The session grid

The grid is the heart of Helmsman. It lays out up to twelve live Claude Code sessions in one grid, four across and three down, so every session you are running stays on screen at once. Spin up more than twelve and they flow onto the next page.

Why a grid

Tabs hide everything but the front one. The grid does the opposite: every cell visible at once, so you never lose track of what is running. There is no tab bar to hunt through and no window to dig out from behind another.

Cells

Each cell hosts one session:

• An empty cell is ready to receive a new session.
• A live cell shows a running Claude Code terminal you can read and type into.
• The focused cell is the one you are actively steering.

Twelve per page

Helmsman shows up to twelve sessions per page, one per cell. Twelve is about the most you can watch at a glance without the grid turning into noise. Spin up more and they keep running on the next page, so twelve is not a hard limit, just what stays in view at once.

Glanceability

Because the whole grid is in view, you can scan it and see which sessions are busy and which are waiting for you, without reading a single line in detail. Then jump to the one that needs you. See Focus and steer.