OrbitShell

A modern, block‑based terminal UI inspired by Warp, built with Rust and GPUI.

OrbitShell focuses on:

• Block output (command → output sections)
• Fast search in the sidebar (Explorer / Search / Git)
• Workspace‑style UI with tabs, welcome view, and settings panel
• Local input editor for a Warp‑like experience

This project is open‑source and evolving. Contributions are welcome.

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Screenshots

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Why OrbitShell?

• Blazing fast UI and search thanks to Rust + GPUI
• Low memory usage and snappy rendering
• Responsive even on large codebases

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Features

• Block rendering for terminal output
• Sidebar with Explorer, Search, and Git views
• Search across files with incremental results
• Welcome tab with recent projects
• Settings tab (Appearance, Keyboard Shortcuts, ACP Registry, MCP servers, Privacy, About)
• Windows installer via NSIS

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Getting Started

Requirements

• Rust (latest stable)
• Windows SDK (for fxc.exe, required by gpui)
• NSIS (optional, to build the Windows installer)

Run (dev)

cargo run

Run with auto-restart (dev)

OrbitShell does not currently support true UI hot reload / fast refresh. The recommended development loop is file watch + rebuild + app restart using cargo-watch.

Install it once:

cargo install cargo-watch

Then run:

cargo dev-watch

This uses the repository alias from .cargo/config.toml, which expands to:

cargo watch -x run

This is intended for local development only.

Build (release)

cargo build --release

If you hit Failed to find fxc.exe, add the Windows SDK fxc.exe to PATH:

$env:PATH="C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.22621.0\x64;$env:PATH"
cargo build --release

The binary will be at:

target\release\orbitshell.exe

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Windows Installer (NSIS)

Generate the installer:

makensis installer\windows\orbitshell.nsi

Output:

installer\windows\OrbitShell-Setup.exe

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Linux

Build on Linux (or WSL):

cargo build --release

To install locally:

bash installer/linux/install.sh

This installs the binary to ~/.local/bin/orbitshell and adds a .desktop entry.

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GitHub Releases

Releases are published from Git tags through GitHub Actions.

Create and push a version tag that matches Cargo.toml:

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

The release workflow publishes these assets to GitHub Releases:

• Linux x86_64 tarball
• Linux aarch64 tarball
• Linux .deb for amd64
• Linux .deb for arm64
• Linux AppImage for x86_64
• Linux AppImage for aarch64
• Windows portable .exe
• Windows NSIS installer

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Configuration

Rules file:

orbitshell_rules.json

This controls skip directories/files and search limits for the sidebar.

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Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome. If you plan a larger change, open an issue first so we can align on direction.

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License

TBD