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Forkbench vs kitty
kitty is a fast, GPU-accelerated, cross-platform terminal with tabs, layouts, built-in sessions and a Python extension system called kittens.
kitty is the terminal for people who want to program their terminal. The kittens system lets you open scrollback in Neovim, pipe selections through scripts, and build input dialogs that live inside the terminal, and built-in sessions removed the need for tmux for a lot of its users. Forkbench has no equivalent to any of that. What it has instead is a model of the work: which agent is on what, what it may read, and what is left when the pane closes.
| Forkbench | kitty | |
|---|---|---|
| Real login shell | Yes, a generic PTY per tab | Yes |
| Platform | macOS 13+ only | macOS and Linux |
| Extensibility | None, it is an app not a toolkit | Python kittens |
| Layouts and sessions | Threads group tabs by work | Layouts plus built-in sessions |
| Built for coding agents | Yes, the whole design | No |
| Task board that survives a reboot | Yes, per Thread | No |
| Secrets handling | Vault (Pro), sealed on your Mac | Inherits the shell environment |
| Notes agents can read | Notebooks, end-to-end encrypted, free and synced | No |
| Remote and multi-Mac | Yes (Pro) | No |
| Open source | Closed | Yes |
| 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 kitty is strong
- Python kittens, the deepest extension model of any terminal emulator.
- GPU-accelerated and light on memory, with tabs and layouts built in.
- Built-in sessions, so many users no longer need tmux.
- Free, open source, and available on Linux as well as macOS.
Where Forkbench differs
- A key in Vault (Pro) can be used by an agent that never sees it.
- 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.
- You do not script the workspace, it already models the work. A Thread holds a folder, notes, secrets and a backlog.
- The task board is written to disk as it changes, so it outlives the pane, the app and a reboot.
- Any vendor's agent claims from the same board, because nothing on a task records which agent wrote it.
- A git panel bound to the focused tab, plus one-click worktrees, and remote access from the web or your phone.
The bottom line
If you enjoy building your own tools and kittens is why you use kitty, keep it. That is a real capability and Forkbench has nothing like it. If you would rather not build the agent workspace yourself, Forkbench ships one: the terminal, the git panel, one-click worktrees, the notes and a board are free, and the Vault is Pro, with your shell untouched underneath.
Keep reading
- How keys, notes and boards are actually protected, including where each defence stops.
- Keeping API keys away from AI coding agents
- Every comparison
Comparison based on publicly available information as of mid-2026. Spot something out of date? Tell us.