Short answer: yes. TermWorks is designed to be private and safe by default — it's free, opt-in, classifies your activity locally, ships an installer you can read before running, and can be removed completely at any time. Here's exactly what it can and can't see.
What leaves your machine
Only three things are ever sent to TermWorks:
- A coarse command category — e.g.
rust,docker,kubernetes— derived from the first word of your command. - The exit status of the command (success or failure).
- Session timing, so opportunities aren't shown too often.
That's the entire list.
What never leaves your machine
Your actual commands, their arguments and flags, file paths, environment variables, secrets, and stdout/stderr are never read or transmitted. The mapping from command to category happens entirely on your own machine — the raw command never travels anywhere.
For example, running cargo build --release --target x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu sends only the category rust. The flags, target, and output stay local.
What the install script does
The installer at term.works/install.sh does three things, and you can read it before running it:
- Downloads a pre-compiled binary for your OS and architecture.
- Places it in
~/.termworks/. - Appends a single line to your
~/.zshrcor~/.bashrcthat registers a shell hook.
No sudo, no system-wide changes, nothing outside your home directory.
What the shell hook does
After each command finishes, the hook passes only the first token of the command to the TermWorks binary, which maps it to a broad category. The binary then decides whether to show an opportunity based on your preferences and timing rules. It does not read arguments, environment, or output.
"Is curl piped to a shell safe?"
Piping a script to your shell is only as safe as the script — so we make it inspectable. Read the exact source at term.works/install.sh first, or download the binary manually. Nothing is hidden.
Turning it off
You're always in control:
- Pause:
termworks disable - Remove completely:
termworks uninstall(deletes the binary and the line it added to your shell config)
For the full breakdown — including how we keep scam and malware ads out, and whether we sell data (we don't) — see the security FAQ.