchain.toml. Expect the initial build to take longer because it compiles GPUI from Zeus's pinned Zed revision.

(cd zeus && cargo build)                   # compile the workspace
(cd zeus && cargo run -p zeus-app)         # launch a development build

zeus/scripts/package.sh                    # assemble the application bundle
zeus/scripts/install-local.sh              # install that local bundle

Run the repository's main CI-equivalent checks with:

./scripts/check.sh

The source for the user guide is in docs/. Release engineering is documented in zeus/PACKAGING.md and zeus/UPDATING.md.

Help and policies

For product help, bug reports, or general feedback, email hi@nasrul.info. Potential vulnerabilities should follow the private process in SECURITY.md.

Additional project information: support, privacy, security model, and roadmap.