Appearance and terminal preferences

Open Settings with the sidebar gear or Cmd+,. Application and Terminal preferences apply across profiles; the Commands tab holds the global command library, and AI manages MCP access and Command Assistant connections. AI Harnesses controls coding-agent integrations and their notifications.

Themes #

Under Application → App theme, choose System, Dark, or Light for the application interface. System follows macOS appearance. Under Terminal → Terminal theme, independently choose the output palette: Light, Dark, Cursor (Light), Dracula (Dark), Solarized (Light), One Dark (Dark), or Catppuccin (Dark).

Both theme choices save and apply live. A light app interface can therefore surround a dark terminal without changing your shell or running commands.

Fonts #

Under Terminal, set Font family and Font size (px). Font family accepts a font stack, such as Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, monospace; the fonts must be available on your Mac. Font size is limited to 8–32 px, with 13 px as the default.

These are app-wide terminal preferences. Valid text changes save after a short delay or when you leave the field. Follow the restart message to apply them to existing terminals.

Start position #

Choose Top or Bottom under Terminal → Start position. This controls where a new shell begins drawing inside an otherwise empty terminal viewport. The default is Top.

It does not move the shell to another directory or change the scrollback limit. Existing output remains output; the preference is most apparent with a new or reinitialized empty terminal.

Scrollback #

Scrollback (lines) defaults to 10,000 and accepts 100–1,000,000. More lines retain more output at the cost of memory and cache size. It applies to new or reinitialized sessions. See Scrollback for persistence and clearing.

AI connections #

Under AI → Generate commands, add a ChatGPT connection, sign in with Connect in browser, and choose a model. Default connection selects the connection normally used by Command Assistant. You can also refresh models, reconnect, disconnect, or remove a connection here.

Use Cmd+I from an idle terminal to describe a command. The generated text stays editable at the prompt until you press Enter to run it. The Command Assistant guide covers setup, connection choices, and the data sent to the provider.

For coding agents running in your terminals, use the separate AI Harnesses page. Install detected integrations and choose which agent events should notify you. The AI harness guide covers setup and attention indicators. These controls do not require a Command Assistant connection.

Apply changes #

Settings autosaves valid values. App theme, terminal palette, MCP access, AI connection choices, and the global command library update live. Font settings, start position, and scrollback retain the Saved — restart required to apply message; restart or reinitialize the relevant sessions when ready.

Reinitializing replaces a shell and can stop its running programs. Prefer finishing work first. A blank or invalid global command draft can keep Settings open until corrected or removed, so a failed close is not evidence that a preference was discarded.

Reset preferences #

Use Application → Reset to defaults → Reset to restore application and terminal preferences. The global command library and AI connections are preserved, as are terminal profiles and their commands. Use the AI tab to disconnect or remove an AI connection.

Defaults include System app appearance, the Dark terminal palette, 10,000 scrollback lines, the standard monospace stack at 13 px, Top start position, and MCP terminal access enabled. Review MCP access afterward if you previously disabled it. Reset does not erase output or private shell history.