NALA Desktop
The Mission Control application: workspaces, terminals, agents, tasks, and approvals in one window.
NALA Desktop is the full-surface client. Everything the TUI can do, plus the things that genuinely benefit from pixels: many terminals at once, a browser surface, diffs, and a live roster of the agents you have running.
nala desktop
The three-level model
| Level | What it is | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Workspace | A named context with its own pane tree, working directory, and status | One project each |
| Surface | A tab within a workspace — terminal, browser, editor, diff, file tree, or a NALA panel | |
| Pane | A leaf in the split tree | Max 20 per workspace |
A pane is not an agent. A pane can hold a plain shell forever and never involve a model.
What is in the window
| Region | Holds |
|---|---|
| Sidebar | Workspaces, layout presets, missions, company panel |
| Surface tabs | The tabs within the current workspace |
| Pane area | Your splits |
| Status bar | App menu, clock, usage, git branch, window controls |
| Orchestration bar | A2A mode, YOLO/Safe toggle, provider quick-launch |
Terminals
The hero surface: xterm.js rendering, PTY owned by the main process, session owned by the daemon. That split is why closing the window does not kill your shell.
Included: in-terminal search, a context menu, vi copy mode, line bookmarks, scrollback persistence, shell integration with prompt marks, and a shell allowlist.
Ctrl+B is a literal tmux-style prefix on every platform, including macOS.
While it is armed, global shortcuts are suppressed.
Other surfaces
| Surface | What it does |
|---|---|
| Browser | Embedded Chromium with a toolbar, partitioned profiles, and an element inspector aimed at agents |
| Editor | File editing alongside your terminals |
| Diff | Review changes before integrating them |
| File tree | Navigate the project |
| Search results | Project-wide search |
| Symbol explorer / repository map | Structural views of the codebase |
Agents and fleet
The orchestration bar launches providers directly. FleetView shows the live roster across the workspace, with an approval inbox and a remote inbox for peer-machine messages.
WARNING
FleetView has a known defect where the roster can show more agents live than actually exist. Treat the count as a hint, not a fact, and confirm against task state. See known limitations.
Approvals
Actions that change your machine or repository can require explicit consent. Approvals surface as dialogs and in the fleet approval inbox.
IMPORTANT
Read approval prompts rather than clearing them. The prompt is the cheap moment to say no. Repository content, model output, and browser content are all untrusted inputs — see security.
Settings
Thirteen tabs, including General, Appearance, Notifications, Tools, Shortcuts, Claude Code integration, NALA orchestration, Workspaces, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, LAN Link, first-run setup, and About.
Notable defaults worth knowing:
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| YOLO (inject provider full-access flags on launch) | On |
| A2A mode | Off / Connect / Orchestrate |
SECURITY
YOLO defaults to on. It injects full-access flags into provider launches, which removes friction and also removes a safety rail. If you are pointing agents at a repository you care about, look at this setting before your first real session.
Theming
Built-in themes include nord, monochrome, void, gatsby, nightowl,
hinomaru, taegeuk, and representative, plus two glass themes and a custom
theme editor with ten tokens and an xterm palette. Density presets: airy,
balanced, dense. The UI ships in 23 locales.
Crash restore
If the app exits unexpectedly, a restore banner offers to bring your panes back, with a progress list as they reattach.