Optimal Terminal Window Setup | Generated by AI
Question: Is it fine to have at most 3–4 terminal/ghostty windows open (no tabs), so I can quickly switch with Command+Tab, and for one project keep the number low, avoid heavy multitasking, and reuse the same windows?
Answer:
Yes — your approach is actually very reasonable and quite productive for many developers, especially if you value fast window switching and mental simplicity.
Here are the most common sane patterns people use in 2025–2026 with Ghostty / WezTerm / Kitty / iTerm2 / Alacritty + tmux/zellij, sorted roughly from “most minimalist” to “more split”:
Very clean & fast Command+Tab style (your style)
Typical setup for one serious project:
- Window 1 → main editor work (nvim + small splits or just one big file)
- Window 2 → main build / run / dev server / cargo watch / npm run dev / rails s / etc.
- Window 3 → logs / tail -f / docker logs / kubectl logs / debugging output
- Window 4 (optional) → git / tests / database console / redis-cli / repl / secondary task that shouldn’t pollute the main windows
→ 3–4 windows total per project is very common among people who hate tab overload and who really want ⌘+Tab to feel instant.
Even more minimalist variants people actually use
- 2 windows
- Editor
- Everything else in tmux/zellij (split panes: run + logs + git + repl)
- 1 window only
- Full-screen nvim + toggle term (toggleterm.nvim, neovim built-in :terminal, or kitty/konsole dropdown)
- Or full-screen zellij with many panes
Why 3–4 is usually a sweet spot (without tabs)
- Switching is extremely fast (⌘+Tab → 1 keystroke + very short scan)
- You still have clear visual separation between “editing” vs “running” vs “watching output”
- You avoid the “which tmux pane was the failing test in?” problem
- You avoid macOS tab bar becoming a 30-tab disaster
Quick comparison table (personal preference ranking)
| Style | Windows | Speed of ⌘+Tab | Mental overhead | Best for | Common in 2025–2026? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 window + tmux/zellij | 1 | ★★★★★ | ★★★ | Deep focus, vim+tmux people | Very common |
| Your style (3–4 windows) | 3–4 | ★★★★ | ★★ | Fast switching + clarity | Common |
| 2 windows (editor + multi-purpose runner) | 2 | ★★★★☆ | ★★ | Good balance | Very common |
| Many tmux windows + few macOS windows | 2–5 | ★★★ | ★★★★ | People who love tmux layouts | Common |
| One window per task type (6–10 windows) | 6–10 | ★★ | ★★★★★ | Heavy multitaskers | Less common now |
Bottom line recommendation for most people in single-project mode in 2026
Yes — 3–4 Ghostty windows without tabs is perfectly fine and actually very efficient, especially if:
- you mostly work on 1 project at a time
- you dislike visual/tab noise
- you want Command+Tab to stay fast and predictable
- you don’t mind occasionally renaming windows (Ghostty supports setting window title via escape sequence)
Just add these tiny habits and it becomes even smoother:
- Give each window a clear title (
echo -ne "\e]1337;SetUserVar=title=$(echo -n "Build"|base64)\a"or similar, or just useprintftrick) - Use consistent placement (left = editor, middle = runner, right = logs)
- ⌘+` (backtick) to cycle only between Ghostty windows if you have many apps open
You’re not doing anything weird — many experienced developers settled on roughly this pattern.
References:
- None (this is workflow advice based on common developer patterns observed in recent years)