For six years, I opened my projects the same way, every single day, without a single second of frustration. Open Ghostty. Type cd path. Type code .. Drag the new VSCode window to its designated desktop. Switch back to the Ghostty desktop. Repeat three or four times. I was unbothered. Proud, even.
Then it hit me: I was automating my life around a workflow that was objectively terrible. Why did I need a full terminal just to run one-off commands to open an app? Why was I constantly shuttling between desktops like an air traffic controller in a storm? I wasn’t being productive. I was being stubborn.
We don’t have a productivity problem. We have a habit problem. We build rituals around inefficiency and call it consistency.
My Mac setup was a mess of eight separate desktops: three or four for VSCode, one for Arc, one for Docker, one for Postman. The system worked, but it was fragile, bloated, and demanded a ritual just to start the day. I wasn’t using a computer; I was managing a bureaucracy.
So I asked a question that shattered the whole routine: Why does a terminal have to be a destination?
Every terminal is a workspace. It’s a big, focused window that demands your attention. But what if you only need it for five seconds? What if you just need to type code . and move on? The problem wasn’t the terminal. The problem was the context-switching. The cost of leaving your current desktop to go open a project on another desktop is a tax you pay every single time.
I looked at my dock—specifically, the empty space to the right of it. That space was dead. It was doing nothing. And I realized that’s where the next generation of tools will live. Not in new windows, not in new surfaces, but in the cracks of the interfaces we already have.
So I built Starboard.
Starboard is a persistent shell that’s literally glued to your macOS dock. It tracks the dock’s height and position live, filling that blank space. It’s visible from every desktop. It’s tiny—just three lines of visible input. It is the anti-terminal.
The most powerful tool on your screen might be the one that stays out of your way.
Now, my routine is one step: jump to the desktop where I want the project, open it right there in Starboard. I rarely open Ghostty anymore. I don’t need to. The tool is ambient, not obstructive.
This isn’t a story about a clever hack. It’s a story about the assumptions we refuse to question. We accept that terminals are big. We accept that switching contexts is normal. We accept that our daily grind is just how it is.
But the real inefficiency was never the terminal. It was the mental cost of moving between worlds. The desktop metaphor is filled with wasted slots—dead space we ignore. Starboard just colonized one.
The next wave of developer tools won’t create new windows. They’ll reclaim the ones already on your screen.
I was unbothered for six years because the friction was invisible. It was just the price of doing business. But once you see it, you can’t unsee it. The question is: what invisible friction are you still calling a habit?
FAQ
Q: Isn't this just a niche tool for a specific macOS workflow?
A: Yes, but the insight is universal. The tool is a proof-of-concept for a larger idea: the next wave of software won't demand your attention, it will live in the gaps. Starboard is a comment on where UI is heading, not just a utility.
Q: What's the real practical takeaway for someone who doesn't use a terminal?
A: Audit your rituals. Find the steps you do 'because that's how it's always been done.' The friction isn't always in the main action; it's often in the context-switching and the tiny, repetitive tasks you've automated in your head. Eliminate the shuttling, not the task.
Q: Is this just a gimmick that will be replaced by AI coding agents?
A: Ironically, no. AI agents will need a place to act. If they're stuck in a separate window, we're back to context-switching. The future isn't a bigger chat box; it's an ambient agent that lives in the periphery. Starboard is a primitive version of that, and it's more relevant, not less, in an AI world.