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Sessions you can leave and share

A session is a terminal that runs on GoTerm’s gateway, not in your tab. Leave it and it keeps going; come back from any device, or invite a teammate in.

Updated

On this page
  1. A session’s day
  2. Keep sessions running
  3. Come back to a session
  4. Split the view
  5. How sharing works
  6. Invite a teammate
  7. Share a view-only link
  8. More in sessions
  9. Good to know

A session’s day

The gateway holds the SSH connection and keeps what the terminal printed. Your browser is only a window onto it, and you can close the window.

09:00Start a long jobat your desk12:30Close the laptopthe job keeps running18:00Attach againfrom any device, with what you missedreplayedLaterIt endswhen you end it, or after sitting idle
A session starts at 09:00, keeps running when the laptop closes at 12:30, is attached again from a phone at 18:00 with the output replayed, and ends when it’s ended or left idle.

Keep sessions running

It’s on unless you turn it off.

  1. Open your name at the bottom of the sidebar, then Preferences.
  2. Under Sessions, switch Keep sessions running on or off.
  3. It applies to the sessions you open next, on this device.
GoTerm’s Preferences: themes for the app, the default terminal theme, and Keep sessions running switched on.Open the full-size picture

Come back to a session

  1. Choose the Detach (it keeps running) button at the session’s top right, or close its tab.
  2. Later, on any device, open Sessions: your running sessions are there.
  3. Pick one and choose Attach. What it printed while you were away is shown again.
A session on k8s-ctl waiting in GoTerm, running on the server since 02:03 AM, with End session and Attach buttons.Open the full-size picture

Split the view

  1. In a session, choose the Split right… or Split down… button at the top right.
  2. Pick a host for a new session, or a session already running.
  3. Drag the line between them to resize them, or use the Even out sizes button.
  4. The Move to its own tab button puts a pane back in a tab of its own.
A split view in GoTerm: the log on web-01 on the left, and the cluster on k8s-ctl on the right.Open the full-size picture

How sharing works

You invite people into a session that is already running. They see it live, and type only if you let them.

can typewatchesview onlyYour sessionon the gatewaySaminvited, can typePriyainvited, her keys are droppedAnyone with the linkuntil it expires
Your session on the gateway, shared three ways: a teammate who can type, a teammate who watches, and a view-only link that expires.
  • People you invite sign in to join. A link needs no account, and can never type.
  • View-only is enforced by the gateway: a viewer’s keystrokes are dropped there.
  • Only you connect to the server. People you invite join your session and never see your key.

Invite a teammate

  1. In the session, choose the Share button at the top right.
  2. Under Invite a teammate, type their email.
  3. Tick can type to let them type. Leave it off and they watch.
  4. Choose Invite. They find the session under Sessions, ready to attach.
A teammate’s view of the shared session in their own browser, with everyone in it shown at the top.Open the full-size picture

More in sessions

  • Session recordingRecord what each session showed, for audits and handovers. Keystrokes are never stored, so passwords typed at a prompt stay out.
  • Snippets and autocompleteSave the commands you always forget and run them on any host.

Good to know

  • GoTerm keeps each session’s latest output to replay, up to a limit. Older lines aren’t kept.
  • A session that nobody is attached to ends on its own after a while.
  • Session output is kept in the gateway’s memory, not on disk.

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