Hey Kassen-
Thanks for the quick reply ...

I think the shell has been close to abandoned, 
That is a bummer. I kinda had a feeling that might be the case. I guess that is why I inquired.
 

I think the Mini mostly replaced it; it does all that the shell does
and more though of course it does need to be used with a Gui; that
might be a downside to some.
 
I like the Mini but I really like Vim. That is really the only reason I use the shell.
 
Personally I tried to use the shell for a while but I found it a bit
clumsy so I'm curious why and how you use it.
 
 I mainly edit .ck files in Vim in one window and then run 'chuck --shell' in another window to add and remove shreds and occasionally call a method from a public class to change tempo or key globally. Nothing that couldn't be done in the Mini.

Those abandoned shell plans you mention sound awesome. I hope someday (maybe with more and more people live coding) the shell becomes a priority again. 
Thanks.
Later.