For years, the AI-assisted coding landscape has been dominated by tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and Windsurf—platforms built to help developers write better code faster. But quietly, there’s been a shift in how AI is being used by developers: from simply generating code to actually operating at the terminal level. And that shift is changing everything.
If you’ve ever seen one of those hacker movies where someone is typing away on a black screen filled with code—that’s the terminal. It’s not flashy, but it’s powerful. It gives direct access to a computer’s operating system, letting you do everything from running programs to configuring entire environments. And now, AI agents are learning how to use it—and they’re doing much more than just writing code.
Since February, the world’s biggest AI labs—OpenAI, DeepMind, and Anthropic—have all released tools built for command-line interaction: Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, and Claude Code. These aren’t just upgrades to Copilot. They mark a shift toward agentic AI—tools that can think, plan, and act autonomously inside a development environment.
Terminal-first tools aren’t replacing code editors; they’re expanding the scope of what AI can do. Where Copilot helps you fix broken code, tools like Warp—a rising star in this space—can configure a Git server, set up your dev environment, and debug system-level issues. It’s not just “help me code” anymore; it’s “help me build, deploy, and maintain.”
And unlike some code editors that may slow developers down despite promising productivity boosts (as shown in recent METR studies), terminal tools like Warp are earning their keep—solving more than half the tasks in benchmarks like Terminal-Bench.
This matters because it points toward a future where AI isn’t just assisting developers—it’s working alongside them, solving tough problems, navigating complex systems, and making development smoother from end to end. As Warp’s founder put it, “If it can’t do it, it’ll tell you why.” And honestly, that’s a kind of confidence most developers can appreciate.
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