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Quickstart

Get up and running with Monolex in minutes.

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Installation

  1. Download from monolex.ai
  2. Open the DMG file
  3. Drag Monolex to Applications
  4. Launch from Applications
On first launch, right-click and select “Open” to bypass Gatekeeper.

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Your First Terminal

Once Monolex is running:
  1. New Tab: Press Cmd+T to open a new terminal tab
  2. Run a command: Type ls -la and press Enter
  3. Multiple tabs: Press Cmd+T again for more terminals

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Keyboard Shortcuts

ActionShortcut
New tabCmd+T
Close tabCmd+W
Next tabCmd+] or Cmd+Shift+]
Previous tabCmd+[ or Cmd+Shift+[
Clear terminalCmd+K
CopyCmd+C
PasteCmd+V

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Test the Performance

Try these commands to see Monolex’s performance advantage:

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High-Output Test

# Generate 10,000 lines of output
seq 10000

# Watch CPU usage in Activity Monitor
# Standard xterm.js: High CPU
# Monolex: Lower CPU due to ACK-based flow control

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AI Streaming Simulation

# Simulate LLM streaming output
for i in $(seq 1 100); do
    echo "This is line $i of AI output..."
    sleep 0.01
done

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Color Test

# Test 256 colors
for i in $(seq 0 255); do
    printf "\e[48;5;${i}m  \e[0m"
    [ $((($i + 1) % 16)) -eq 0 ] && echo
done

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Understanding the UI

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  [Tab 1] [Tab 2] [Tab 3] [+]                          [─][□][×] │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                 │
│  user@machine ~ %                                               │
│                                                                 │
│                                                                 │
│                                                                 │
│                                                                 │
│                                                                 │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  [Status Bar]                                                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
  • Tab Bar: Switch between terminal sessions
  • Terminal Area: Your active terminal
  • Status Bar: Session info and indicators

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Crash Recovery

One of Monolex’s unique features is crash resilience:
  1. Your terminal sessions run in a separate daemon process
  2. If the app crashes, sessions stay alive
  3. On restart, sessions are automatically recovered
Test it: 
# Start a long-running process
ping google.com

# Force-quit Monolex (Cmd+Option+Escape)
# Reopen Monolex
# Your ping should still be running!

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Configuration

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Change Theme

  1. Open Settings (Cmd+,)
  2. Navigate to Appearance
  3. Select your preferred theme

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Change Font

  1. Open Settings (Cmd+,)
  2. Navigate to Fonts
  3. Select font family and size

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Configure Shell

Monolex uses your default shell. To change it: 
# Use zsh
chsh -s /bin/zsh

# Use bash
chsh -s /bin/bash

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Tips for Power Users

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1. Use Multiple Tabs

Each tab is an independent terminal session. Open as many as you need without performance degradation.

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2. Watch the CPU

Open Activity Monitor while running high-output commands. Notice how Monolex maintains low CPU compared to other terminals.

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3. Explore the Sidebars

Monolex has powerful sidebars for:
  • File browsing (Markdown viewer)
  • Project management
  • AI agent integration

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4. Check the Logs

If something goes wrong: 
# PTY daemon logs
tail -f /tmp/pty-daemon.log

# Watcher daemon logs
tail -f /tmp/niia-watcher.log

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Next Steps

Architecture

Understand how Monolex works.

5-Tier Grid Mode

Deep dive into the rendering pipeline.

SessionActor

Learn about lock-free concurrency.

AI-Native UX

Why Monolex is built for AI workloads.

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