Grid Layouts: 1 to 9 Panes Explained

The grid is the defining feature of SpaceSpider. Instead of spawning separate windows for each AI CLI or wrestling with a terminal multiplexer, you pick one of seven fixed presets and SpaceSpider fills the window edge to edge. This page explains each preset, the monitor size and workflow it fits, and how to pick between them.

Why fixed presets instead of free-form splits

Tmux, Windows Terminal, and VS Code all let you split panes arbitrarily. That is flexible, but it also means every session drifts into a unique shape that is hard to reproduce across days and across team members. SpaceSpider takes the opposite stance: seven presets, all with equal-size cells, no resizing handles.

The benefit is that a space's layout is three facts (preset + CLI assignment + directory) that fit on a business card. You can describe a setup to a teammate in one sentence, and they can recreate it without screenshots.

The seven presets at a glance

All cells in a preset are equal-size. That is deliberate; it removes the "which pane matters" bias that weighted splits introduce.

1 pane: a focused launcher

The single-pane preset is worth using even though it looks redundant next to a plain terminal. The difference is that the pane is scoped to a space, so every time you open the space the CLI spawns in the right directory. It is ideal for quick tasks like "open the api-server space, let Claude Code triage this morning's issues, close".

Best fit: laptops with small displays, or workflows where you want one agent's output to be loud and uninterrupted.

2 panes: agent plus shell

The two-pane preset is the most popular layout. Put your favorite AI CLI on the left and a shell on the right. The agent edits files; the shell runs npm test, cargo check, git diff, and git commit.

Best fit: 13 to 16 inch laptops, side monitors. Works on a 1920x1080 external, too.

Tips:

• If you prefer the agent on the right for readability reasons (like having file trees visible in the shell), swap assignments in the wizard.
• Bind Ctrl+Tab muscle memory so you can jump between panes without reaching for the mouse. See Keyboard shortcuts.

3 panes: ultrawide or three-agent comparison

Three equal columns fit nicely on a 3440x1440 ultrawide or a 27-inch 4K. Use it when you want to compare two agents' outputs side by side and keep a shell in the middle.

Best fit: ultrawide monitors and vertical workflows on rotated 4K panels.

4 panes: the quadrant sweet spot

The 2-by-2 is the single best preset for running a full agent roster: Claude Code, Codex, Qwen Code, Kimi. Each quadrant is big enough to read and small enough that you see all four at once.

Typical assignment:

• Top-left: Claude Code (main driver for refactors).
• Top-right: Codex (test-first iteration).
• Bottom-left: Qwen Code (long-context reads).
• Bottom-right: Kimi CLI (cheap cleanup and grep).

Best fit: 24-inch and larger 1080p, any 1440p, any 4K. This is where SpaceSpider shines.

6 panes: agent swarm

Three columns by two rows. Assign each column to a "track" (say, frontend, backend, tests) and each row to a role (agent, shell). Or put four agents on top and two shells on the bottom for running long-lived commands.

Best fit: 27-inch 4K, 32-inch displays, dual-monitor users who mirror.

Downside: each pane is now small enough that long lines will wrap. Enable a narrower font or bump your system scaling down by 10 percent if you find yourself squinting.

8 panes: heavy parallelism

Four columns by two rows. This is the first preset that starts to feel crowded on anything smaller than a 32-inch 4K. Use it when you are doing real parallel work: four agents each working on a separate feature branch plus four supporting shells.

Best fit: ultrawide (3840x1600 or better) and 4K 32-inch displays.

9 panes: the full matrix

Three by three. The maximum SpaceSpider supports. At 1080p on a 24-inch monitor, each pane is about 640x360 pixels, which is fine for one or two lines of output but awful for reading code. At 4K on a 32-inch, each pane is around 1280x720, which is comfortable.

Best fit: 4K or larger displays, specific comparison workflows (nine branches, nine models, nine languages), demos and recordings.

How to pick a preset

A quick decision tree:

1. How many CLIs do you need at the same time? Start with that number. If it is 5 or 7, round up to 6 or 8.
2. How large is your main monitor? Under 15 inches prefer 2 or 4. Under 27 inches prefer 4 or 6. 4K or ultrawide unlocks 8 and 9.
3. How much of a shell do you need? Reserve at least one shell pane. If your workflow runs test suites in the foreground, reserve two.

Changing layouts after creation

Grid shape is fixed at space creation today. To change it, right-click the space card and choose Duplicate, then create a new space with the new shape and delete the old one. The CLI-per-pane assignment, on the other hand, is editable on the fly with the CLI picker.

That said, nothing stops you from keeping multiple spaces that point at the same directory. A common pattern is having both a 2-pane "focus" space and a 4-pane "review" space for the same repo.

Performance and resource use

Each pane is a real PTY plus an xterm.js renderer. On a typical dev machine:

• A 1-pane space uses around 90 MB RAM while idle.
• A 4-pane space uses around 170 MB RAM while idle.
• A 9-pane space uses around 320 MB RAM while idle.

Active CLIs add whatever they themselves need. An AI agent idling on a prompt is cheap; an agent that just opened a 200-file diff will briefly use a few hundred MB.

Troubleshooting layout issues

• Panes overflow on a 1366x768 laptop: presets 6, 8, and 9 are impractical below 1080p. Use 1, 2, or 4.
• Font looks blurry on 4K: bump your OS zoom level and relaunch SpaceSpider; the WebView picks up DPI on launch.
• Preview tiles in the wizard look off-center: a known minor cosmetic bug on some Windows scaling combos. The actual grid is correct.

Frequently asked questions

Can I have different pane sizes in the same grid?

Not in the fixed presets. All cells in a preset are equal. This is the trade-off for reproducibility.

Will a 12-pane preset be added?

Not planned. Past 9 panes, text becomes unreadable on a single monitor. If you need more, open a second space in another window.

What is the smallest monitor SpaceSpider supports?

SpaceSpider runs fine on 1366x768 laptops, but practical pane readability starts at 1080p.

Can I dedicate one pane to logs and keep it?

Yes. Assign a shell pane to tail the logs, and avoid using its shortcut. Panes persist until the space closes.

Is there a focus mode that hides the other panes?

Not yet. Full-screen the window (F11 on Windows/Linux, Cmd+Ctrl+F on macOS) and concentrate on the pane you care about.

Related reading

• Create Your First Space
• Keyboard Shortcuts Reference
• Using Claude Code in SpaceSpider