A native macOS + iPadOS front-end for real tmux.

1:overview

2:features

• control mode

  The sidebar tree is driven by tmux control mode (tmux -C). On tmux ≥ 3.2 updates arrive by server push — near-zero idle traffic; older servers fall back to a light poll.

• instant switching

  Every visited session keeps a warm, attached surface. Changing sessions is a visibility toggle, not a re-attach.

• sessions outlive the app

  On macOS the local tmux server is started under launchd, so even force-quitting Belfry can't take your sessions down.

• battery-conscious

  Hidden surfaces absorb output without rendering, badges animate in the render server, and the idle app measures ~0% CPU.

• native rendering

  macOS terminals render with libghostty; iPad uses SwiftTerm over SwiftNIO SSH. Bundled Maple Mono NF keeps nerd-font glyphs sharp on iPad.

• made for remote work

  SSH connection sharing and a native askpass dialog on macOS; Keychain-stored credentials, touch scrollback and a background grace period on iPad. Pairs beautifully with Tailscale.

3:claude code badges

4:build

No toolchain needed on the Mac: brew tap robgough/belfry && brew install --cask belfry, or download the notarized app (universal, macOS 14+), unzip, drag to Applications. Or build from source:

# needs tmux (brew install tmux) + Xcode
git clone https://github.com/robgough/belfry
cd belfry
scripts/make_app.sh release
open Belfry.app

# needs xcodegen (brew install xcodegen)
git clone https://github.com/robgough/belfry
cd belfry
xcodegen generate
open BelfryiOS.xcodeproj  # set your team, run

Add hosts in-app: hostname, user, and a password or ed25519 key. Secrets go in the Keychain, never in the hosts file. The remote end just needs sshd and tmux.