Terminal

The terminal feature gives you direct shell access to nodes. This is a full PTY terminal - a separate shell on the target system.

Opening a Terminal

Open Nodes with Ctrl+L, select a node, and press Ctrl+Y to toggle its terminal. The terminal is rendered directly in the TUI and provides ANSI terminal emulation with colors, cursor movement, escape sequences, and scrollback. Press Ctrl+Y again to close it.

See Terminal UI for the canonical Nodes and terminal controls.

What You Can Do

This is a real shell. You can:

• Run commands on the target system
• Navigate the filesystem
• View and edit files
• Run scripts
• Check system status

The shell runs as the same user that runs the Praxis node.

Terminal vs Agent Session

These are different things:

Use the terminal for direct system work. Use sessions for agent interaction.

Use Cases

Debugging - Check logs, inspect files, verify the node is working correctly.

Preparation - Set up environments, install dependencies, configure the system before running operations.

Manual Operations - Sometimes you just need a shell. The terminal is there when you need it.

Verification - After an operation runs, verify the results directly.

Terminal Persistence

The terminal session persists while you have the panel open. Closing the panel ends the shell session. There's no background persistence-this is an interactive terminal.

Limitations

• One terminal per client at a time (per node, per connecting client)
• Runs as the node's user
• Subject to the node's environment and permissions

Troubleshooting

Terminal won't connect

• Verify the node is online
• Check RabbitMQ connectivity
• Look at node logs

Commands not working

• Check the node's environment
• Verify PATH settings
• Ensure required tools are installed

Display issues

• Terminal size may need adjustment
• Some applications may not render correctly
• Try simpler commands to verify basic function