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Usage Guide

Once you've started TermBeam and connected from your device, here's how to make the most of the terminal UI.

Terminal View

Tabs & Split View

  • All open sessions appear as tabs in the top bar — tap to switch
  • Drag to reorder tabs (long-press on mobile to enter drag mode)
  • Hover (desktop) or long-press (mobile) a tab to see a live preview of its output
  • Tap the split view button to view two sessions side-by-side
  • On mobile, tap the Sessions button to open the side panel with session cards and previews

Session Colors & Activity

  • Each session has a colored dot for quick identification
  • Activity labels (e.g. "3s", "5m") show time since the last output

Scrolling

  • Swipe up/down to scroll through terminal history on touch devices
  • Scrollbar is hidden to save space but scrolling works normally
  • Press Ctrl+F / Cmd+F to open the search bar overlay
  • Supports regex matching with next/previous navigation
  • Press Escape to close the search bar

Command Palette

  • Press Ctrl+K / Cmd+K (or tap the Tools button in the toolbar) to open the command palette
  • Browse categorized actions: Session, Search, View, Share, Notifications, System
  • A quick way to discover all available features and shortcuts

File Upload

  • Open the command palette and select Upload files to send files from your phone (or any browser) to the active session's working directory
  • Select one or more files — a confirmation modal shows the file list with sizes and the destination directory
  • Use the folder browser to choose a different target directory
  • Files exceeding 10 MB are flagged and cannot be uploaded
  • After upload, a toast notification confirms the count and destination

File Browser

The file browser lets you browse and download files from a session's working directory directly in the browser — useful for pulling logs, configs, or build artifacts to your phone or laptop.

  1. Open the side panel (hamburger menu or swipe from left)
  2. Tap ⬇️ Download File in the footer — the panel switches to show the active session's files
  3. Navigate into subdirectories by tapping folder entries
  4. Tap the ⬇️ button next to any file to download it
  5. Use the breadcrumb bar at the top to jump back to parent directories
  6. Tap ← to return to the sessions list

Note

Browsing is restricted to the session's working directory and its subdirectories — you cannot navigate above it. Files up to 100 MB can be downloaded. Hidden files (starting with .) are not shown.

Markdown Viewer

Markdown files (.md, .markdown) can be previewed directly in the file browser without downloading them.

  1. Open the file browser (see above)
  2. Navigate to a directory containing markdown files — they appear with a 👁️ icon
  3. Tap the file name to open the rendered preview
  4. The viewer supports GitHub Flavored Markdown: tables, task lists, strikethrough, fenced code blocks, and more
  5. Tap ← to return to the file listing

Note

The viewer loads files up to 2 MB. For larger files, use the download button instead.

Notifications

  • Open the command palette (Ctrl+K / Cmd+K) and select Toggle notifications to enable command completion notifications
  • When enabled, you'll receive a browser notification whenever a command finishes in a background tab
  • Preference is saved in localStorage and persists across sessions
  • Requires browser notification permission (requested on first enable)

Share & Refresh

  • Open the command palette and select Copy link to copy a shareable auto-login link to your clipboard; falls back to a manual-copy dialog when clipboard access is unavailable
  • Open the command palette and select Refresh to clear the PWA cache and reload

Port Preview

If you're running a local web server (e.g., on port 8080), you can preview it through TermBeam without exposing a separate port. Use the port preview feature in the command palette (Ctrl+K) to reverse-proxy any local port through your TermBeam URL.

See the API Reference for the underlying REST endpoints.

Touch Controls

The bottom touch bar provides quick access to:

Button Action
Esc Escape
Copy Copy terminal content to clipboard (text overlay)
Paste Paste from clipboard (with fallback modal)
Home Move cursor to beginning of line
End Move cursor to end of line
↑ ↓ ← → Arrow keys
↵ Enter / Return
Ctrl Toggle Ctrl modifier (tap, then press another key)
Shift Toggle Shift modifier (tap, then press another key)
Tab Tab completion
^C Ctrl+C (interrupt process)

Font size can be adjusted via the command palette (Increase / Decrease font size) or with pinch-to-zoom on touch devices.

Themes

TermBeam includes 30 color themes: Dark, Light, Monokai, Solarized Dark, Solarized Light, Nord, Dracula, GitHub Dark, One Dark, Catppuccin, Gruvbox, Night Owl, Tokyo Night, Rosé Pine, Kanagawa, Everforest, Ayu Dark, Matrix, Cyberpunk, Sunset Glow, Synthwave, Aurora, Retro Amber, Deep Ocean, Neon Noir, Frost Byte, Vice City, Radical, Material Ocean, and Sakura. Change the theme from the palette icon in the toolbar — your choice is saved in the browser.

See Also