Paneflow vs WezTerm

WezTerm is the closest architectural peer to Paneflow. Same language (Rust), same renderer family (Paneflow uses GPUI’s Blade over Vulkan/Metal; WezTerm uses wgpu 25.0.2, the same family), same MIT license, same indie-maintainer story (Wez Furlong holds ~98% of WezTerm’s commits). The two projects could share a lineage page; instead they diverge sharply on purpose.

WezTerm is a configurable terminal emulator. Its identity is “a terminal where you can script everything in Lua.” Paneflow is an agent workspace - a single binary that opens with panes, workspaces, and a UI for launching CLI coding agents, designed around the workflow of running Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode side by side. WezTerm has no concept of an AI agent pane, no workspace-per-project model with branch detection, no dev-server port banner. Paneflow has no Lua scripting surface, no built-in SSH multiplexer, no FreeBSD build. The rest of this page maps the tradeoff.

Grouped in three zones - performance & agent surface (where Paneflow leads), core terminal parity (where both are equivalent), and the configuration & ecosystem (where WezTerm has shipped more surface).

Performance & agent surface

Core terminal parity

Configuration & ecosystem

Versions:Paneflow v0.2.16 (May 2026), first commit 2026-04-01, v0.1.0 tagged 2026-04-16. WezTerm latest stable 20240203-110809-5046fc22 (Feb 2024), first commit 2017-12-07 (c53ca64c). WezTerm’s main branch is active (last push 2026-05-01) but no stable release has been cut since February 2024. Pricing: both free. Both MIT.

The honest version: WezTerm is the right answer if you want a terminal you script. Paneflow is the right answer if you want a workspace where agents are first-class. The bullets below capture the realistic picks for each side.

WezTerm is a Rust workspace crate with a GUI subcrate (wezterm-gui) that consumes wgpu 25.0.2 and mlua. The renderer dispatches through wgpu to whichever backend the host provides: Vulkan on Linux, Metal on macOS, DX12 on Windows - cross-API without forking. Configuration is a Lua script (~/.wezterm.lua) that returns a config table; the script runs in-process via mlua, so any Lua expression (callbacks, format functions, mux event handlers) is allowed. The terminal grid and VT state machine are built in; the SSH multiplexer is a separate WezTerm protocol that connects two WezTerm processes over SSH.

Paneflow is also a Rust workspace, also GPU-accelerated, but the integration story is tighter and the configuration story is leaner. UI is built on GPUI - Zed’s UI framework - so the keystroke pipeline stays in pure Rust from KeyDownEvent through to paint. Terminal emulation is upstream alacritty_terminal0.26 from crates.io, the public Rust VT crate, not a fork. The GPU layer is Blade (GPUI’s renderer) over Vulkan on Linux and Metal on macOS. Configuration is static JSON at ~/.config/paneflow/paneflow.json; there is no scripting surface and no event-handler hook, by design - the goal is a config you can read top-to-bottom in a minute.

The two projects also diverge on what the “product” is. WezTerm is a terminal you spend time configuring to fit your workflow. Paneflow is a workspace you launch and use immediately with three preset AI agent buttons, branch detection, and four pane layouts already wired up - the tradeoff is that there is no Lua escape hatch when Paneflow does not do what you want yet.

Both projects are free, both MIT, both with no commercial tier.

• -Paneflow: MIT, Copyright (c) 2026 Arthur Jean. No dual licensing. Embed it in commercial products without questions.
• -WezTerm: MIT, Copyright (c) 2018-Present Wez Furlong. Same embedding freedom; no commercial license is offered (none is needed).

There is no clean translation between WezTerm’s Lua script and Paneflow’s JSON. The install is a fresh setup that takes about ten minutes. The good news: Paneflow ships with sensible defaults for the things WezTerm makes you configure (workspace layout, agent buttons, theme), so the empty-config experience is closer to “ready to use” than to WezTerm’s.

• -Shell + theme: set default_shell and theme in ~/.config/paneflow/paneflow.json. The two bundled themes are One Dark (default) and Paneflow Light.
• -Keybindings: see the schema reference. Default actions cover splits, focus, workspaces. If you have a Lua keymap with logic, that logic does not port - you will pick the closest static binding.
• -Lua event handlers: no equivalent in Paneflow. If you rely on format-tab-title, mux-startup, or other Lua callbacks, stay on WezTerm.
• -SSH multiplexer: Paneflow does not ship a mux. Run tmux or zellij in a Paneflow pane, or keep WezTerm for remote sessions.

The honest dealbreakers. If any of the five below matters to you, WezTerm is the right tool today - no point fighting it:

1. 1.You want a Lua scripting surface. WezTerm lets you express keymap logic, dynamic tab titles, mux event hooks, and full callbacks in Lua. Paneflow uses static JSON with no scripting hook. If you have a Lua config you love, you will hate Paneflow.
2. 2.You need a built-in SSH multiplexer. WezTerm’s SSH: and SSHMUX: domains keep your session alive across disconnects without tmux. Paneflow has no multiplexer and no current plan to ship one.
3. 3.You run Windows or FreeBSD. WezTerm ships builds for Linux, macOS, Windows, and FreeBSD today. Paneflow ships Linux and macOS; Windows is in the roadmap with no shipping ETA, FreeBSD is not on the roadmap.
4. 4.You want a large mature ecosystem. WezTerm has 26 k+ GitHub stars, eight years of accumulated themes, plugins, and Stack Overflow answers. Paneflow is one month into its first public stable - the answers you need may not be on Google yet.
5. 5.You do not run AI coding agents. Paneflow’s entire reason for existing is the agent workspace. If you do not use Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, or similar, you are using maybe 30% of the product and paying for the rest. WezTerm is the better fit for a traditional terminal workflow.

Ready to try Paneflow? Download the latest release or read the getting-started guide. Curious about WezTerm instead? WezTerm is on GitHub - it is a genuinely excellent Rust terminal that solves a different problem from Paneflow, and we recommend it for any workflow where Lua scripting is the point.