I'm using Hermes but these should apply to any agent that has both TUI and GUI versions. The GUI version will have:
- drag and drop
- show document type, icon and filename
- inline images
- variable fonts, esp. monospace for code blocks
So GUI is mainly about readability. CLI works fine too but is inherently limited. I think GUI agents will keep pushing further in information layout, rendering, retrieval and interactivity. We're just at the beginning of it.
Even more basic stuff like copy and paste, which works like everywhere else except the terminal. Can you paste something in the middle of what you already typed in your terminal? Not in mine. It can highlight the stuff as you type it , though some terminals can also do that somewhat. It has a list of my sessions so I don’t need to have lots of terminals open or juggle them with tmux and stuff like that. I can actually click on a command to see its output and expand individually thinking sections and so on. I can review code on a side bar instead of losing the text box I am writing on. There’s probably hundreds of more advantages you must really make an effort to not see.
The only advantage of the terminal is that it’s easier to use on remote machines. I can’t think of anything else, even the usual benefits of composing commands is not relevant for a CLI like Claude Code.
- drag and drop
- show document type, icon and filename
- inline images
- variable fonts, esp. monospace for code blocks
So GUI is mainly about readability. CLI works fine too but is inherently limited. I think GUI agents will keep pushing further in information layout, rendering, retrieval and interactivity. We're just at the beginning of it.