Terminal

Orca's terminal is the same xterm.js-based terminal VS Code uses, with a few additions tuned for AI-agent workflows.

Panes & tabs

Terminals are just tabs — see Tabs, panes & split layouts. Splitting a terminal pane gives you two shells side by side.

Search

Cmd-F opens find-in-scrollback. Match highlighting, case, regex, and match navigation are all supported.

Themes

Terminal color themes are configurable under Settings → Terminal. Orca ships a library of popular themes and lets you customize any of them.

Ghostty import

If you use Ghostty, Orca can import its theme, font, and cursor config on first launch. You can re-run the import later from Settings → Terminal → Import from Ghostty.

Windows shell

The default shell on Windows is configurable between PowerShell, Command Prompt, and WSL under Settings → Terminal. WSL is offered automatically when wsl.exe --status succeeds. The + dropdown on the tab bar also shows a submenu so you can open a one-off tab in any shell without changing your default.

For repos on a WSL filesystem (\\wsl.localhost\...), Orca launches through wsl.exe -d <distro>. For Windows-path repos opened in WSL, Orca translates the cwd to /mnt/<drive>/... and drops you into a login bash.

Shortcuts

Cmd-T — new terminal tab in the current worktree.
Cmd-W — close the current tab.
Cmd-\ — split right.
Cmd-Shift-\ — split down.

Native key bindings

Orca advertises the kitty keyboard protocol, so terminal apps see real Shift+Enter, Ctrl+Enter, and other modifier-aware keystrokes — the bindings work the same in Orca as they do in Ghostty, WezTerm, or your native terminal.