shelldeck

Your terminals, organised by project. In the browser, on your own machine.

Real shells (PowerShell, cmd, Git Bash, WSL, bash, zsh, fish) grouped by project,
in split or free-floating panes that survive restarts.

Install · Features · CLI · Remote access · Security · Contributing

Install

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/codejunction/shelldeck/main/install.ps1 | iex

Linux (macOS should work too, but is untested):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/codejunction/shelldeck/main/install.sh | sh

The installer sets up uv if you don't have it, then installs shelldeck with its own Python 3.12+. Run it again to update to the latest release (or uv tool upgrade shelldeck); stop the server first with sd stop so Windows can replace sd.exe. Already use Python tooling? Any of these work too:

uv tool install shelldeck      # or: pipx install shelldeck, or: pip install shelldeck
uvx shelldeck                  # try it without installing

To try a release candidate, pin it: uv tool install --force shelldeck==0.0.5rc1 (or pip install shelldeck==0.0.5rc1). Go back to the stable release with uv tool install --force shelldeck.

Requirements: Windows 10 1809+ (for ConPTY) or Linux, and a modern browser.

Quick start

sd                 # start shelldeck in the background and open it in your browser
sd ~/code/api      # add a folder as a project and open a terminal in it

sd is short for shelldeck. The first visit asks you to create a password. After that, every terminal keeps running in the background until you close it, even when the browser tab is closed.

Features

Terminals that feel like editor panes

• Real shells, detected per OS. On Windows: pwsh (default), Windows PowerShell, cmd, Git Bash and WSL (pick a distro). On Linux: every shell in /etc/shells, defaulting to your $SHELL.
• Tiled layout. Split right or down, drag titles onto edges to split or onto a pane to swap, drag gutters to resize, double-click a title to maximize.
• Free layout. Every terminal becomes a floating window on a scrolling canvas. Tile all puts them back in a grid.
• Nothing gets lost. Closing the tab keeps terminals running, and reopening replays their output. After a restart or reboot, each terminal reopens in its last folder with its history above a "restored" marker.
• Shell integration for pwsh, PowerShell, cmd, bash, zsh and fish. Each pane's title shows the last command (red if it failed), Ctrl+Shift+Up/Down jumps between prompts, and your own prompt (oh-my-posh, starship, …) still loads.

Projects first

• Projects sidebar. Add folders with the built-in folder browser, then drag to reorder. Each project gets its own color on its sidebar dot, pane border and a subtle background tint.
• Git graph. A branch icon on every git project opens its full commit graph, with branches, merges and tags drawn as colored lanes. Click a branch or tag, or right-click a commit, to check it out.
• Clickable paths. src/app.py:12:5, C:\x\y.ts(3,4) and Python tracebacks become links that open in VS Code at that line, or in the built-in editor.
• Built-in editor and viewer. sd edit FILE and sd view FILE open a file in shelldeck: line numbers, Ctrl+S to save (CRLF and BOM kept, and it won't overwrite a file that changed on disk without asking), rendered markdown and images. Open file… in the command palette does the same.
• Open in editor. A project's menu opens its folder in VS Code (or the file manager).
• Port detection. Start a dev server and a chip with its port appears on the pane. Click it to open the page.

