>_ Frequently asked questions

RACE is a terminal multiplexer that puts terminals on an infinite, zoomable canvas. Below: what that means, how it compares to tmux and split panes, and how it handles AI coding agents.

What RACE is

What is RACE?
RACE is a terminal multiplexer for macOS, with a Linux beta, built as an infinite, zoomable canvas. Terminals are windows you place, resize, group and pan around, not tiles in a grid. The name stands for Run Anything in Canvas Environment.
What is a canvas terminal multiplexer?
A terminal multiplexer runs many shells in one window. Most do it by splitting the screen into panes or tabs. A canvas terminal multiplexer puts terminals on a canvas instead: each one sits at its own coordinates on a surface you pan and zoom. Twenty terminals stay laid out side by side at full size, and you zoom out to see all of them at once.
Is RACE a terminal emulator too?
Yes. RACE draws every terminal with its own rendering engine, aimed at 144 FPS. It supports the Kitty keyboard protocol, OSC 8 hyperlinks, color emoji and reflow on resize. The default font is JetBrains Mono; any installed font family can be set in the config.
Which platforms does RACE run on?
macOS, and Linux x86_64 in open beta on Wayland and X11. The Linux build is rebuilt daily and each build runs with no limits for 14 days from its build date.

RACE, tmux and other terminals

Is RACE a tmux alternative?
For the job of keeping many shells open, yes. tmux splits one screen into panes and windows and keeps sessions alive after you detach. RACE keeps shells alive the same way — each runs in its own detached process and survives a restart of the app — but lays terminals out on a canvas instead of in panes, so none of them has to shrink to make room for another.
Can I run tmux inside RACE?
Yes. Each RACE terminal is a full terminal, so tmux, screen, vim, htop, ssh sessions and any other terminal program run inside it. You can keep tmux on remote servers and use RACE to lay out the local terminals connected to them.
How is RACE different from iTerm2 split panes, tabs or tiling terminals?
Split panes and tabs share one fixed screen: every new pane makes the others smaller, and every new tab hides the one before it. On a RACE canvas, space is unlimited. A new terminal takes a new place on the canvas, keeps the size you gave it, and stays visible when you zoom out.
Why put terminals on a canvas instead of in tabs?
Because people remember where things are. A terminal that always sits in the same place on the canvas, with its own size, theme and group color, is found by looking, not by cycling through tabs. You can zoom in to one shell to work and zoom out to watch everything else.

AI agents

Is RACE a good terminal for running several AI coding agents?
That is what it was built around. Give each coding agent its own terminal on the canvas, zoom out to watch them all progress, and turn on the inactivity monitor so a terminal's border blinks when its agent goes quiet and needs you. Shells survive a restart of RACE, so a long-running agent is not lost when the app closes.
Can an AI agent control RACE itself?
Yes. RACE bundles race-mcp, an MCP server with 33 tools. An agent can list canvases, read what a terminal is showing, type into it, and create, move, resize, group, mirror, pin and theme anything on the canvas. It is off by default and switched on from the About screen.

Working with many terminals

Do my shells keep running when RACE quits or crashes?
Yes. Every shell runs in its own detached PTY host process. When RACE starts again, each terminal gets back its screen, its scrollback and exactly the output it missed. After a crash, Restore Terminals adopts the orphaned shells.
What comes back after a restart?
Everything: canvases, viewports, terminal names and sizes, groups, themes, mirrors, pins, inactivity monitors, the terminal modes an application had set, fullscreen and the sidebar width.
How do I organize dozens of terminals?
Use several canvases, listed in a sidebar, each with its own working directory. On a canvas, put related terminals in a group: a tinted frame that moves everything inside it. Name terminals with Cmd-R, and set a theme or highlight color per terminal so each one is recognizable when zoomed out.
Can I see the same terminal in two places?
Yes, with a mirror: a second live window on the same shell that shows everything it prints and sends everything you type. Put a mirror on another canvas to keep a build or a log in view wherever you work.
How do I keep one terminal in view while I move around the canvas?
Pin it. Cmd-P fixes a terminal to a place on screen and the canvas moves underneath it. Cmd-Shift-P makes the pin follow the canvas instead.
How do I know when a long command or a build has finished?
Turn on the inactivity monitor for that terminal. When it goes quiet, its border blinks in its highlight color until output resumes, so a finished build stands out across a wide canvas.
Can I put images and diagrams next to my terminals?
Yes. Place a picture from a file or the clipboard and it moves, resizes and snaps like a terminal.

Setup and configuration

How do I install RACE?
On macOS, download RACE.dmg and drag it to Applications, or run brew install --cask exlee/tap/race. On Linux, download the beta tarball from the homepage.
How do I learn the keyboard shortcuts?
Press Cmd-? in the app for an overlay with every shortcut. The quickstart covers the five gestures you need first.
Does RACE support themes?
It ships 611 themes, set per canvas or per terminal, and reads Alacritty themes from <RACE_CONFIG>/themes.
How is RACE configured?
Through config.toml in ~/.config/race/. You override only the settings you want to change, and changes apply without a restart.

Price, licence and privacy

Is RACE free?
The free tier runs with no time limit, with up to 5 terminals per canvas and 3 canvases. A license costs €29.90 once and removes both limits on up to three computers, with a year of updates.
How many machines can I use one license on?
Up to three personal computers you own or control. More than that, or use by another person, needs its own license — see the Terms.
What happens when my year of updates ends?
Your license keeps working indefinitely for every release published within its window. You only buy again if you want newer builds.
What happens to a big layout if my license lapses?
It comes back whole. Restoring never destroys anything — only creating new terminals and canvases beyond the free caps is refused.
Does RACE collect what I type or run?
No. Terminal contents, commands, output, file paths and layouts never leave your machine, and there are no usage analytics. The privacy notice lists the few update and licence checks the app makes.

Download RACE for macOS Get a license — €29.90