> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.traycer.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Terminal Agents VS Terminals

> Understand the difference between terminal-style coding agents and plain shell terminals.

Traycer has two terminal-looking surfaces with very different roles. One is an agent session; the other is a shell.

| Difference             | Terminal Agent                                                                                                                                                                | Terminal                                                                                |
| ---------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **What it is**         | A coding-agent session that runs through a terminal-style interface.                                                                                                          | A plain shell session that you control directly.                                        |
| **Traycer context**    | Receives Task context, mode instructions, artifact guidance, skills, and agent-to-agent instructions. Claude Code Terminal Agents can use agent-to-agent communication today. | Does not receive agent prompts, skills, artifact instructions, or agent-to-agent tools. |
| **Setup**              | Starts with a workspace folder or worktree, coding agent, model, mode, thinking effort, and optional CLI arguments.                                                           | Starts with a workspace folder and shell command.                                       |
| **After launch**       | Launch choices stay fixed for that Terminal Agent.                                                                                                                            | You control the shell directly.                                                         |
| **Session continuity** | Traycer stores the coding agent's upstream session id and uses it to resume the same agent session when reopened on its original Host.                                        | No coding-agent session id; it is just a PTY shell.                                     |
| **Listed in**          | [Chats](/panels/chats), because it is an agent session.                                                                                                                       | [Terminals](/panels/terminals), because it is a shell session.                          |

They can look similar because both use a terminal surface. The difference is that Terminal Agents are still Traycer agent sessions, while Terminals are just shells.

## Terminal Agents

A **Terminal Agent** runs a coding agent in a PTY, but Traycer still wraps that session with Task context.

Terminal Agents can receive:

* Traycer's system prompt for Regular Mode or Epic Mode
* the Task id and agent identity
* artifact instructions for specs, tickets, stories, and reviews
* guidance for creating or updating artifacts as markdown files
* Traycer skills and planning/execution instructions
* agent-to-agent communication instructions when that agent path supports them

That means a Terminal Agent is not the same as opening the coding-agent CLI yourself. Traycer prepares the session so the agent understands the Task, the artifact model, and the multi-agent environment.

## Supported Terminal Agent Paths

Terminal Agents currently support:

| Coding agent    | Terminal Agent support |
| --------------- | ---------------------- |
| **Claude Code** | Supported              |
| **Codex**       | Supported              |
| **OpenCode**    | Supported              |

For the full chat and terminal compatibility matrix, see [Agents & Models](/agents-and-models/coding-agents).

## Plain Terminals

A **Terminal** is a shell session.

Use it to run commands yourself: package scripts, tests, dev servers, logs, local debugging, or one-off shell work.

A plain Terminal does not receive Traycer's agent prompt, does not use Traycer skills, does not create artifacts by itself, and does not participate in agent-to-agent communication. It is still part of the Task, but it is not an agent session.

## Launch Setup

When you create a Terminal Agent, you choose its launch setup:

* workspace folder or worktree
* coding agent
* model, when supported
* Regular Mode or Epic Mode
* thinking effort, when supported
* terminal-agent CLI arguments, when supplied

Those choices stay fixed after launch. Start a new Terminal Agent when you need a different mode, model, workspace folder, worktree, or argument set.

Worktree choices are covered in [Worktrees](/concepts/worktrees).

Traycer also keeps the upstream coding-agent session id for the Terminal Agent. When the app or Host restarts and the same Terminal Agent is reopened on its original Host, Traycer resumes the underlying coding-agent session instead of starting from scratch.

Plain Terminals do not have agent mode, model, thinking effort, or artifact behavior. They only need the shell/workspace context used to start the terminal.

## Agent-To-Agent Communication

**Claude Code Terminal Agents** can participate in Traycer's agent-to-agent system today. Codex and OpenCode Terminal Agents can run terminal-style work, but they do not receive agent-to-agent messages.

When a Terminal Agent participates, it still appears in the Task's chat hierarchy so you can see where delegated terminal work came from.

The coordination model is covered in [Agent-to-Agent](/concepts/agent-to-agent). Multi-agent defaults are configured in [Settings > Agents](/settings/agents). Supported agent paths are listed in [Agents & Models](/agents-and-models/coding-agents).

If you are looking for a terminal-style coding agent, use **Chats**. If you are looking for a shell you operate yourself, use **Terminals**.