Built for long sessions

• Command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) for terminals, bookmarks, layouts and themes.
• Command history with exit codes, durations and folders. Search it and re-run anything.
• Search every terminal's output (Ctrl+Shift+F), including terminals that aren't on screen.
• Finished-command alerts. When a long command finishes while you're looking elsewhere, you get a toast, or a desktop notification if you enable them.
• Bookmarks for commands you run often, global or per project.
• Scheduler for cron jobs that run in a project folder, with run history and logs.
• Task board with due dates and reminder alarms.
• Task manager with live CPU, RAM and GPU (NVIDIA) usage for the machine and for each terminal's process tree.
• Scratchpad for quick markdown notes that belong to no project, with a preview, saved as you type.
• AI agents. A terminal running Claude Code, Codex, Devin CLI, Gemini CLI, Copilot CLI, Cursor Agent, opencode, Aider, Amp, Qwen Code, Goose, Droid, Crush or Kiro gets an AI chip in its header with the tool and model. The AI agents page lists the running agents and every known agent CLI with its models (Codex and opencode read their own model caches), and launches one with a chosen model.
• Needs-you alerts. Only when an agent actually asks something (a permission prompt or a question of Claude Code, Codex or Devin, or a [y/n]), its chip turns amber (NEEDS YOU), a chime plays and you get a toast, or a desktop notification when shelldeck is in the background. An agent that simply finished stays quiet, and nothing plays for the terminal you are looking at.
• Context window. Claude Code, Codex and Devin show how full their context window is: a percentage on the pane chip and a CTX meter in the top bar for the focused terminal. It is read from each agent's own session logs. Claude's window size is estimated from the model.
• Tasks to agents. Open a task and click Send to agent to type it into a running agent. The task moves to In progress.
• Devin, everywhere. Devin's model list comes from its own cache, so it matches what devin --model accepts. The model of a running Devin comes from --model, DEVIN_MODEL or the resumed session. The AI agents page also lists agents running outside shelldeck (the Devin desktop app, other terminal windows) and every Devin session from Devin's session store, with a Resume button that opens a terminal in the session's folder and runs devin -r <id>.
• Every terminal has a name. Each terminal gets a person's name (Maya, Kofi, …) shown in its header and the sidebar, so you and your agents can say sd peek Maya instead of an id.
• Agents that talk to each other. From inside a terminal, sd agents lists the other agents in the project, sd peek reads another terminal's screen and sd tell types a message into it, tagged with the sender so it can reply. Copy team prompt on the AI agents page gives you text to paste into each agent so it knows how.
• Sub-agents and hand-offs. sd spawn "task" --model small|medium|large opens a new terminal in the project with a sub-agent (Claude Code, Codex, Devin, Gemini, Qwen or opencode) already working on the task, picking a cheaper or stronger model by how hard the task is (auto guesses). It opens next to yours without taking the keyboard. sd handoff Maya "task" gives a task to an agent that is already running. The receiver runs sd done <id> "summary", and the sender gets the summary typed in (when an agent runs there) plus a toast and chime. Every hand-off is written to the project's .shelldeck/handoff.md (git-ignored) and listed on the AI agents page. Sub-agents can't spawn more agents, and a terminal that closes mid-task marks its hand-off as exited.
• The parent is the control center. A sub-agent never alerts you. When one stops on a question or permission prompt, shelldeck types the question into its parent agent's terminal; the parent decides and answers with sd answer Maya 1 (keys for the menu) or sd tell. Only when the parent is a plain shell does the question come to you. Once a sub-agent's work is done, the parent asks you and closes it with sd close Maya, or use Close on the hand-off toast.
• Agents know the commands. On start, shelldeck installs a shelldeck skill for every agent CLI on PATH: a skill for Claude Code, Codex and Devin, and a marked block in the global instructions file of Gemini, opencode, Qwen, Amp, Droid, Copilot, Crush, Goose and Kiro. sd install-skill --remove takes it out and stops the reinstall; the AI agents page has an Install skill button per agent.

Git graph with one-click checkout	Task manager, per terminal

Secure by default

• Password required. You create it once; upgrades and reinstalls keep it (only sd reset-password removes it). Every browser logs in separately and locks after 30 minutes idle.
• One device at a time. Any number of browsers can stay signed in, but only one uses shelldeck; logging in on another takes over and idles the rest. The Devices page lists every signed-in browser (where from, last active, in use or idle) and revokes any of them.
• Local only. shelldeck listens on 127.0.0.1 and refuses requests from other websites.
• Remote use goes over an SSH tunnel or HTTPS. See Remote access.

CLI

sd [--port N] [--no-window] [--app]  start the server if needed, print the banner and open the browser
sd web                               same as plain `sd`
sd PATH                              shorthand for `sd open PATH`
sd open [PATH] [--shell wsl]         add PATH as a project and open a terminal in it
sd list                              terminals grouped by project
sd info                              details of the shelldeck terminal you're in
sd agents [--all]                    AI agents running in this project's terminals (--all: every project, agents outside shelldeck, installed CLIs)
sd peek TERMINAL [-n 40]             last lines of another terminal (its name like Maya, id, id prefix or title)
sd tell TERMINAL "MESSAGE" [--raw]   type a message into another terminal and press Enter
sd spawn "TASK" [--agent A] [--model small|medium|large|auto|NAME]   sub-agent in a new terminal, working on TASK
sd handoff TERMINAL "TASK"           hand a task to an agent already running in another terminal
sd done ID ["SUMMARY"] [--failed]    close a hand-off you were given; the sender is told
sd answer TERMINAL KEY...            press keys in another terminal, e.g. answer a sub-agent's prompt: 1, y enter, esc
sd close TERMINAL [--force]          close a terminal; from an agent only its own sub-agents (after you agree)
sd handoffs [--all]                  hand-offs in this project and their status
sd install-skill [AGENT...] [--remove]   teach agent CLIs the sd team commands (automatic on server start)
sd edit FILE / sd view FILE          open a file in shelldeck's editor / viewer
sd search QUERY [--root DIR]         LLM-free code search with ranked, highlighted snippets
sd render FILE                       pretty-print code or markdown
sd schedule list|add|run|toggle|delete|logs
sd task list|add|move|delete|alarms
sd serve [--host H]                  run the server in the foreground
sd stop                              stop the background server (closes all terminals)
sd share [--new-link]                share over an HTTPS Cloudflare tunnel: one-use QR link, host approval (needs cloudflared)
sd login-link                        emergency: one-time login URL (host only)
sd reset-password                    emergency: forget the password (host only)

• Startup banner. sd prints the version and the Local and Network URLs. When you start it from Win+R, the Start menu or a shortcut, its window stays open until you press Enter.
• Port. The default port is 5455. Change it with --port or SHELLDECK_PORT.
• Browser. --app opens a chromeless Edge/Chrome window instead of a browser tab.
• Inside terminals. Inside a shelldeck terminal, SHELLDECK_SESSION_ID, SHELLDECK_NICK (its name) and SHELLDECK_PORT are set, and SHELLDECK_PARENT in a sub-agent's terminal.
• Agent permissions. Claude Code asks before running sd done and friends. To let sub-agents report back on their own, allow Bash(sd:*) in your Claude Code permissions.
• Code search. sd search builds a persistent index and returns ranked snippets with confidence scores. Useful options: --ext py,ts, --glob "src/*", --top N, --format text|json|paths and --reindex.

