Terminalwire will be the best way for developers to build and distribute command-line interface applications for their web applications. It will accomplish this with:
Familiar APIs for building command-line interfaces in developers' choice of programming languages and frameworks.
Distribution channels that make it easy for developers to distribute command-line applications to their customers.
Low-friction licensing for developers who want to use Terminalwire with personal projects, demos for work, commercial use, etc.
Sustainable business model that ensures the long-term maintenance, security, and enhancements for Terminalwire.
The timeline
All dates on this timeline are approximate and future dates are representative if product direction, not firm ship dates.
Problem identified 🤔
While Brad was at Fly.io he noticed a great deal of time and effort went into maintaining, releasing, and testing the command-line interface. “There has to be an easier way. Is there a Hotwired for terminal apps?”. The problem was clear, but a solution was not.
Prototype demo video published 📹
Brad went full-time on Terminalwire, started building prototypes, and figured out a way to make the process of building and shipping command-line interface apps 10-100× easier. He shared a demo video of the prototype on Twitter and YouTube. The feedback was positive and the pain developers felt was real so he committed to releasing a public preview.
Public preview released 💎
The first working public prototype of Terminalwire is released. The first version is built for Ruby & Rails developers to keep iterations tight and get feedback from a smaller group of Rails developers.
First customer: TRMNL 🤗
The first customer, TRMNL, signs up and builds a command-line application so developers can build plug-ins for their WiFi e-Ink displays. Beta testing begins with a small group of developers who are building command-line applications for their web applications on macOS and Linux workstations.
Portable binaries 🧳
A binary will be released for the Terminalwire runtime that people can install on their machines with minimal developer dependencies.
One-liner curl installer 🙌
Developers will be able to give their customers a one-line curl command, like curl -s https://trmnl.terminalwire.sh | bash to distribute command-line applications to customers.
Client ↔ Server version synchronization 🛫
The Terminalwire client will be improved further to automatically update the client to the version that matches what’s running on the Terminalwire server without any developer or user intervention.
JavaScript, Python, and other languages & frameworks 🤟
Terminalwire will be released for JavaScript, Python, and other server-side languages and frameworks prioritized by customer demand.
Build what people want 💃
Terminalwire works closely with customers to see what problems they’re having when they build and ship command-line interface applications. If you have a command-line problem not on this timeline, reach out to brad@terminalwire.com and maybe we can shuffle things around.