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Workflow comparison
The agent console claims to be an upgrade, which is a claim about steps: what a person does to get a thing done in the terminal, and what they do with the console. This page draws both, and with terminal parity done every row below is a thing to time in a real session — a row the console loses is a defect.
One turn, in the terminal
flowchart TD
A[Type the prompt in the terminal] --> B[Watch the scrollback]
B --> C{Permission prompt}
C -->|scroll up to read the full input| D[Answer with a key]
D --> B
B --> E[Turn ends]
E --> F{Review what changed}
F -->|git diff in a second terminal or the editor| G[Read the diff]
F -->|scroll back for the tool calls| H[Reconstruct what ran]
E --> I{Context left}
I -->|read the status line, or run a command| J[Decide to compact]
E --> K{Other sessions}
K -->|switch terminal tab| L[Find where that one was]
One turn, in the console
flowchart TD
A[Type the prompt in the console] --> B[Conversation, tool timeline and diff fill side by side]
B --> C{Permission prompt}
C -->|full input shown on the card| D[Click allow or deny]
D --> B
B --> E[Turn ends — a notification if the tab is hidden]
E --> F[The turn's diff is already open, per file]
E --> G[Context gauge in view, warns before compaction]
E --> H[Session list shows every session's state — one click to switch]
Task by task
| Task | In the terminal | In the console |
|---|---|---|
| Start work | open a terminal, cd, run claude | open the page, type the repository path, or pick one a session already used |
| Read a long tool input before allowing | scroll the prompt, the input often truncated | the card shows it whole, formatted |
| Review an edit | a second terminal or the editor, git diff | the turn's diff beside the conversation, per file |
| Find what a command printed earlier | scroll back, or search the scrollback if the terminal can | the timeline, each call collapsible, and a search over the session |
| Know how much context is left | the status line, if configured | a gauge, with a warning before automatic compaction |
| Run two sessions at once | two terminal tabs, their state invisible from each other | the session list, each with its state, one click apart |
| Stop a runaway turn | escape | the stop button, or escape in the page |
| Hand a session to the terminal | — | claude --resume on the same session id; nothing is lost either way |
| Undo a turn's edits | rewind, which can restore the files from its checkpoints | rewind from any prompt, the files put back from the same checkpoints |
| Follow the review collector | the Actions tab, the release pull request and commit comments | the same, until the collector harbour view ships |
| Hear the character | the persona plugin's hooks | the same hooks, until the Genshin theme ships |
What the console costs
The comparison is only honest with the other column filled in. The console adds:
- A process to run. The host must be running before the page is useful; the terminal needs nothing. On Windows it is one download, and the page's Connect or Start the host starts it through the browser's own prompt; it runs in a window the reader can see rather than as a login item, since nothing runs hidden (host installer).
- A tab to keep. The work is in a browser tab rather than a terminal window. A quick
gitcommand or test run around a session happens in the console's shell pane, in the session's folder on its host. - Surface to maintain. A host, a wire, a page and a theme layer, against a terminal someone else maintains. Every Claude Code release that changes the SDK's messages is a change the driver has to follow.
- A dependency on the SDK's billing. Today the SDK runs on the subscription's own limits; if that changes, the SDK driver changes cost and the terminal-mirror driver is the fallback that keeps the console free (drivers).
- A browser prompt, once. The deployed page reaching a host on the loopback passes the private-network preflight the host answers, and current Chrome also asks once to allow local network access for the site. The local dev server needs neither.
- A header that fills in on the first turn. The SDK reports a session's model and mode with the first turn's init message, so a session opened and not yet prompted shows the defaults until it runs.
How the comparison is used
One working day is done in the console alone, and every time the terminal had to be opened is written down as a row here with the reason. The console is not taken further — no theme, no view — while that list is non-empty.
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