Ghostty creator's new terminal Rex adds activity view, centrally displaying Agent status.

Beating AI News Flash: Rex, the new terminal by Ghostty creator Mitchell Hashimoto, has added Activity Mode, now available to public beta users. It displays running or temporarily idle programs and Coding Agents in a centralized sidebar, along with task status and other information. Users can quickly find tasks that need attention and switch directly to the corresponding terminal.

This feature uses the previously proposed OSC 7501 protocol, which allows programs to proactively report whether they are working, waiting for user input, or have completed their tasks. However, Rex also combines other information and judgment rules to decide when to display which statuses, minimizing unnecessary notifications.

Mitchell said the team has historically disliked similar task notification panels because they generate too many alerts, some of which are even harder to use than email. Developer almonk spent several weeks refining these details, hoping to build a feature the team itself would be willing to use long-term. Current beta user feedback has been positive, but adjustments are still ongoing.