Usage Patterns

Shell mode vs command mode

• Shell mode (default): opens a normal interactive shell (bash, zsh, etc.).
• Command mode: starts one command when a browser client connects.

Use command mode for dashboards and focused UIs:

term-serve btop
term-serve htop -d 5
term-serve --cwd ~/projects term-serve --help

Keyboard flow

The browser UI is optimized for terminal-first input:

• Keymaps palette for quickly sending common key sequences.
• Desktop key handling that maps cleanly to PTY input.
• Resize handling to keep columns/rows in sync with viewport changes.

Mobile flow

Mobile gets an on-screen toolbar for terminal controls that are hard to reach on touch keyboards:

• Esc / Tab / arrow keys
• Sticky Ctrl and Alt modifiers
• Touch-friendly interactions that keep focus on the terminal

Mobile toolbar and shell output in portrait mode.

Copy and paste behavior

term-serve includes built-in clipboard flows and fallbacks:

• Regular clipboard read/write where browser permissions allow it.
• Mobile copy mode with selection handles and one-tap copy for scrollback-heavy output.

Exit safety

By default, the client warns on likely accidental shell exits (Ctrl+D, exit, logout) to reduce tab-close or command muscle-memory mistakes.