Command IDE (CMD IDE)

A terminal-first desktop IDE for developers who live in the command line.

Download · Docs · Themes · Plugin SDK · Contributing

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Command IDE (CMD IDE) is a native desktop application built with Wails, Go, and React. It wraps your real shell in a multi-tab, session-restoring terminal, then layers on a Monaco-powered editor, live preview, database inspector, plugin system, and more — all in a single window, with no browser involved.

Features

Terminal

• Multi-tab shell sessions — PowerShell, Bash, Zsh, CMD, or any shell on the host
• Working directory persists across tabs and across restarts (full session restore)
• Ctrl+click file paths and URLs to open them directly in the editor or browser
• Fullscreen IDE mode: Monaco editor with split-panel view, file tree, and status bar

Editor

• Monaco-based editor (the same engine powering VS Code)
• Syntax highlighting for 50+ languages with automatic detection
• Split-panel view, word wrap, indent guides, minimap, Ctrl+wheel zoom
• Line/column counter, encoding display, line-ending indicator

Built-in Commands

Command	Description
/help	Show all available commands
/fullscreen · /fs	Open the fullscreen file editor
/preview <file|url>	Render a file or URL in a live sandboxed panel
/problems	Scan the current directory and surface linting and error output
/ports	Show all ports currently in use on this machine
/performance	Real-time CPU, memory, disk, GPU, and network graphs
/pack	Zip the current working directory
/pack --dryrun	Preview zip contents and estimated sizes without writing
/plugins	Open the plugin store

Plugins

Install official and community plugins from the built-in store (/plugins), or load any plugin directly from a public GitHub repository built with the cmdIDE Plugin SDK.

Other Panels

• Database — open and inspect SQLite files inline
• Ports — live view of listening ports with one-click kill
• Performance — real-time system graphs (CPU, memory, disk, GPU, network)
• Preview — sandboxed renderer for files and URLs

Themes

10 built-in themes with a live custom theme editor. Themes are SCSS-based and live in their own repository — community themes are welcome via pull request.

Key	Style
minimal	Apple iOS/macOS dark, muted grays
dark	VS Code dark default
blackout	Pure black, high contrast
dim-green	Retro phosphor green terminal
dim-blue	Cool blue monochrome terminal
neon-night	Cyberpunk — deep purple with neon accents
solarized	Classic Solarized Dark
nord	Arctic blue palette
coffee	Warm espresso browns and amber
gruvbox	Retro groove — warm oranges and greens

Configuration

• Full theme editor — customize every color, save and export as JSON
• Settings for font size, zoom level, scroll speed, word wrap, indent guides, minimap
• Git branch display in the terminal prompt
• Soft-close protection against accidentally discarding unsaved work
• Config stored in the OS user config directory under cmdIDE/

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Install

Download the latest release from the Releases page.

Artifact	Description
cmdIDE-installer.exe	Standard Windows installer
cmdIDE.exe	Portable Windows build — unzip and run, no install required
cmdIDE-macos.zip	macOS universal binary
cmdIDE-linux	Linux binary (amd64)

On first launch, the app creates its config and session files at:

Platform	Path
Windows	%APPDATA%\cmdIDE\
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/cmdIDE/
Linux	~/.config/cmdIDE/

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Build from Source

Requirements: Go 1.21+, Node.js 18+, Wails v2 CLI

# Install the Wails CLI (one-time setup)
go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest

# Clone with all submodules
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/Command-IDE/cmd-ide
cd cmd-ide/app

# Development server with hot reload
wails dev

# Production build
wails build

To produce all release artifacts (Windows):

# From the repo root
./build.ps1

Submodules

This repo uses git submodules for the shell backends and themes. If you cloned without --recurse-submodules, initialize them with:

git submodule update --init --recursive

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Desktop shell	Wails v2 (Go + WebView2 / WKWebView)
Backend	Go
Frontend	React + TypeScript + Vite
Editor	Monaco Editor
Terminal	xterm.js — Command-IDE/terminal
Themes	SCSS — Command-IDE/cmdide-themes
Database	modernc SQLite (pure Go, no CGO)
Styling	CSS custom properties with runtime theme switching

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Platform Support

Platform	Architecture	Status
Windows 10/11	x64	✅ Fully supported
macOS 12+	Apple Silicon (arm64)	✅ Fully supported
macOS 12+	Intel (amd64)	✅ Fully supported
Linux	x64	✅ Supported (requires WebKitGTK)

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Repository Structure

cmd-ide/
├── app/                  # Main Wails application (Go + React)
│   ├── frontend/         # React + TypeScript frontend
│   ├── themes/           # SCSS theme system (git submodule)
│   ├── terminal/         # xterm.js terminal backend (git submodule)
│   ├── powershell/       # PowerShell shell backend (git submodule)
│   ├── bash/             # Bash shell backend (git submodule)
│   └── zsh/              # Zsh shell backend (git submodule)
├── installer/            # Installer application
├── packages/
│   └── plugin-sdk/       # Plugin SDK for community plugin authors
├── docs/                 # Documentation
├── scripts/              # Build and utility scripts
└── build.ps1             # Full release build script

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome — bug fixes, new features, themes, and documentation improvements.

Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request. Key points:

• Open an issue before starting any large feature to align on approach
• Follow the existing code style (gofmt for Go, project ESLint config for TypeScript)
• All PRs require a passing CI build

See SECURITY.md for reporting vulnerabilities and CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md for community standards.

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License

MIT — Copyright © 2026 Kris Powers