Why I Moved from Windows Terminal to Warp

A personal look at agentic development environments and why Warp clicked for me

I’ve been a huge fan of Windows Terminal for years. It’s a fantastic way to run CMD, PowerShell, and WSL 2 side by side. But recently, I find myself spending almost all my time in Warp.

At first, I resisted. When Warp asked me to log in, I thought: a terminal requiring login? sacrilegious! But I couldn’t deny the polish—the clean UI, the dark themes, and the fact that it ran on Windows, Mac, and Linux with the same look and feel.

A few months later, curiosity won. I logged in with a non-primary email just to test things out. Within an hour, I was hooked. I started using Warp daily for my History Snacks project—and I haven’t looked back.

Why Warp Feels Different

Warp calls itself an agentic development environment. I’d already been experimenting with that concept through tools like Cursor, IntelliJ’s AI add-ons, and even ChatGPT/Gemini canvas. Each had promise, but none felt like “the one.”

Cursor (AI + VS Code)

Cursor’s AI agent is solid, but I’ve never enjoyed VS Code for Java-heavy work.

• Most useful features require plugins.
• Setting up Java tooling often feels brittle.
• Tomcat integration never quite works.
• Supporting tools (HTTP client, DB console, profiling, etc.) feel bolted-on.

It’s fine for some workflows, but overall it feels less polished than commercial IDEs.

IntelliJ (AI Assistant + Junie)

I love IntelliJ as an IDE, but its AI integration has been disappointing:

• Two competing tools (AI Assistant and Junie) create confusion.
• Responses feel slow and fragmented, often making too many round trips.
• PowerShell integration is clunky.

Great IDE, but the AI add-on feels more like an afterthought.

Why Warp Works for Me

Warp flips the model: it’s a fast, cross-platform terminal with agentic coding built-in—and it doesn’t force me to adopt a specific IDE.

Here’s what stands out:

• Freedom of IDE choice → My AI experience stays consistent whether I’m in IntelliJ, VS Code, or something else.
• Speed → Of all the AI-driven tools I’ve tried, Warp feels the fastest, especially for large refactors.
• Cross-platform consistency → On Windows, Mac, and Linux, the terminal looks and behaves the same. Even Git info displays consistently across shells, unlike Windows Terminal where PowerShell, CMD, and WSL all look different.
• Built-in editor → A lightweight editor with syntax highlighting, directory tree, and tabs makes quick tweaks painless. I don’t have to constantly bounce back to an IDE for small edits.

Warp feels less like an IDE that added AI later (Cursor, IntelliJ) and more like an AI-first terminal that might evolve into an IDE. That’s a subtle but important difference.

Final Thoughts

I still love Windows Terminal, and I’ll always have a soft spot for it. But Warp has become my daily driver because it nails speed, consistency, and AI integration without tying me to a single IDE.

If agentic coding really does define the next generation of developer tools, Warp might just be leading the way.