# Terminal look: a Claude Code GUI that reads like a CLI > Prefer the terminal? Switch Shuriken to Terminal look: monospace text, a › prompt, tool runs as one ● line. Same app, same shortcuts. Source: https://shuriken.sh/features/terminal-look Prefer the terminal? Switch Shuriken to Terminal look: monospace text, a › prompt, tool runs as one ● line. Same app, same shortcuts. By Shuriken Updated 27 October 2026 2 min read **Contents** Terminal look switches the whole Shuriken app to the way a CLI reads: every word in a monospace face, square corners, your message behind a › prompt, each tool run on one dim line that starts with ●, and a braille spinner where something is working. It is one setting, Settings › Appearance › Style, and it changes the drawing only. Everything you click or type works as before. ## Why we built it # Claude Code and Codex are terminal apps first. If that is where you feel at home, you know how a terminal reads: text in one column, nothing rounded, no bubbles, tool calls listed as they happen. Shuriken's Standard look is a calmer app with cards, icons and message bubbles. Terminal look gives the same app a second style for people who would rather read it the terminal way. ## What changes # - Text. Every word is set in JetBrains Mono, the font the built-in terminal uses. Zoom works as before. - Your messages. No bubble on the right. Your message starts at the left edge behind a ›, the way you typed it at a prompt. - Tool runs. Each run is one line: ● Read src/app.ts. The dot is quiet when the run finished, red when it failed, yellow when it warns. Click the line and its details open, as in Standard. - Progress. A running tool and the Thinking line show a turning braille cell instead of a shimmer or dots. With Reduce motion on it turns at half speed rather than stopping, so you can still see work is happening. - Corners and cards. Buttons, fields and menu rows get 2 px corners; cards, menus and dialogs 4 px. Cards drop their fill and keep a thin border. Dots, switches and avatars stay round. What stays the same: the layout (sidebar, chat, side panel), every [coding agent](https://shuriken.sh/features/coding-agents) you run, the [queue](https://shuriken.sh/features/queue), [live cost](https://shuriken.sh/features/live-cost), keyboard shortcuts, right-click menus and screen reader labels. ## Turn it on # - Open Settings › Appearance. - Under Style, pick Terminal. Each choice has a small drawing of a chat in that style. - That's it. The app redraws at once, and your other devices follow, because the style is saved to your account like the theme. ## Colours come from your theme # Terminal look has no palette of its own. Pick any of the ten themes, light or dark, and Terminal look draws with it. Where it needs a colour that means something, like a failed run, it takes the red and yellow from the theme's terminal colours, the same ones the built-in terminal uses. ## Still a GUI # Terminal look is a style, not a terminal. You still get what a GUI adds over a bare CLI: chats side by side on their own branches, sources that switch when one nears its limit, a queue you can reorder, and the cost of each turn while it runs. If you are comparing apps for Claude Code, [our list of Claude Code apps](https://shuriken.sh/compare/best-claude-code-apps) covers the others too. Terminal look is on every plan. [Download Shuriken](https://shuriken.sh/download) and switch it on in Settings › Appearance. 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The choice belongs to your account, so every device you sign in to switches with it. **Does it change how anything works?** No. Every button, menu, keyboard shortcut and screen reader label is the same as in Standard. Only the drawing changes: the font, the corners, and how your messages, tool runs and progress are shown. **Which font does it use?** JetBrains Mono, the face Shuriken's built-in terminal already ships with. Code, diffs and file paths use it in both styles; Terminal look uses it for every other word too. **Does it work with every theme?** Yes, all ten, light and dark. The theme still picks the colours. A failed tool run's dot takes the theme's own terminal red, and a warning its terminal yellow. **Is Terminal look on the Free plan?** Yes. It is an appearance setting, part of every plan. ## Try Shuriken on your own computer Add your Claude, Codex and Gemini accounts once. Shuriken switches between them so your agents keep working. [Download](https://shuriken.sh/download) [Pricing](https://shuriken.sh/pricing) Coming soon ## Keep reading - [Hot swapping: chats that move when an account runs out: Story 27 Oct 2026 4 min read Hot swapping AI accounts, the way Shuriken does it: your running chats move to another of your accounts when one nears its limit. What happens at 99%.](https://shuriken.sh/blog/hot-swapping-accounts) - [How Shuriken picks the next account: Story 27 Oct 2026 5 min read At your switch point (99% by default) or a limit, Shuriken moves your chats to the source with the most room. Expiring capacity goes first, API keys last.](https://shuriken.sh/blog/how-switching-picks-the-next-account) - [Codex with more than one ChatGPT account: Update 27 Oct 2026 4 min read Add each ChatGPT sign-in you own as a source. When one reaches its Codex limit, Shuriken moves your Codex chats to the next and they carry on.](https://shuriken.sh/blog/codex-multiple-chatgpt-accounts)