Show HN: Yaw: terminal, SSH/database connections, AI Chat and optimized AI CLI

[tkjef]

Hi HN, I started building yaw because I couldn't find a terminal on Windows that didn't feel like an afterthought. It's 2026 and the options are still basically Windows Terminal or a handful of lesser known terminals w/ poor copy/paste support.

Yaw turned into a terminal that does three things in one app: terminal emulation, connection management, and AI.

The terminal side has what you'd expect — tabs, split panes, broadcast mode, search, a command palette, session restore. WebGL-rendered with xterm.js. It's fast and stays out of the way.

The connection manager is where it started getting useful for me personally. I'm constantly SSH-ing into servers and connecting to databases. yaw lets me save SSH, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, MongoDB, and Redis connections with encrypted credentials. It detects Tailscale machines automatically. There's a Remote Sessions panel for managing GNU Screen sessions on any SSH host. And a setup wizard that can install database servers locally if you don't have them.

The AI piece started as a simple chat window — talk to Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Mistral, Grok, or Ollama with your terminal output as context. Select an error, ask what it means, get an answer that actually references what's on your screen.

But the part I'm most excited about is the AI CLI tool integration. Run Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, or Vibe CLI and Yaw automatically splits the pane — AI tool on the left, a fresh terminal in the same directory on the right. You can install any of them through a built-in wizard. It's a small thing but it completely changed how I use these tools day to day.

v0.9.60, available on Windows 10+ and macOS 12+. Would love feedback — especially on the AI CLI tool workflow and what you'd want to see next.

[highview]

The AI CLI split-pane workflow is the detail that stood out to me. I've been running Claude Code in Windows Terminal and the context-switching is genuinely annoying — you're constantly tabbing between the agent output and your shell. Having yaw auto-detect the tool and open a companion terminal in the same directory is the kind of small UX decision that compounds over a full workday. Tried it this morning. Works as described. The connection manager is also underrated in the post. Encrypted credential storage + Tailscale auto-detection in one place covers a lot of ground for anyone managing a handful of SSH hosts and databases regularly. Question for the dev: how are credentials encrypted at rest? Local keychain, or something custom?

[tkjef]

yeah, the ai cli split-pane workflow really works for me. creds are encrypted via local keychain.