If you build with Claude Code or Codex on a Mac, your setup is probably iTerm2 (or Terminal) for the agents and a browser for everything else. That works. Lattice exists because, with several agents running, it starts to mean a lot of switching between windows to find out which one needs you.
Here is a fair comparison, written by the people who make Lattice, so you can decide whether it's worth trying.
The short answer
- Stay with iTerm2 if you mostly work in one or two terminals, rely on its split panes, triggers or tmux integration, or need an Intel Mac.
- Try Lattice if you run several agents at once and lose time checking on them, or if you want each project's terminals, agents, browser tabs and files kept together in one place.
Side by side
| iTerm2 and a browser | Lattice | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free and open source | Free during the beta |
| Terminal | Very mature: split panes, profiles, triggers, tmux integration | Real macOS terminals as windows you arrange, with colour presets and transparency |
| Claude Code and Codex | Run like any other program | Status for every session, alerts when one needs you, one-click Git worktrees |
| Browser | A separate app, with your extensions | Built in (WebKit) with tabs, history and bookmarks; opens a page in Chrome when you need it |
| Project files | Finder or your editor | Built in, with previews for Markdown, images, audio and video |
| Per-project setup | Saved window arrangements | A desktop per project, which keeps running while you're away |
| Macs | Intel and Apple Silicon | Apple Silicon with macOS 14 or later |
| Maturity | More than a decade of releases | A new app in beta |
What iTerm2 and a browser do well
iTerm2 is one of the best terminals on any platform. Split panes, hotkey windows, triggers that react to output, shell integration and native tmux windows are all mature and deeply configurable, and it runs on any Mac. Your browser has your extensions, your password manager and every site working exactly as you expect. Neither is going anywhere, and neither costs anything.
What Lattice adds
Lattice is not a better terminal than iTerm2. It is a workspace built around the way agent work actually goes: you start several sessions, then spend the rest of the hour supervising them.
- You know which agent needs you. Every Claude Code and Codex session reports whether it's working or waiting, and what it's doing. An approval or a question badges the Dock and sends a notification; a finished session stays quiet.
- Agents don't trip over each other. Tick Own worktree when you start one and it works on its own branch in its own folder. (Our side-by-side guide shows how to do this by hand too.)
- The browser is beside the code. Preview your dev server or read docs in a window next to the agent, instead of switching apps.
- A desktop per project. Each project's terminals, agents, pages and files stay together. Swipe to another project and back; everything is still running.
- Your tools, unchanged. Lattice runs your own shell with your own config, and the Claude Code and Codex you already have installed, with your sign-ins and plans. It adds no AI service of its own.
Where Lattice is weaker
- It's a beta. Lattice is new and still changing quickly. iTerm2 has more than a decade of polish behind it.
- The terminal is simpler. No split panes inside a terminal window, and nothing like iTerm2's triggers or profiles yet. Lattice arranges whole windows instead.
- The browser is WebKit, not Chrome. It has tabs, history, bookmarks and downloads, but not your Chrome extensions or saved passwords. Open in my Chrome sends any page to your real Chrome.
- Apple Silicon only. It needs an M1 or later and macOS 14 or newer.
You don't have to choose
Because Lattice runs the same shell and the same command-line tools, there is nothing to migrate. You can keep iTerm2 for quick commands and use Lattice for agent work. Try it on one project for a day; if it doesn't earn its place, you've lost nothing.