Built-in Terminal
Integrated xterm.js terminal with PTY backend for running commands and resuming sessions.
Pi Session Manager includes a built-in terminal powered by xterm.js on the frontend and portable-pty on the backend.
Opening the Terminal
Press Cmd/Ctrl + J to toggle the terminal panel. It slides up from the bottom of the window.
Features
PTY Backend
The terminal runs a real pseudo-terminal (PTY) session on the backend, supporting:
- Full shell integration (bash, zsh, fish, etc.)
- ANSI color codes and cursor movement
- Interactive programs (vim, htop, etc.)
- Shell selection — choose your preferred shell
Session Resume
The killer feature: resume any Pi session directly from the terminal.
- Select a session in the browser
- Press
Cmd/Ctrl + Ror click the Resume button - The terminal runs
cd <project-dir> && pi --session-dir <session-path> --continue
This drops you right back into the conversation where you left off.
The resume command is built by buildResumeCommand() and written to the shell after a 500ms delay to ensure the PTY is ready.
Multiple Terminals
Create new terminal tabs for parallel workflows. Each tab runs an independent PTY session.
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Cmd/Ctrl + J | Toggle terminal panel |
Cmd/Ctrl + R | Resume selected session in terminal |
Desktop Only
The terminal requires a PTY backend and is only available in the desktop (Tauri) app. It is not available in the web/mobile browser mode or CLI mode.