Terminal

The terminal is a full-width xterm.js shell on the host’s one SSH session. Terminal tabs and split panes are extra channels on that session, not extra connections, so they open instantly and never renegotiate the jump chain.

Sessions and terminal tabs #

Each connected host gets a session tab in the title bar, and the + after the session tabs opens a new session. With Gatesys Pro, a session holds up to twelve terminal tabs.

On Windows and Linux the tab shortcuts carry Shift, so the shell keeps CtrlT, CtrlW and the rest.

With one terminal tab left, ⌘W closes the session. You can also close a session with the × on its title-bar tab. Closing a session closes all its tabs and panes. Tabs and splits live only as long as the session; they are not restored after a restart.

If the connection carries tunnels, closing its tab asks first and can keep the connection open for them. See Port forwarding.

To open a shell on this computer rather than on a server, use This computer at the top of the Hosts list or ⌘ShiftT (CtrlShift`). See Local terminal.

Without Pro #

• The + in the tab row and Split wear a Pro tag. Clicking either, or pressing ⌘T (CtrlShiftT), opens a small card that says what the feature adds, with Get Pro. Esc or a click elsewhere closes it.
• To work on another host at the same time, open a new session with the + in the title bar. Each session has its own terminal.
• If your licence ends while a session has several terminals open, they all stay open until you close them. Only a new tab or split asks for Pro.

Split panes #

With Gatesys Pro, each terminal tab splits into up to four panes.

1. Click Split in the tab row to split the focused pane.
2. Use the arrow beside it for Split right, Split down or Close focused pane.
3. Drag the divider between panes to resize them.

On a server that limits how many channels a login may open, a split the server refuses fails on its own; the other panes keep working.

The terminal header #

The header names the host, shows the jump chain it came through and its uptime, and carries the metric strip: live cards for the host’s CPU, MEM (memory), DISK, LOAD, NET (network), PROC (processes) and THR (threads), each with a sparkline. Load is shaded against the host’s core count.

Click a card to see why a number is high. A dialog, such as CPU detail on db-primary, offers read-only commands for it, for example Top processes by CPU. Pick one and click Insert only to put it on the prompt, or Run to run it in the focused pane. Hover or focus a card for Ask Farabi, which asks about that figure’s last hour.

Beside the metrics, the Health pill says what the numbers mean, such as 3 issues · 1 risk, and opens the Health panel with its signals and the top processes. A card with a signal on it wears a coloured dot. See Server health.

Under the header, a slim strip shows what Gatesys SSH read about the host and what changed since your last visit. See Host facts.

The tab row #

The row above the shell holds the terminal tabs, the + for a new one (Pro), and these buttons:

Snippets #

Snippets are saved commands, one click away in any session.

1. Open Vault › Snippets and add one with a Name, a Command and an optional Description.
2. In a terminal, open the Snippets menu and click the snippet. It is sent to the focused pane followed by a newline.

Sort the menu by your own order (drag snippets in the Snippets view), by most used, or by name. You can also save a command Farabi suggested as a snippet. Every snippet run is written to the audit log.

Find text #

Press ⌘F (CtrlF), or choose Edit › Find in Terminal. Enter finds the next match, ShiftEnter the previous one, and Esc closes the search.

Record a session #

1. Click Record in the tab row. It shows the elapsed time while recording.
2. Click it again to stop. The saved file’s length, size and path appear, with Show in folder.

Recordings are asciinema v2 .cast files of what the shell printed. They hold output only, never keystrokes, so passwords you type stay out. Files are written to the app’s own data folder with owner-only permissions (mode 0600). Play one back with asciinema:

asciinema play session.cast

Run a command when the shell opens #

In the host editor, Advanced › Run on shell open sends a command once, as soon as the interactive shell is ready, for example cd /srv && tail -f app.log.

Links in the terminal #

Only http and https links open from a terminal, and never one that carries a user name or password. A link whose host uses punycode or mixes alphabets, and every OSC 8 hyperlink, first shows you the real host and asks. A server cannot write to your clipboard (OSC 52 is ignored). See Terminal links and escapes.

The command palette #

Press ⌘K (CtrlK) or click the search box on the right of the title bar, before the theme toggle and the bell. The palette opens under it, lined up with its right edge. Type to filter, move with the arrow keys, press Enter to go and Esc to close.

Farabi beside the shell #

Farabi, the assistant, has a panel to the right of the terminal. It starts folded to a slim tab on the right edge, so the terminal has the full width. Press ⌘I (CtrlI), click Farabi in the tab row, or click the slim tab to show it, and the shell refits to the width left. The same keys and button fold it again, and the app remembers whether you left it open. Drag the panel’s left edge to resize it between 360 and 520 px. Below about 1100 px wide, it opens as a drawer over the terminal instead. See Farabi.

Terminal settings #

Settings › Terminal holds, under Display, the font, size, colour scheme and scrollback (lines kept per terminal). Under Local terminal it sets the default shell for local terminals and your own shell profiles.

Settings › General holds the rest:

• Appearance: the theme (Light, Dark or System) and the accent colour.
• Notifications › System notifications (on by default): OS notifications for watch alerts, saved edits and critical Health signals when you are away from the window.
• Notifications › Show output lines in notifications (off by default): include the line that triggered an alert. Needs System notifications on.