shell'naga_
C:\> native terminal for Windows 11 · built in Rust

The Mac terminal, on Windows.

Shell'Naga is a terminal and SSH client for Windows 11 that feels like macOS Terminal. Native, lightweight, and no shell to pick: it opens in ~50 ms, uses 16 MB and sits at 0% CPU when idle.

Download for Windows 11 See the numbers
x64 · Rust · no Electron · no account
shellnaga — zsh — 96×24
live demo · click a tab to take over · "+" opens another
$ shellnaga bench

Measured on Windows 11, not promised.

How long the terminal takes to open, how much memory it holds and how much CPU it burns while you're not typing. Run on a release build on an Intel Core i7-14700K with 64 GB of RAM.

4/4 benchmarks ok
first_frame✓ ok
54.8 ms
from launch to first frame
memory✓ ok
16.5 MB
1 tab · +1.1 MB per extra tab
cpu_idle✓ ok
0 ms
CPU while idle over 30 s, with 1 or 6 tabs
binary_size✓ ok
9.7 MB
one .exe, SSH, SFTP, serial and telnet included
Source: docs/perf.md (Nov 2026) · release build · x64.
$ shellnaga --version --verbose

Built in Rust. Drawn by the GPU.

A lot of modern terminals are a browser in disguise: Electron ships an entire Chromium and Node.js just to show text. Shell'Naga is a native program, written in Rust, that talks straight to Windows. Fewer layers between your keypress and the screen, and nothing running while you're not typing.

Electron terminalChromium (a browser)
Node.js
JavaScript app
V8 garbage collector
shellnaga.exe · 9.7 MBRust → machine code
Direct3D → GPU rendering
DirectWrite → Windows text
native SSH → no ssh.exe

no garbage collector

Rust frees memory at the right moment, with no pauses. Memory bugs common in C and C++ are caught at compile time.

text on the GPU

Direct3D draws every frame on the graphics card and DirectWrite renders fonts the way Windows does: crisp at any display scale.

one file

Terminal, SSH, SFTP, serial, telnet, password vault and Tabby importer in the same .exe. No runtime to install first.

$ shellnaga --help

One terminal for WSL, PowerShell, Git Bash and cmd.

Tabs, splits, a command palette and Mac-style copy and paste, in a terminal built for people who code on Windows.

no shell to pick

zsh and bash on WSL, PowerShell, Git Bash and cmd. Type the command and it runs, with a colored Mac-style prompt in every shell.

Mac copy and paste

Selection like Terminal.app. Paste images and drag files into Claude Code.

tabs and splits

Tabs fill the bar like Terminal.app; "+" or Ctrl+T opens one, Ctrl+W closes it, hover shows the ×. Split, duplicate and restore your session.

settings screens

Writes to config.toml and keeps your comments.

palette and shortcuts

Every action has a name and shows up in search. Shortcuts are editable.

color schemes

200+ built in, plus the Shell'Naga theme in Aiur blue and gold. Light and dark, following Windows. Consolas by default.

chocolatey packages

Search, install and update from a panel in the terminal. Each package says if it runs on Windows or in WSL.

profiles bar

Servers and shells in groups. One click opens the tab.

winscp

Opens the tab's server in WinSCP with the host key already verified.

$ shellnaga ssh --help

Native SSH, passwords in a vault.

An SSH client inside the terminal, with no ssh.exe behind it. The vault is encrypted with your Windows account or a passphrase. Server key changed? The connection stops until you decide.

sftp: built in, a side panel on the same connection

serial and telnet: COM ports and old switches, in the same tabs

  --jump        up to 8 hops, key and password per hop
  --forward     L, R and SOCKS tunnels
  --proxy       SOCKS5, HTTP CONNECT, ProxyCommand
  --agent       Pageant and OpenSSH, with a badge on the tab
  --x11         local display, fake cookie
  --sudo        sudo password only on the right server
  --reuse       new tab without authenticating again
  --sftp        side panel: browse, drag from Explorer, chmod
  --config      reads ~/.ssh/config
  --serial      COM ports: baud, parity, flow, line endings
  --telnet      telnet and raw TCP, for routers and labs
$ shellnaga import tabby

Coming from Tabby? Your profiles come along.

Reads Tabby's config.yaml and brings over profiles, groups, jump hosts and known host keys. At the end, it shows what came in and what was left out.

✓ SSH profiles and groups
✓ jump hosts and proxies
✓ port forwards and login scripts
✓ known host keys
– Tabby plugins (npm/Electron): not applicable
$ shellnaga faq

Frequently asked questions

Does Shell'Naga work with WSL, PowerShell and cmd?

Yes. zsh and bash on WSL, PowerShell, Git Bash and cmd run in the same window, in tabs. You don't pick a shell first: type the command and it runs.

Is it built on Electron?

No. It's written in Rust and draws the screen with Direct3D and DirectWrite. The whole program is a 9.7 MB .exe and uses about 16 MB of memory with one tab open.

Can I use it as an SSH client instead of PuTTY or Tabby?

SSH is native, with jump hosts, L, R and SOCKS tunnels, Pageant and OpenSSH agents, X11 and a password vault. It reads your ~/.ssh/config and imports your Tabby profiles. SFTP is built in, as a side panel on the same connection. Serial ports and telnet open in tabs too.

Where are my passwords stored?

In a vault encrypted with your Windows account or a passphrase you set. If a server's host key changes, the connection stops until you decide.

Do I need an account?

No. Download the .exe, open it and type.