Remote access

Run shelldeck on a server or VM and use it from your laptop.

SSH tunnel (recommended). Nothing is exposed to the network.

sd serve                                  # on the VM: stays on 127.0.0.1:5455
ssh -N -L 5455:127.0.0.1:5455 you@vm      # on your machine, then open http://127.0.0.1:5455

sd share (any device, no setup). Needs cloudflared (winget install Cloudflare.cloudflared); no Cloudflare account.

sd share              # starts shelldeck if needed, prints a QR code and a link; Ctrl+C stops sharing
sd share --new-link   # another one-use link for the running share (a second device)

• Encrypted in transit, not end to end. The other device talks HTTPS to Cloudflare, which relays it through cloudflared's outbound encrypted tunnel to shelldeck on 127.0.0.1. No ports are opened. Cloudflare ends the TLS connection, so it can see the traffic (terminal input and output, your password as you log in). For sensitive work use the SSH tunnel or Tailscale instead.
• Three locks. The random trycloudflare.com address alone is refused. The printed link works once and only for 10 minutes; opening it makes the device wait until you allow it in the sd share window (Allow it? [y/N]). Then it still needs your password.
• Long password. Sharing needs a password of 12+ characters. An older password that long counts after your next login.
• Self-closing. sd share renews the share every few seconds. If it stops without Ctrl+C (window closed, process killed), the server closes the share within a minute and signs those browsers out.
• Phones. On touch screens a key bar adds Esc, Tab, Ctrl (applies to the next letter), arrows and | ~ / -; dialogs open as bottom sheets.
• Stopping. Ctrl+C closes the tunnel, voids the link and signs out every browser that logged in through it (they also vanish from Devices; a server restart clears them too). Revoking a shared device in Devices also voids its approval, so it needs a new link. Each sd share gets a new address and link.

HTTPS on the VM's address, with a real certificate (Tailscale tailscale cert, Let's Encrypt, your reverse proxy) or a self-signed one:

sd serve --host 0.0.0.0 --cert cert.pem --key key.pem

• No plain HTTP. shelldeck refuses plain HTTP on a non-local address, because passwords and terminal traffic would cross the network unencrypted. --insecure-http overrides that, for trusted networks only.
• First visit. A first visit from another machine also asks for a setup code, which sd serve prints on the server.
• Dropped connections (sleep, Wi-Fi change, VPN) reconnect on their own. The terminal redraws from the server's scrollback.

Security

• Local only. The server binds to 127.0.0.1 and rejects HTTP and WebSocket requests whose Host or Origin isn't the app itself, so other websites can't reach your shells.
• Passwords are stored as PBKDF2-SHA256 (600k iterations). A login is a random token in an HttpOnly, SameSite=Strict cookie, and only its SHA-256 is stored. After 5 wrong passwords, each further try waits longer.
• Devices. Each login records where it came from (this machine, the network, or a share). Only one login is in use at a time; the others get 423 until they enter the password again. Revoke any login from the Devices page.
• Headers. Every response forbids framing (X-Frame-Options: DENY, frame-ancestors 'none'), sniffing and referrers, and API responses are never cached.
• Sharing adds a one-use, 10-minute link, approval on the host and a 12+ character password; see Remote access.
• The CLI authenticates with a token file in the data folder, readable only by your account and rotated on every server start.
• Forgot the password? On the host machine, sd login-link prints a one-time login URL valid for 5 minutes, and sd reset-password removes the password. There is deliberately no way to do either from the browser.
• Your data lives in ~/.config/shelldeck/ (database, log and saved terminal history). Set SHELLDECK_HOME to move it.

Found a vulnerability? Please report it privately; see SECURITY.md.

Development

git clone https://github.com/codejunction/shelldeck && cd shelldeck
uv sync
uv run shelldeck --port 5466 serve     # dev server, http://127.0.0.1:5466
uv run pytest -q                       # includes a real PTY round trip (ConPTY or POSIX pty)
uv run ruff check

• Stack. FastAPI and uvicorn, pywinpty (ConPTY) on Windows or the stdlib pty elsewhere, and SQLite.
• Frontend. Plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript with vendored xterm.js, and no build step.
• Contributing. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the workflow and release steps.

License

MIT. xterm.js is MIT-licensed too (see shelldeck/static/vendor/LICENSE-xterm.txt).