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Forkbench vs iTerm2
iTerm2 is the long-standing free macOS terminal replacement, with split panes, profiles, triggers, shell integration, tmux control mode and a Python API.
iTerm2 has been the default answer for Mac developers since 2010, and the reason is depth. Split panes in any arrangement, profiles, triggers, hotkey windows, tmux control mode, a Python API. Forkbench is not trying to out-configure that and will not pretend to. It is a Mac app for running coding agents, with the same real login shell in every pane, built for a workload iTerm2 predates by fifteen years: several AI coding agents running at once, each needing its own context, its own branch and its own keys.
| Forkbench | iTerm2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Real login shell | Yes, a generic PTY per tab | Yes |
| Your tools (tmux, vim, fzf, zsh) | Untouched | Untouched |
| Split panes | Yes, drag-to-resize, grouped into Threads | Yes, in any arrangement |
| Inline images | Kitty graphics protocol | iTerm2's own image protocol |
| Configurability | App settings | Deep, plus a Python API |
| Built for coding agents | Yes, the whole design | No |
| Task board that survives a reboot | Yes, per Thread | No |
| Session persistence | The board persists, the shell does not | Via tmux -CC |
| Secrets handling | Vault (Pro), sealed on your Mac | Inherits the shell environment |
| Git worktrees | One click, plus a live git panel | Manual |
| Remote and multi-Mac | Yes (Pro) | No |
| Open source | Closed | Yes (GPL) |
| Price | Free; Pro €30/mo; Team $30/seat, dropping to $20 at scale | Free |
| Credentials an agent can use but never read | Vault (Pro) holds it, and it goes to the one command that needs it, so it never reaches the prompt, the command line or the transcript. A seatbelt, not a guarantee: an agent you authorise for a command could still print what it was handed. | Not a terminal feature. A key in your shell or in a .env is readable by anything you run, agents included. |
Where iTerm2 is strong
- Enormously configurable. Profiles, triggers, hotkey windows, and split panes in any arrangement.
- tmux control mode (tmux -CC) turns tmux sessions into native windows that survive a lost ssh connection.
- Free, open source, and stable for over a decade.
- A Python API and shell integration for scripting the terminal itself.
Where Forkbench differs
- A key in Vault (Pro) lets an agent push to GitHub or call a paid API without the token ever entering its context.
- Folders the macOS kernel enforces. A Thread can be locked to the folders the job is about, applied as each shell starts and inherited by every process it spawns, so an agent cannot read or write outside them. Builds still run and the network is untouched.
- Threads instead of profiles. A Thread scopes a folder, its notes, its secrets and a task board to one piece of work, and nothing leaks between them.
- A task board agents write to and claim from, which survives closing the pane, quitting the app and rebooting the Mac.
- A git panel tied to the focused tab, with a new branch on a fresh worktree in one click. Forkbench never changes your git on its own.
- Talk: check a thread from any browser and answer a blocked agent from your phone.
The bottom line
If you have years of iTerm2 profiles and triggers doing real work, nothing here beats that and switching would cost you. If you are opening iTerm2 mainly to run coding agents, most of that depth goes unused and the actual problem is that nothing remembers what the agents were doing. Forkbench keeps your shell exactly as it is and adds the board, the vault and the git panel around it, with 30 days to try the lot and a terminal that stays free after.
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Comparison based on publicly available information as of mid-2026. Spot something out of date? Tell us.