TypeSlate Terminal

A distraction-free writing environment for the terminal. Built with Textual.

TypeSlate Terminal brings focused, minimal writing to your terminal — no browser, no GUI, no distractions. Just open your terminal, type typeslate, and write.

Features

• Distraction-free writing — true fullscreen mode hides taskbar and terminal chrome
• Multiple writing modes — Free Write, Timer Mode, Word Count Goal
• Session tracking — words written, time spent, misspelled words per session
• Lifetime statistics — daily, weekly, monthly, and all-time word counts
• File explorer — browse and set your save folder from the sidebar
• Templates — load template files to start writing with pre-existing content
• Resume last session — pick up where you left off
• Paste from clipboard — start with clipboard content (won't count toward stats)
• Misspelled word count — shows how many words were misspelled at the end of each session
• 8 color themes — Classic Dark, Warm Dark, DOS Green, Amber Terminal, DOS Blue, and more
• Auto-save — saves every 2 seconds while writing
• Clipboard export — text is copied to clipboard when your session ends
• Cross-platform — works on Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Shared database — stats sync with the desktop TypeSlate app

Installation

Requires Python 3.10 or higher.

From PyPI

pip install typeslate-terminal

From source

git clone https://github.com/josh-writes/typeslate-terminal.git
cd typeslate-terminal
pip install .

Quick Start

After installing, run:

typeslate

Or run as a Python module:

python -m typeslate_terminal

How It Works

Home Screen

The home screen has three panels:

Panel	What it does
Left — File Explorer	Browse folders and templates. Click a folder to set it as your save location. Switch to Templates mode to load a file as a starting point.
Center — Setup	Choose your writing mode, pick a theme, and toggle options like Show Word Count, Paste from Clipboard, Resume Last Session, or Start from Template.
Right — Statistics	View your daily, weekly, and lifetime word counts, recent sessions, and access settings for exporting/importing data.

Press Start Writing to enter fullscreen writing mode.

Writing Mode

Once in a session, the screen goes fullscreen — just you and your words.

Key	Action
Escape	End session
Ctrl+P	Pause / Resume
Ctrl+S	Save now
Ctrl+Q	Force end (no confirmation)

When you end a session:

• Your text is saved to a file in your chosen folder
• Your text is copied to the clipboard
• Session stats (words, time, misspelled words) are recorded to the database

Writing Modes

Mode	Description
Free Write	Write with no goal — end whenever you want
Timer Mode	Write for a set number of minutes
Word Count	Write until you hit a word count goal

Themes

Choose from 8 built-in themes:

• Classic Dark
• Warm Dark
• DOS Green
• Amber Terminal
• DOS Blue
• Classic Light
• Warm Light
• Warm DOS

Your theme selection is saved between sessions.

Data Storage

TypeSlate Terminal stores its database and settings in your platform's standard data directory:

Platform	Location
Windows	%LOCALAPPDATA%\TypeSlate\
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/TypeSlate/
Linux	~/.local/share/TypeSlate/

The database is shared with the desktop TypeSlate app, so your stats stay unified across both versions.

Stats Settings

Access via the Settings button in the stats panel:

• Export to CSV — export all sessions as a CSV file
• Export Database — back up your stats as a .tsdb file
• Import Database — restore stats from a .tsdb backup
• Reset Stats — clear all session history (with confirmation)

Dependencies

• Textual — terminal UI framework
• pyspellchecker — spell checking

License

MIT

Typeslate

typeslate.com

If you want to say thanks, I love coffee...