Terminal Management

Running parallel Claude instances means managing parallel terminal sessions. Without organization, you end up with six identical-looking terminal tabs, no idea which one is doing what, and a guarantee of typing the wrong instruction into the wrong instance. Terminal management is the unsexy infrastructure that makes parallel development work. The investment is five minutes of setup. The return is hours of friction-free parallel work.

The first rule: name everything. Rename each terminal tab to its task — "auth-refactor," "api-tests," "quick-fixes." In iTerm, right-click the tab to rename. In tmux, Ctrl-B then comma. In Windows Terminal, right-click the tab. Now when you glance at your tab bar, you know exactly what each instance is working on. The second rule: use spatial organization. Put your primary task on the left pane, background tasks on the right. Or use one tab per worktree. Consistent spatial layout builds muscle memory — you stop thinking about which tab to click and start navigating by position.

Notification integration completes the system. Configure Claude Code to play a sound or send a notification when it finishes a task. The exact mechanism varies by terminal — iTerm supports triggers, tmux supports hooks, and you can configure Claude Code's completion notifications directly. When Instance B finishes in the background, you hear the chime, glance at the tab name, and know exactly what result is waiting. You stay focused on your primary task until a background instance needs attention. This is the "Starcraft" pattern — managing multiple units through spatial awareness and audio cues.